Len & Angie - January, 2017

Trip Dates 1-20-17 -1-28-17

Trip number 13 or 14 for us….life is good.

Without prior planning, we found out that some friends that we met in previous trips were going to be on the same connecting flight to Mo Bay from Houston. We later found out that some of their friends were also going to be on the same flight and another couple were going to be landing at the same time as us. We called a taxi service (Joes) and they brought us all to Hedo for about 20 less per couple (we rode in a van….it would be more than the bus companies but since there were 4 couples it was cheaper). It was a nice ride...plus no stops! We laughed that we had a couple from Texas, Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina all on a private taxi….

Check in was good, we were with a group, and they had everything ready for us when we arrived. We always book Garden View Prude, cheapest rooms and a little walk to the nude area and a chance of being close to the road and hearing traffic, but we do not spend much time in the room so we figure that we will save the money. 

Our 8 nights 9 days kind of blurred together, here are some of our highlights:

We walked bloody bay, not past Sandles, the other way. You need to go out the front gate and go left. Their is a public access to the beach about 1/3 of a mile up the road (or you can sneak to the beach , through another resort). The beach has a lot of little shops (vs the 7 mile beach where it is mainly large resorts). We stopped at a place called Office of Nature and got 2 lobsters, we were with 2 other couples from Hedo….and yes wearing swimsuits...lol. The lobsters were amazing, they were priced by size...they told us the price, I tried to talk them down….they took my first counter offer...Mrs Too, said that I did not go low enough...she is right.

SCUBA...we are divers, if you are bring you card, the diving is included. If you are not, you can take a resort course (costs money) and dive, but I think you have to pay for every dive. We normally do the early dive, but you need to be an advanced diver to do that, and if there is room we will also do the later dive. Diving in Negril is OK, usually not a WOW, but better than many places we have dove. On our last dive of our trip, while at our safety stop (for non divers, you stop at 15 feet for 3 minutes or so to let the nitrogen in your body get out) we had some dolphins swim over us. We saw lots of rays, puffer fish, schools of fish, a couple eels and beautiful reefs. Over the years, we have 100+ dives at hedo and still love it. The dive staff are the best we have ever dove with, very professional.

Negril Bars. The group we were with organized a pub crawl one afternoon. We said, why do we want to spend 20 bucks for a bus ride to go spend money at a bar when it is free at hedo. Then we figured if it was not great we could take a cab back so we went (and in the grand view of life what is 20). We went to 2 different bars, it was a lot of fun. It has been years since we left the resort to go to bars, dining, etc. Next year we need to get off resort again to get the vibe of Negril (walking on the beach is different). The drinks at the bars were reasonably priced and lots of reggae music playing. It was fun. On a past trip we did go to Margaritaville….blah….same as the place in the Keys and Vegas...nothing special. If you go out, find a local bar.

Happy Stuff… Ok, over all our trip we vary rarely used weed, and if we did it was usually the last night. At home, we never use. This trip was different   Our first night, we met our neighbors outside our rooms and after chatting a bit they offered us a hit, we said wtf and took one….yes only one...and then went out for the night (we were changing after dinner) we had a blast. It was a bummer when they told us they were leaving the following day. They also told us that they would put their stash under a rock for us when they left. They left, we looked and found a brownie with a note that said “nibble” we tried it...oh my god….thanks for the nibble note. Most nights, we would go back to our room at the end of the night and take a nibble, turn on porn and have amazing sex. Other times, we also did take a hit or 2 from others. Not sure we will do this again, but it was fun. We did email the couple that gave us the brownie and asked what was in it….just pot, but they said some have mushrooms in them too. As for cost for weed or brownies, we did not buy so have no clue.

I cannot believe it. About 5 years ago, we met 2 younger couples on a night pass at dinner. They were from the same state as us. They were very curious about hedo, the lifestyle and what the resort was like. We brought them back to our room to show them what the rooms were like. Once in our room, they saw Mrs. Too’s hitachi magic wand and one of the girls asked what it was. We told them and then Mrs Too showed them what it felt like on their arms (girls). One of the girls wanted to know what it really felt like so she showed her over her shorts, the other girl wanted to try, and she lifted up her skirt. The couples were not in the lifestlye and both other guys were shocked she lifted her skirt. 5 years later, we are on our last night at the piano bar….they see us, come up and say “you changed our lives”. They are now both lifestyle couples and both girls brought their hitachi wands to Hedo (they were now resort guests vs night passes). We will not share how we know they both had their wands...tee hee hee.

