Wet,
Wild, n Wicked Weekend
Caribbean
Reef Club
Pto Morelos, Mexico
May
17 20, 2001
Once upon a time, I use to
take vacations, and as I returned home, I always thought to myself, been
there, done that, dont need to go back.
That was until I found Hedonism II for the first time.
That was back in January 1997, and since then Ive not wanted to
visit any other resort, as I thought none could ever live up to the fun I have
at Hedo. I am happy to report Ive
found a place Id return to at the Caribbean Reef Club.
I will try to write this as an informational trip
report, but with the awesome people we were there with, it will be hard to
keep it purely informational. Not
to bore anyone with the details of our travels there, one thing does need to
be mentioned (so you can hear the REAL story).
This was the least stressful vacation Ive ever planned for.
I was totally packed and ready to go and not throwing stuff in a
suitcase at 2am. We pulled away
from the house at the exact planned 4am and made a leisurely drive to the
airport. Denny dropped me off and
went to park, and when I got to the desk and handed the ticket agent my
tickets, drivers license and the envelope that my birth certificate was in, he
looked at me and asked where my birth certificate was.
My heart sank, my heart started beating, and I had a totally sick
feeling in my stomach. The
envelope was empty. Where was it?
I knew exactly where my second copy was kept.
What do I do at 4:30am when Im leaving the country with no birth
certificate in one hour? Fortunately,
I have the BEST employee in the world. I
called her, asked her to get up, go over to my house and drive my extra copy
down to the airport. There was
absolutely NO QUESTIONS asked. OK,
Im an idiot, but I have wonderful friends, and one of my best ones, works
for me.
When we got off the plane in Dallas, our wonderful
friends, Mr. Baron and the lovely Therese, surprised us.
Baron and Therese always attend the WWW trip to Hedo in July.
I saw Mr. Bs biggo smile while still in the ramp way, and think I
let out a yell. They jumped on
the train with us and we quickly visited while changing planes.
I swear they spent more time driving to and from the airport than we
had to spend with them. It was
GREAT seeing them, and as we rushed off, we knew it was only going to be a few
short weeks till we spend time with them at Hedo again.
OK, honest, I will keep the rest factual and not tell
you all about the GREAT people we met. When
we arrived in Cancun we were directed downstairs to Immigration and there were
two lines, one for visitors with passports and one without.
If you dont have a passport, GET one before you go to Cancun.
They had 5 people working the with passport line, and three
really slow ones in the other. Needless
to say, my birth certificate and I stood there for a very long time.
Im going to renew my passport tomorrow!!!
After I finally got thru that line, we went out to claim luggage and
jumped in a taxi to CRC. As
others have stated $40 ($20 each) gets you to CRC about 25 minutes after you
find the taxi. A very helpful guy
(didnt catch his name) gathered our luggage from the taxi and escorted us
inside. There we met Charles, one
of the owners. We were asked what
wed like to drink and it was brought to us before we had a chance to do
anything. Charles welcomed us,
and made us feel very comfortable. We
were shown to our room, we had the Penthouse suite, which was on the 4th
floor with no elevators. Good
thing, those stairs were about the only exercise I got all weekend. We did have a beautiful room.
Large bedroom with king bed, TV, dresser, large closet, large bathroom
with roomy shower and separate sink area.
Full sized living room and kitchen.
I thought to myself, great, now where are the pool and all our friends?
One downside to anything above the first floor is you do have to dress
to leave your room. There are
beautiful balconys on all the rooms which face the ocean, but the outside
door faces a parking lot and isnt part of the clothing optional area.
No problem, sarongs, shorts, a towel, whatever will work.
Its just a courtesy and respect thing for the other people at the
resort. All the first floor rooms
had a large arcadia type door that opened right to the nude pool area.
Having friends in those rooms made it much easier using their bathroom,
than having to cover up and go inside to the one by the front desk.
We headed downstairs to the pool, and here we were
greeted with some of the happiest, smiling people one would ever want to meet.
Oops. Cant talk about those yet.
