So we're back from our second trip to Hedo, July 8-15 (Thursday to Thursday). Everything was just as much fun as the first time (and in some ways moreso), but there were some interesting contrasts, and an instructive brush with the Jamaican medical establishment. This report will focus on those contrasts, not in a good/bad sense, but merely how the experience is different at different times.
Our first trip in late March 2004 was at a very low occupancy time; I'd estimate 40% or lower. In contrast our first couple days this time were at the tail end of a lifestyle week, and it was packed. It dropped a bit over the weekend to a week with DennyP's Wet/Wild/Wicked group. We also had two full afternoons of serious rain on this trip, as opposed to perfect weather last time.
On Thursday, our AirJa flight from Atlanta was an hour late getting off, due to storms the night before and crew rest rules. Unfortunately, unlike the last trip, there was no ackee and saltfish on the flight for breakfast: the ovens were broken, so we got Special K. Yuch. The bus ride to Negril was also an event, in that the driver was obviously trying to make good time and 'There'sNoRoomToPassTher..I *Really* didn't think he could make that safely.'
As before, we arrived noonish and had our room within 5 minutes, in H block again. (as of July 15th, all the nude side was renovated (= 5 head shower stalls) save for the last building of 20 rooms nearest the dive shack, and they were actively working on that.) However, after spending 30 minutes unpacking, we walked out of the room headed for the nude pool... into a rain storm. This set the motif for the week. While there were slow spots in the rain that afternoon, for lunch at Robert's and jerk chicken later, rain and nearby serious lightening ensued for most of the daylight hours.
I did stop by the main dinning room at 3 PM, for the talent show tryouts... but the only guitar available from the band was a left- hander. The "Dread Island Fever" blues may have to wait until the next trip.
Toga/Talent night was full of guest acts - some good, some enthusiastic - and the only staff act was Ray-Ray in drag doing "Jump." I *really* didn't think someone (other than Tina Turner maybe) could kick their own butt in 7" platform heels while dancing from table to table. Rob & Kris have mentioned other acts of a somewhat unexpected nature.
And of course, afterwards we had Hot Tub Fun, before crashing.
Friday:
We met Denny P at breakfast. He appeared to be in a somewhat altered mental state, due to having been awake ca. 24 hours at that point, but was a delightful person to have breakfast with. Afterwards, it was nude pool time for most of the day. Being a lifestyle week, it was an interesting sight, almost continuously along the nude pool edge: BJ, BJ, BJ, BJ, F, BJ, BJ, F, with the first four in a rotation reminiscent of the nude volleyball later that afternoon, and general cheering of all on successful completion. Definitely more exuberant than last March!
Of course the *really* kinky thing that we did was to walk through and explore the prude side, which we never managed last trip. We found the sinkhole, the gate to Sandals, and people sleeping in chairs.
After lunch in the main dining room (we were salad hungry), we stuck around for the "name that tune/singer" contest, and Carol won a bottle of rum for knowing who the Crown Prince of Reggae was. (No, I'm not telling; go win your own bottle.)
Friday dinner was lobster in the main dining room with Rob & Kris, and Carol had lobster for dessert too. Towards the end of dinner, a steel drum band played, and they were outstanding, dancing and singing as they played. Afterwards, we found out that they were a *high school* group all the way from Kingston. If they'd had a CD, I would have bought it. The circus show - the three staffers who do the trapeze stuff, a contortionist, a snake charmer who also walked on nails - twas very good and well worth the time, though the beach-side trapeze show afterwards was canceled due to wetness. The beach party was sorta silly, with games like musical sexual positions - and the bonfire too wet to keep going very well. We ended up in the hot tub until 2 AM.
Saturday:
That AM was the start of our snorkeling experiences, in the Hedo boat out over the reef. Beautiful day, perfect water, good fishies and so on. Carol's become a real junkie for it. The afternoon was one of those "what *did* we do all day?" times. I think there was a nude waterslide run at some point, but it was mostly the same old same old: lunch at Robert's, sun, drink, nap, jerk chicken, hang out at the pool. Sigh. Tough life. This is when we met a lot of the WWW folks, and the core group started to come together.