Food. This year we were really not “foodies” We dove almost every morning, so for breakfast we eat a light meal. Usually a muffin and a little fruit (ok, I ate bacon too). For lunch we ate ate the nude bar every day, jerk chicken and either a blt or fish sammy. It worked, tasted good, but not really a meal to enjoy, more of a “my body needs non alcoholic calories”. Dinner was different, we never at the buffet (with the exception of the Friday lobster nights….yep we had 2 of Fridays to enjoy this. Usually we just eat at the buffet, but this year we ate at the restaurants. We joined some friends at the Japanese grill and as our table joked that we expected our chef to put on a better show than the other chefs, he said Ya Mon, and proceeded to put the best show I have ever seen, both at hedo and other Japanese grills we have been at at home. He goes by Mad Max. We also went to the Italian place and the steak house on the beach a few times. Both were very good. We tried to make it to the nude grill at night 2 times, once we got sucked into the hot tub and forgot about food the other time the line was too long and we just had a drink at the bar then went to bed. We heard that the pizzas still are not good (btw….hot dogs are not sausage) but at 2 am they are perfect. We also like the no reservation policies for the restaurants, in the past there were a bunch on no shows and you had to be up early (when we were diving) to make reservations, plus it was hard to make reservations for more than 2. 

Pools/Hottubs. We are pool people (we like the ocean, but after spending time underwater every morning we like the fresh water) this year the pool was cold, we heard that there was a leak in it (we are talking about nude pool) and they kept having to fill it...not sure if it was true, but that is what we were told. Because it was cold we only went in it a little bit, most of our time we sat on the side with our feet in it, and most of the time was the in the connecting cool spa thing. Kind of a bummer, but it did not ruin our vacation. On the other hand, most years the large hot tub on the nude side is either way too cold or boiling. This year the temp was great...perfect. The other pools and hidden hottubs we never made it to. Some our friends did have a hot tub room on the nude side. Water was clean and perfect temp.

Piano Bar/Disco. Disco was closed so no review. The past few years it was dark and stunk, we heard they are cleaning and updating...good we hope so. They did have some parties by the pool, which we liked. Piano Bar, OK, but not great. We heard the old piano player, Dion, is sick so they had others filling in. OK time, but not as good as Dion.
Resort upgrades. A few years ago, Hedo was run down. It is getting much better, you can tell it feels better. But, I do miss some of the old stuff….the hedonism sign behind the front desk, the feel of the old dining room, the colored glass at the main bar and the rocks and shells at the nude bar. However, the changes are making the resort better….except, the street signs for Delroy and Scumba was gone….I know that they do not work there anymore, but for a decade plus I knew them and it was fun to see their sign.

Theme Nights. We did participate in some of them, but once again were a little bummed. If you have 3 groups at the resort, plus hedos themes you will have multiple groups promoting their themes. If everybody was school girl….fun….but when you have school girls with pirates with pink with hats and heels….too much. Group organizers need to get together.

Playroom. We went, everything was set up nice, there were only 2 other couples in the room. After a little bit, we left and went to the hot tub. Not enough energy for us. Talking to others, we heard that the play room was full the night before and after. We will try it again.

Staff. The bartenders, kitchen servers and watersports people deal with the guests all the time, they are always nice. This trip we had a great maid...she even folded our clothes on the ground...yes they were dirty but it the thought that counts...lol. Our room was also cleaned by 10 each day...loved it, we get back from diving to go to a clean room. The grounds crew always said hi to us as we walked past (we did not know them….they were just friendly). On our last morning, we were running late for our taxi, I was lugging 4 bags (yes one was full of her shoes) to the lobby, 2 groundskeepers saw me and insisted on helping me. It was not their job...thanks...impressed.

Overall, we had another great trip and are looking forward to next year!

Len & Angie