The pool is a large figure 8 type of design with one half being 1
meter deep, and two steps (watching people fall down those steps after several
drinks was a riot) in the middle of the pool which lead to the deep end,
being 1.5 meters. There were
plenty of lounge chairs and lots of shade for those that wanted it.
Towels are provided and they will give you as many as you want at the
bar. They had waiters who came
out to the pool and took drink orders. I
know the resort was full at least one night, as we had one couple who had to
stay at another resort for a couple of the nights, and came to visit during
the day. Even with a full house
and 3 or 4 couples visiting on day passes; the service was impeccable.
As an owner of a business, I know that adequate staffing is most every
businesses biggest struggle. The
CRC has definitely compiled a staff that they can be proud of.
I did notice that all staff was male, with the exception of the couple
of housekeepers and I think one cook. All
were smiling and very helpful. For
those of us who were interesting in improving our Spanish, they were right
there helping us learn. We even
learned some new cuss words, but only because we asked.
All the food is cooked to order.
NO BUFFETS!!!! Yeah!! As
someone point out, I think ANY buffet gets old after a day or two. No problem with that at CRC.
Breakfast and lunch was served in the main area that also housed the
front desk and main bar. There
were lots of choices on both accounts. Breakfast
was choice of 3 or 4 Mexican egg dishes (Huervo Rancheros, etc), omelets
(cheese or ham and cheese only), pancakes, French toast, fruit plate, ham,
sausage, bacon, potatoes, toast. Lunch
was burgers, chicken sandwich, fish and chips, taquitos, salads, etc.
Dinner was served over in the large Palaypa building and had enough
choices that if you stayed two weeks, you wouldnt have to repeat the same
dinner. Lots of great fresh
shrimp and fish dishes. I consider myself a real snobby crab cake lover.
I hate the real bready kind.
CRC had the BEST crab cakes Ive ever eaten.
I wish Id found them my first night, I would have ordered them every
night. They were the best.
The one dinner I didnt enjoy was our last night there. They had a pig roast, and that dinner was served buffet
style. Many enjoyed it, but Im
glad I passed on the pig and stuck to the baked potatoes and corn.
They do have hours posted for serving meals, but it was so broad, that
I think you could pretty much get anything to eat most any time of the day or
night.
They do quit serving dinner at 9pm, and the music
starts shortly after that. They
are real good about playing anything you bring.
I dont think they have a really good selection of good music
available to them. I was thinking
when we were down there, if each person that reads this trip report that goes
to CRC would take their favorite dance CD to leave for them, I bet theyd
build up a good selection in a hurry. They
did have enough selection to keep us entertained and dancing for a good part
of each evening. They do have a
great pole in the middle of the dance floor that many of the WWW lovelies took
a turn on. Why is it that a
simple pole can bring out the best in most gals?
Way to go you WWW gals (and Bob, of course with his pole swing
around). The bar stayed open as
long as anyone stayed and the music kept playing.
I was never the last to leave, so not sure if the dance area has a
closing time or not. Wed
normally last until around midnight and then head for the hot tub.
CRC has an awesome hot tub, although it was waaaaay
too hot for my personal tastes almost every night.
I think the first night I had consumed just enough cocktails to not
remember the heat, as I remember the hot tub really getting heated up with
people that night. The other
nights, I remember the hot water was hell on my sunbaked body. I still enjoyed sitting in a chair around the tub and
chatting with everyone. The hot
tub is one area that CRC has hands down over Hedo.
They have a bartender and serve drinks until the last person leaves.
Uri was our bartender/waiter, and he was WONDERFUL.
He was right there if we wanted/needed anything, yet seemed invisible
until then. He had lots of clean
replacement towels and would bring them to anyone who needed one.
My only suggestion about the hot tub would be to dim the lights a
little bit, it was a little bright out there, but it wasnt a huge bother.
The beach looked a little rocky, but the pool facility
was so nice, that we never actually made it into the ocean.
Supposedly you cant be nekkid on the beach directly in front of the
resort, but you can be over in the area in front of the hot tub, approx 25-30
yards away. I say supposedly,
because several in our group were out there and no one said anything about it.
