Trip report Sept 2 13, 2004.
I have started this trip report a dozen times in my head and twice now in print. I have found it very hard to organize my thoughts because the events of the final four days simply bulldozed over the previous weeks activities making nearly everything else a blur. So it is likely that this is going to be more of a storm report than a traditional trip report
I arrived Thursday, Sept 2nd with a scheduled departure of Monday, Sept 13th. This trip was longer than usual for me. Because we were there in June, I was able to take advantage of the three free nights deal. For the last three years I have had the good fortune to travel to Hedo twice each year, once each year with my girlfriend in June, and once each September traveling by myself. I have no issues traveling to Hedo by myself. Since there are so many repeaters there in early Sept there are always at least a dozen people that I know including several that I know from my home area. So, although I travel alone, I am rarely by myself. I will say that traveling to Hedo as part of a couple and as a single gives me a different perspective. When I travel alone I basically go to spectate, dive, sit in the sun, and relax. We eat many dinners in the specialty restaurants when we travel together and I have most of my dinners at the buffet when I travel alone. Its all good.
I booked run of the house and got a room right behind the trapeze, #1107. The safe in the room had a broken plug in it, so the folks at the front desk set me up with a safe in the office. I had two room mates for different short periods before the storm came. Both were very cool, social guys, but while I would see them around, we never hung out. Basically we did our own things.
One of the primary reasons that I take the second trip is to scuba dive. There were not a lot of experienced divers in attendance this trip and nearly every day the dive boat only went out once. Each day I would sign up for the early dive in hopes that someone else would do the same, and then plan on going on the later dive too, but every day I would go to the dive shack and find that I was the only one signed up and I was not going to make them load up the boat just for me. So, I had hoped to do about fifteen dives in my nine non-travel days, but only got in a total of eight dives.
I love diving at Hedo. I think that the dive staff are great, and even though I have been to nearly every site several times I have yet to tire of them. There were two diving highlights on this trip. One day we were passing from one area with a large coral formation over a sandy area to another coral covered area. The divemaster spotted one sea turtle sleeping in the coral. Just as we were passing from one formation to the other, another huge turtle came swimming through. The dive master swam alongside of him for several seconds mimicking his movements. Those watching were amazed as seconds later a huge ray swam through on the same course. It was like a parade of large undersea creatures. The very next day (the last before the storm came) we had a dolphin encounter. The following is taken from a string on the message boards:
It was the last dive before the storm came, so two days before the hurricane hit. There were four of us on the boat. Monk was the captain, ONeal was the divemaster, and the two divers were one female and myself. The other diver had problems equalizing, so ONeal took her back to the boat while I waited about 20 feet below the surface. We dove an area they refer to as Ritchie's Gallery. I believe it is very close to The Arches, which for those of you who do not know is only about 10 minutes off the dock. Using clock points, if you stand on the dock and look at Booby Cay at 12:00, is at about 10:30. The two of us had surfaced and the boat pulled over. Monk quickly pointed about 20 yards to the port side of the boat (we came up on the starboard side). I don't know how we did not see them in the water, especially while doing our decompression stop. Within seconds the boat was surrounded by them and there were at least 20 of them. I was elated almost to the point of tears as many came within two feet of the bow of the boat. Seeing these beautiful, majestic, graceful animals was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my life. I have found myself wondering how they escaped the storm as one might worry about a friend.
Another last word about diving, I have met some of the coolest people on the Hedo dive trips. While everyone is there to have a good time, the atmosphere is not the same on the boat as it is poolside. Because there is a certain amount of risk, there is also a bit of trust and respect extended and expected.
The afternoons brought about the usual pool games, body shots, and interactions. The sexual atmosphere was not on par with what I have experienced in the past, but there was enough to keep most people entertained. One of my other favorite Hedo activities is afternoon volleyball, but it did not go off as planned even once.
The food was particularly good at the beginning of the trip. Lobster was in abundance in the buffet area and at the grill. People were purchasing lobsters on the beach that Robert would prepare. One person purchased four for twenty US dollars. Friday, Sept 3rd, there was a seafood festival in the buffet area that rivaled any meal we have had at Grand Lido. They had lobster tails on the grill, lots of fresh sushi, and seafood (shrimp and scallops) stir-fry. It was undoubtedly the nicest meal I ever experienced at Hedo.
