Hedonism III
March 31st – April 7th 2003
This was our first trip to
Hedonism III and to Jamaica for that matter.
We had decided to try a different destination partly in celebration of
our 20th wedding anniversary (see below), and partly because very
few of our group of friends were going to St. Martin this year.
Bottom line is we had a great
time!! One of the main reasons is the people we
met..........made some new friends, who made the vacation into a really
enjoyable one!! The people who worked there were also very
friendly and willing to accommodate, although some made more of an effort to
make our stay a special one.
Our flight out of Toronto was
delayed an hour, but otherwise was uneventful. We arrived in
Montego Bay around noon, went through immigration and customs with no problems,
and easily found the Superclubs desk (turn to the left after customs),
where we waited only for a few minutes before being directed to our
bus. We've heard this bus ride described as a "ride
from hell" but honestly we found it to be no problem, mon and the bus
driver we had was quite entertaining. We made the usual pit stop for a
beer and a pee and then were off again for Hedo (can't remember the time we
arrived........might have been about 2pm or so). The time suddenly seemed unimportant once we arrived at Hedo!!
We waited only a few minutes
to check in........our room was ready, although initially they assigned us to
one which was already occupied. When the bell man opened the door,
apparently the occupants were a bit "busy" and he quickly shut the
door again.......oops!! But finally we got our proper
room.........we were in 415 which is on the Quad in the 400 building on
the first floor. This means the Quad pool was literally a
couple of steps outside our door, and when we took a shower we could have
reached out the window and touched anyone walking by. Needless to
say we didn't pull down the window shade..........wanted to conform to the hedo
tradition!!
We were really close to the
Quad pool, however we didn't spend any time there, except one afternoon when
the nudes invaded the Quad........apparently this is done once a
week. We spent most of our time at the nude pool and hot
tub.............that's where most of the guests and activity seemed to
be. Even though we were in the 400 building, it was only a few
steps over to the nude side. We found the resort to be much more
compact than it seems on the map. We had taken large drinking cups
as suggested on Denny's site, but found it more convenient to just use the
glasses they provided. You have to get off your chair sometime, and it's
really not far to the bar. Besides, we were trying all kinds of
different drinks!!
The rooms were more than
adequate. Ours smelled a bit musty when we first checked in,
however we never noticed the smell again. Because we were on the first
floor, we were unable to leave our windows open all the time, but running the
air on low seemed to control the humidity. There were
two small safes in the room, but we only were given one lock, so we could
use only one of them. Each is relatively small.......but we
were able to fit our camera, our money and important papers into one (just
barely).
The facilities were quite
nice…….lots of attractive vegetation and concrete walks. The tiles
around the pool, as I'm sure you've heard, are slippery when wet, but it
appears they have tried to "fix" the problem by installing areas
of concrete between the tiles. You still have to be careful.
The tiles around the prude pool are still slippery when wet, so be careful when
walking through that area to the front desk or dining areas. We
didn't want to wear shoes if we didn't have to!
We found the food to be very
good, with lots of variety. We ate at the Italian restaurant twice
but didn't try the Japanese one.........maybe next trip?! The
breakfast menu was similar each day, but there was enough choice to allow
sufficient variety here too. Make sure you say hello to the guy
making the pancakes.......a very friendly fellow!! For lunch, we always ate at the nude grill by the
pool...........didn't want to get dressed anymore than we had to!!
The bartenders were always
friendly and would make almost anything you asked for. The
drinks tended to be quite strong, and in fact on a couple of occasions were too
strong to drink. Usually, however, they were just
right!! They certainly must go through a lot of booze in a
day!!!! It took us a little time to get used to being able to order
a drink whenever we wanted and not "pay" for it (I know we actually
paid for them!). One day we went over to the Scotch Bonnet
and asked for a bottle of champagne, and then watched the sunset from the
gazebo overlooking the water............very romantic!!! It
was good champagne too!
Linda had arranged before hand
for us to renew our wedding vows (this year is our 20th
anniversary). Once we were there, we met with Karen who made all
the final arrangements. On the phone, we were told we could do
it in the nude, however once there we were told no. But it did come
off very well and they go all out with flowers, cake, champagne, minister,
etc. The cake was really good too..........apparently the
traditional Jamaican chocolate rum cake. Yum!! We
asked a couple we had met there to stand up with us, as well as invited others
we had met to attend. We want to say a big thank you to our
new friends for their presence and support.
It made the event extra special.
Everyone said it went very well, and appreciated being able to
come. We also arranged for a video of the event, and I must say
they did a pretty good job. Besides the ceremony itself, he
took us to different locations within the resort to film short clips and
then the entire film was edited and music added, etc. After
it was done, we became "the couple who renewed their vows" to
lots of people we had not officially met!
As
far as PDA's go........yes there were some but I think Hedo's reputation is a
bit exaggerated. I'm sure it also depends on the people there, and
we may have hit a "quiet" week. Only saw some activity a
couple of times in broad daylight......more in the hot tub at night, but still
fairly tame compared to what we had heard. Perhaps it depends
on what it takes to shock you?! And there are some "sex
police" who seem to keep things from getting out of hand. The
games which are played certainly have sexual innuendos and some rude language
but don't go too far, and besides they're fun!! The ED's do a
really good job to get people involved and are very enthusiastic (which must be
difficult since they do this day in and day out).
Theme nights were fun,
although it seemed that only the PJ night and toga night had the most
participation. The piano bar was fun too. One night 3
guys got up and stripped to the music. After spending all day on
the nude side, it was no big deal for us........however, it was fun watching
some of the other guests (prudes?) who seemed a bit surprised and
horrified!! Linda enjoyed it at least!
Unfortunately, the time came
for us to return home. Our bus was
scheduled to leave at 8 am for a noon flight. As a result, we had to have our bags outside our door by 7am,
followed by a quick breakfast. The
bus ride to the airport was much more subdued than our arrival and without any
pit stops. We don’t want to go!!!
Our flight back to Toronto was
uneventful, except for a few rough spots.
However, we were greeted by winter-like conditions…….yuck!! Somehow, walking up our driveway through
the snow in bare feet and sandals was not quite how we had planned it!! Brrrrrrr!!!!
To sum up……..it was a very
enjoyable vacation with many pleasant memories! This is due in large part to the great people we met and with
whom, hopefully, we will remain in contact.
I haven’t mentioned any names, but you know who you are!!! Thanks, guys………we had a blast!!!!
Don and Linda
April 2003