That evening, that group met for dinner at Munasan. This was that start of the "Too Raucous For Pastafari" (TRFP) group, but more on that later. Munasan was considerably better that our previous trip, in both quality of service and food, even though it was about twice as crowded. The different entrees actually tasted different this time.
Afterwards, the group moved to the piano bar, to avoid the Evil Art Auction. In hindsight, I shoulda stayed at the EAA: Danny, the new piano player, seemed to know different versions of the songs than the rest of us did. Ray-Ray MC'ed; Winston sang a few (beautifully), but... Danny consistently to my ear was playing a different song that most of us knew. Maybe I just have too good an ear for melody, but I found it painful, and bailed after a few songs. We then had more Hot Tub Fun, but it was just too hot to finish things.
Sunday:
We passed on snorkeling this AM; it was too cloudy for good seeing. Most of the day was spent in not doing much of anything. There was ring toss for rum, with a line of about 50 people; the most I've ever seen for any game. There was body painting. There was the WWW Bingo for Beads in the hot tub late in the afternoon, a redistribution plan for Mardi Gras stuff for Tuesday night. Then the WWW group and Denny had a reception in the piano bar at 6 PM with our Pirate theme (arrrh!). Much fun was had by all, and the "wenches and Denny" grouping was photographed by many. Contrary to other reports here, I *did* recover my pirate flag (the one on the window). Afterwards, the core group that we hung out with acquired its name, during dinner for 12 at Pastafari, still in pirate drag. Okay, Chrissy wasn't.. she was wearing The Boots instead, but no one complained. We were... rambunctious. It was all the parrot's fault. Really. He egged us on. It was late, and we crashed after that.
Monday:
Morning brought Breakfast on the Beach, a nice gesture arranged by Denny for the WWW crew. Unfortunately, there was no coffee. Sigh. Afterwards we floated, we snorkeled, we participated ion a "Nude fashion show" (yeah, this does not compute, but involved ribbons and paint and not much else.) And then the women went clothes shopping. One of the ECs designs wonderful stuff, and and showed them to some of the women. He was strongly urged by all to get a web site up. The afternoon passed with more hot tub bingo and Jerk Chicken. The TRFP had dinner at the Scotch Bonnet restaurant, and therein lies a complaint. The light there is so dim that entrees required some care in eating (oxtail, the fish, and so forth) due to bones simply can't be eaten. Both Carol and I gave up on our meals.
We hung out in the piano bar afterwards (kareoke (= Japanese for "sings badly")) and Foxy the EC hauled the TRFP crowd into a side room to gather some data for a routine she was developing for a contest, concerning what risque things we'd done. I think Carol and I shocked the rest of the group a little.
Afterwards, Hot Tub Fun.
Tuesday: The Day of the Attack of the Killer Coral (Coral, not Carol!)
We had breakfast in the dining room, rather than on the beach. We both have some specific food likes for breakfast at Hedo, and the beach spread just didn't cover that. Then it was off on Denny's WWW nude catamaran cruise. We'd done the 10:30 AM cruise the last time and had fun, and snorkeling was involved, so we were eager. Maybe 60 people this time, and folks started stripping as soon as the first round of pictures was done, before we'd pulled away from the dock.