As the week went by we listened to the weather forecasts and developed more and more concern about the coming of Hurricane Ivan. I considered leaving two days before the storm arrived and talked to the good folks at the front desk. I was informed that flights out of MoBay were overbooked by 40%. I weighed the options. The thought of getting stuck in MoBay and ending up in some odd hotel or possibly some church or school serving as a shelter were not appealing. I decided to take my chances and stay at the hotel where I felt fairly comfortable that I would have a comfortable, dry bed, decent food, and good company. I estimate that there were about two hundred people at the resort two days beforehand and about half stayed.
Someone put up a scarecrow on the nude beach. It was a nude blowup doll tied to a tree with a sign that said, Ivan Stay Away!
I had purchased an ATT / Target prepaid calling card specifically made for North America and the Caribbean, but none of the toll free numbers supplied on the card were recognized in Jamaica. I tried to get a message out via the internet. I paid $5 for 15 minutes of internet time. Be aware that the countdown time clock gives you 10 minutes and not 15 as stated. Also, access to Yahoo was repeatedly denied, so I could not use my Yahoo mail account. Since I was on a time clock, I scrambled for options. I unsuccessfully tried my work webmail account and that was denied also. With few other options I quickly set up a hotmail account and tried to remember a few key email addresses. I felt stupid and lost without my email address book, but it worked. Essentially I paid $5 to send one email message. I repeated the same process the next day with the same results another $5, another one email message sent out. I was anxious to let a few people at home know that I was staying and after the fact, that I was OK, so I did make a few calls from the room. Ten or fifteen minutes of calls cost a total of $8. Bottom line dont rely on the internet. If you have to stay in touch and your cell phone does not work down there, make calls from your room, call home and leave the desk number, your room number and a scheduled time to be in your room to receive calls. Much easier that way!
The GM and his staff did an excellent job keeping us updated on the track of the storm and what to do when the storm hit. One afternoon I found a sheet of paper under my door. One side outlined the sunshine and no hurricane guarantee and the other side was a list of what to do and what to expect as the storm approached. One night at dinner Mr. Bourke spoke and assured us that the resort had sufficient water (almost a half million gallons) and power back up for several days if needed. The water might be turned off for periods to prevent breakage of the exposed pipes and loss of the reserve. The resort then started going into emergency mode. Windows were taped or boarded, candles were distributed, pitchers and garbage cans were filled with water in the rooms for drinking and toilet flushing. The gym and Pastafari were mostly cleared and set up as shelters with pillows, pads, and blankets. The resort started to limit alcohol to a few hours around dinner and lunch and then usually it was just beer or wine. All lounge chairs were cleared off of the beaches and pool areas. The lounges from the beaches were stacked and tied behind the buildings and those from the pool deck were tossed in the pool. Several trees were trimmed or cut down beforehand. I guess the theory was better to control their fall rather than take the chance of them hitting the buildings or worse. It was sad to see several healthy palms cut down before the storm came, but I understand that they have root balls that are not as stable as root systems. Most of the boats were taken up one of the local rivers. The trapeze set up was completely broken down. I considered whether I would stay in the gym, Pastafari, or tough it out in my room. I knew I was taking a chance, but when I saw an already sloshed woman stocking up on drinks I thought It is going to be someone like me that ends up saving your sorry ass. I decided to tough it out in my room. We were asked to be in our intended sleeping place by 10 and stay put. That evening the front desk called asking where I intended to stay and the nurses station called asking if I required any special medication. These people had it down!
So I drew the blinds and stacked some things in front of the curtains. I figured that if the storm did break through at least the glass would not go flying. I took the cushions off of the seating area. One cushion I stuck in the vented bathroom window and the other two I laid under the sink as an emergency bed. OK I admit, I am a nerdy boyscout and I wanted to be prepared. I over acted, but it was better to be safe than sorry. I packed up almost all of my stuff in my bag, put it in a plastic garbage bag and put it on a shelf in the closet. If I had to get out quick I could.
The rains started on Friday, a full day before the actual storm came. By dinner time on Friday most of the cable stations were out (Darn, no more Naughty Amateur Videos on Playboy TV), Jamaican TV (Channel 10) went black and all radio stations went off the air. Hedo still managed to do a good job serving an abbreviated dinner out of Pastafari more grilled lobster tails!!! The wind really started to pick up about 9 pm and I crashed about 10, not sure what the night would bring. Sometime Friday power was cut, but the generators kicked in and stayed on for the remainder of my trip.