A couple of incidental things that have been mentioned
before are: No hairdryers or
shampoo in the rooms. Also no CD
player, radio or clock. They did
have a CD player at the resort that they let us bring out to the pool, along
with a huge extension cord. People
had brought their own CDs so we had music during the day.
Everyone enjoyed it, but I guess we would have turned it off if anyone
had complained.
A couple comparisons to Hedo II (its the only other
all inclusive with a nude beach that Ive been to):
Upsides of Hedo vs. CRC:
Hedo has entertainment coordinators that do add a lot of activity and
energy to the resort, if you are looking for a high-energy vacation.
Larger resort and many more people.
Music at the pool and CD players in the room
Roberts Grill in the afternoon and Jerk Chicken
Upsides of CRC vs. Hedo:
The Food!!! No Buffets
The service, always with a smile, and always consistent
Smaller resort, much more intimate and easy to get to know everyone
there
The hot tub with a bar that stays open and has wait service
Newer resort, and all is well maintained
Thats all the informational stuff I can remember,
now for the best partTHE PEOPLE!!!!!
As Steve (Partymon) pointed out, we quickly learned that the location
of a resort plays little difference on a good time shared by WWW people.
Laura and Rick, our fellow part time Phoenicians:
it was sooooo good to be able to spend a few days with you rather than
just a few hours. You guys are
the best ever!! Thanks for the
help in the shower (and the drying off toolol).
Mike and Deb, our fellow part time Arizonians:
It was so fun being able to spend more time with you than at just our
Phoenix Hedo Club get-togethers. So
sorry Deb wasnt feeling so good when we left, glad to hear she got better.
Mike, next time, check the directions before you set out for a drive in
a foreign country.
Steve and Nancy:
You guys are the best, it was so much fun broadening our friendship
that we started last December. Thanks
for bringing Maaagie and letting her see the Mexican way of life, that little
girl sure does get around.
Robert and Barbara:
That day you got out of the pool still makes me smile when I think
about it Robert. Who else could
you be that way with except good friends.
Barbara, I like the jewelry you earned, did you get to trade it in on
the real stuff when you got home?
Denis and Kathy:
Im so sorry I made fun of that initial email about the fishing, you
do have to admit that the pole extension and beaver hunt conversations were
much more interesting though. I
hope you guys can make it to Hedo with us sometime.
Both of your senses of humor were a highlight of my trip.
Bob and Lin: So
glad you guys are taking good care of Mr. Purple. Bob, hang in there, there will be a need for you again
someday soon, I promise. Call
Mrs. Fields so you guys can join us this winter at Hedo.
Gary and Judy: That
Thursday night in the hot tub will go down in history as one of my favorites.
Judy kept saying, Ive never done this before, Ive never done
this before. You sure could have fooled mea natural I like to think
J.
Bill and Nancy: Thanks
for all your good ideas that added to the fun.
The gift exchange was a GREAT idea, and everyone had a lot of fun with
that. Thanks also for all the
signs you made for everyone. You
guys are great!!
Mike and Zan: That
white mesh outfit was the best Zan. Trust me, Im doing all I can to take care of those
teeeeetties that you liked so much (and she didnt mean mine).
Jay and Marie: Boy
do I have some great pics of Marie. The
apology in advance was so unnecessary, you were the best that night.
I loved it when you asked Denny if that kiss really happened.
It did, we tested his B.A.C. afterwards and he failed miserably.
Glenn and Marie:
So glad you guys could make it. I
hope we didnt startle you both too much. You were a great addition to the group and I hope you will
come back with us another time.
Denny: What
can I say? My friend, my lover,
my mirror and always my biggest supporter (even when I do forget my birth
certificate), thank you from the bottom of my heart.
You are the best and always in my corner.
Thank you for that, I love you.
As we drove away from CRC, I looked at Denny and said,
If I was going to do anything different, I would have stayed one day
longer. He laughed and said he
was thinking the exact same thing. Always
a good sign of a vacation. Hopefully
we will do it again, and I hope some of you will join us.
WWWW was a huge success in my book!!!!
Diane