Snorkeling was at a reef about a mile or so out, and right from the start I was wary of the shallowness. There was coral sticking above the water in places, and I had to watch where I swam, as I fed the fishies bagel. When I queued up to climb back up the ladder onto the cat, I took my fins off, and gave one kick to get to the ladder... and felt my foot bump something. Hard. It didn't hurt, so I climbed on board, and saw blood up the steps. There was a cut an inch long and 1/4" deep on the inside of my foot, on the ball behind the big toe. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I'd need stitches. I wrapped it in a towel (it was bleeding quite freely), and soon was told that the Hedo Ski Boat was coming out to take me back. In about 15 minutes, Carol and I (and Jennifer, the boating coordinator for Hedo) were on the ski boat heading back. That was actually the most painful part. The ski boat guys cranked it up all the way ("Medical emergency!" "No, guys, it really isn't that bad") and my butt was sore by the time we made the dock. Jennifer brought a van down and drove us to the nurse's station (did you know that back behind the aviary area is the Graveyard of Dead Bathtubs?), where the nurse (Maria?) concurred about stitches. I waited an hour or so for the doctor (MB, not MD) that the resorts have on retainer, to show up from town. We took a picture for insurance reasons before he started. He stitched me up in the nurses station (good sterile technique, no complaints) and I paid on the spot by credit card ($290: $100 for the call, $30 for antibiotics, $160 for the medical stuff). By 2 PM we were out in the dining room getting lunch. I had to keep my foot dry for the rest of the time there, so no more Hot Tub Fun. All in all, everything was handled well, the staff was great, and other than being limited in getting wet and a little slow in getting around, it wasn't a major problem. Nobody's fault but my own, and now I have an official "Hedo scar"!
While I veged out by the pool (Jerk Chicken!), Carol and some of the others walked over to the straw market just across the road from Hedo to do some shopping. Dinner that night was the WWW Mardi Gras theme night, so we commandeered three 8-person tables in the dining hall, and had them full of the Usual Suspects in a few minutes. All the women wanted to touch Paul's big balls. After dinner was the Battle of the Sexes. PJ night that night was okay, but we didn't try anything as elaborate as the rope harness from last time. I didn't have the energy, and we bailed and crashed by midnight.
Wednesday:
Our last full day brought a phone call rather than a hard-copy eviction notice, so I took our tickets to the office to get things set for the bus. Breakfast was again in the dining room, and we had fun doing nothing around the pool the rest of the morning. The afternoon turned seriously rainy, and at 2 PM we were glad to be in the piano bar for the WWW erotic gift exchange (even though we ended up with about 5 glasses on the piano catching roof leaks by the time we were done.) Everyone brought an appropriate wrapped present, and based on numbered tickets, we either chose a wrapped present, or stole an already claimed one from some one else. The 40 or so presents took over an hour to distribute, with much stealing in the later parts. Robyn, the one Carol stole from you is very Very VERY effective.<G>
Then there was hot tub bingo, for rum! We skipped the Repeaters Party for a nap, and missed meeting the manager. Oh well. That night was WWW Black & Glow night (wear black and things that glow) at dinner. The TRFP crew was back at Pastafari... and I think we even annoyed Denny a bit, and many of us had sides that hurt from laughing so hard. When we finally finished, we headed out on the 9 PM evening cruise cat cruise. There were maybe 30 of us on the catamaran, just drifting in the dark on the ocean (save for that damned searchlight from Margaritaville)(and the glow lights in strategic places on some of us). When was the last time y'all saw the Milky Way? This was one of the best parts of the trip.
Thursday: Reality Intrudes.
We packed, we painted a rock (brought our own acrylic paints and sealant) and left it in the stairwell of the SE end of H block), we wandered around saying our goodbyes, and left on the bus about 11 AM. The plane was 1 hour late getting off the ground, but it's all good.
The negatives of the whole trip: besides the already mentioned lighting problem at Scotch Bonnet, the lack of hot water in the new showers (and instructions on how to use them; the two knobs are *not* what you expect. The upper is regular shower head on, for 180 degrees clockwise; lower heads on, for the 180 degrees counterclockwise, and it spins completely either way. The bottom knob I suppose is temperature, but only changed it from lukewarm to icy for us).
The difference in the two crowds that we overlapped at Hedo - lifestyles for the first 2-3 days, and then the WWW folk - was interesting. Besides the obvious .. ummm... less demonstrative nature of the WWW around the nude pool during the day (though certainly not at night!), we certainly formed friendships more easily with the WWW folks. This may be due to arriving relatively late in the lifestyle week, so that the cliques etc. had already formed.
We'll be back.
John & Carol The Crazdweasels