About 10 am on Saturday I was getting a bit of cabin fever so despite light rain and moderate winds I decided to take a walk along the protected area under the ocean view prude rooms walkway. Many, many limbs were down, a few trees were split or down and there were limbs and debris everywhere. The area between the OV and GV rooms was flooded with several inches of water. I found a traumatized bird seeking shelter on the steps at the end of the building. I thought I would try to make my way up to the dining area but the path from the prude buildings to the dining area was completely blocked with downed trees. I made my way around and found that breakfast was being served directly out of the kitchen. The dining area floor had two or more inches of water on it and it was starting to flow into the upper deck of Pastafari (I was glad I did not stay in there). When I got back to the room the water had been shut off and all cable channels were dead, although I did hear later that some other rooms still had 2-3 channels through the storm.
By 11 am I was back in my room. My best friends for the next several days were my iPod (which I ported through the room radio) and a deck of cards. I must have played 150 games of solitaire. They helped keep me sane. By 11 the wind and rain got pretty intense. I occasioned a peek out the window and each time I looked out the palmetto tree outside my window got knocked over closer and closer to the ground. It was like the hour hand on a clock as the day went on it got closer to horizontal, left to right. When I peeked out at about 12:30 I saw what appeared to be a large ship loose in the bay. It was like a ghost ship, just out of clear sight, fading in and out of view and getting blown down the coast toward Point Village. The next day I saw that it had washed up on the beach at Point Village. The storm seemed to peak between 1 and 4 pm. By this time I could see that the pier was completely covered and waves were coming over the highest part of the pier.
About 8 pm the water came back on, so I cleaned up and decided to check out dinner. The only time I felt afraid during the whole incident was on my attempt to get to dinner. The path to the buffet area was completely blocked by large limbs in several areas and I had to cut through the wooded area near the maintenance sheds to get up hill. During this walk the wind and rain really picked up and I found myself in a wooded area with extreme limited visibility and hard driving wind and rains. I got turned around and disoriented for a minute, but calmed down, backtracked, and retained my bearings. Dinner was served directly out of the kitchen, but there were few places to sit as Pastafari was crowded with squatters and the entire buffet area was flooded. I was back in bed by 8:30.
After having been cooped up for two days and having gotten plenty of sleep I woke up early Sunday morning. I decided to go for a walk in the drizzle a bit before 7 am. I was anxious to check out the grounds and any damage that might have occurred. I took a walk down the length of the beach taking a few pictures along the way. I was amazed at the amount of foliage that had come down, but I saw no structural damage. I got as far as the pier and a guard came down, told me that the storm was not over and that I should still be inside. I really didnt want to be back in the room, so I went up to the dining area and chatted with a few people that were up and starting to move around. It was a good thing that I took the guards advice as more torrential rain, lightening, and thunder came and persisted till near lunch time. About noon the main bar was open for limited service and the clean up began. That afternoon everyone started to come out of hiding and we were able to walk the entire beach. I took many pictures. This was also the first opportunity to really get out and walk the entire grounds. The beach was an absolute mess. There were countless trees down or damaged. Most of the pools were filled with debris some to the point of appearing dark green, especially the pool, hot tub, and sprinkling pool on the AN side. I only saw one window out. It was a side window on the second floor of the OVAN building. The greatest destruction was to the areas between the OV and GV rooms on both sides. The path behind the OVAN rooms was completely blocked in several places. The memorial garden, by where the aviary used to be, hardly had a single leaf left on any of the trees and a few trees were down and leaning against the back of the building. One of these trees destroyed part of the asphalt sidewalk and knocked over one of the emergency fire-hose stands. The two hardwood trees that are in the front of H‑block were nearly completely stripped of their bark. Several trees were down around the tennis courts one that took out a large segment of fence and one that knocked over the picnic table by the tennis booth. One tree was leaning against the gift shop. The staff housing that is usually obscured by trees was in plain view. A section of the seawall was undermined and water was coming up on both sides. The beach was covered with seaweed, dead starfish, coral, and seafans. A few radio stations came back on first two Cuban (Spanish speaking) stations came in, then two Jamaican stations. One Jamaican station broadcast from Negril. This station gave storm damage updates and they reported the trees down and leaning against the building that I saw at Hedo. Grand Lido and Couples reported more extensive damage to the beach and buildings. They took the storm more head on across the bay. Couples reported that every tree on the beach was damaged or destroyed and that all folks on ground floor rooms had been moved to upper floors. Grand Lido reported damage to the main dining area and damage to several roofs.
The staff was fairly quick to act. The sound of rain and thunder was replaced with saws, machetes, and work crews. Crews worked to push the water out of the dining area and tables and chairs were brought back out to sit on. The rain continued on and off for the remainder of the day. For the first time ever, I was anxious to leave Hedo and go home.
The rain continued on and off Monday, so I bided my time, said good bye to a few staff and friends, watched the clean up of the pool deck, and waited for my bus. The front desk confirmed that the airport was open again. There was no Air Jamaica advanced check in unfortunately. I checked out and boarded a 1pm bus for a 5:50pm flight. Someone will certainly ask about free compensation nights as I was checking out, my thoughts were of my Jamaican friends who had homes damaged or destroyed and it did not seem appropriate to ask about getting free nights. I did overhear one couple talking and I overheard them say that they were told, Hedo had the names and addresses of those that were there, the days that they were stuck, and would be contacting them via mail.we shall see.
The bus was full and most of us were ready to go home, so the trip was mostly uneventful. We looked at the damaged buildings and trees along the side of the road, and power lines and signs that were knocked down. Two power lines were down in the road, but the driver went right over them. Several trees blocked one lane near Tryall golf course, but we waited patiently as vehicles took their time going around them. The airport was nothing short of mayhem. The line to the Air Jamaica counter ran the entire length of the airport building. For the most part people were patient and AJ had staff walking up and down the line to answer questions. As more buses came, the line got longer and more restless. AJ then started giving priority to groups with elderly or infants, which I thought was perfectly acceptable. They then started giving priority to individual flights Persons on the flight to Philly please advance in line..Persons heading to Atlanta please advance in line.Persons heading to JFK please advance in line. I was getting nowhere fast. Three hours later there were still several hundred people in front of me, so I called one of the agents over. They had a sign that said, All flights will be closed 45 minutes prior to departure. I told him, I see your sign that flights are closed 45 minutes before departure and there is no way I am going to get to the desk in time now that there is only 50 minutes left. He replied, I am in control of that and you will not get closed out. I was NOT reassured in the least and was starting to have visions of spending the night in MoBay. At 15 minutes before my scheduled departure time I called the same guy over again. He had, of course, forgotten about usNow Persons heading to Newark and Boston please get in this line. At 5 minutes before my scheduled flight departure I was just getting to the desk. I was praying for the flight to be delayed and it was. I got on the plane, had a seat and was never so happy to sit in a cramped plane! I was finally going home.
Random thoughts:
-All things considered, Hedo management really did a great job and most of them are nothing short of heroes in my book. They seemed to have their priorities down, took great precautions, took great care to inform those that stayed, and began the clean up in an efficient manner.
-90% of the Hedo staff that stayed on helped out and should be commended. Many of these people put the needs of us tourists ahead of their own needs and the needs of their families.
-The other 10% goofed off. Hedo put a roomful of female staff members up in a room upstairs near me. I dont know what their reason for staying was, but they used the opportunity to party, eat, and drink. They were loud and left messes for other staff members to clean up.
-I heard staff members talk of letting friends in a back gate and saw other staff preparing things to be taken out (apparently by the same route).
-There were hookers in the disco and hot tub area some nights. I think they come in as part of a couple on night passes. I am not sure how I feel about the whole situation, but one thing I am certain of, is that I dont like the males sitting and staring on the side of the hot tub while waiting for the females to come back.
-If there was a repeat offender party that week, neither my room mate, nor I got an invitation.
-Hedo has taken great strides to improve the dining and food options in the last few years. The dinner served on Friday the 3rd rivaled the big buffet meals served at Lido. I love the fruit at breakfast, the salads and fixings at lunch and dinner, and the cheese selection was awesome. There were two new cheeses (one of which was a brie) this trip. All were yummy.
-The house red and white wines served in the buffet area are just plain bad. The Oakville Chateau Rouge was the better of the two. The Oakville Chateau Blanc had to be served very cold to be palatable Oh, and it comes in a screw top bottle! Hedo can do better.
Overheard at Hedo:
-Hey Greg, grab a leg!
-Husband, can I kiss XYZ? (Names deleted to protect the guilty)
-We saw you in the hot tub last night and my wife wanted you, but she said you didnt look interested, so we didnt pursue it.
-She is a squirter too. Watch her.
Pictures are available through the dennyp H2 discussion board and at: