We arouse at the unlikely hour of 2:30 a.m. to drive two hours south to O'Hare to catch the non-stop Air Jamaica flight at 6:30 A.M. We were offered first class seats for an extra $75 per person, but decided to decline. The flight down was smooth and we caught up on the sleep we had lost the day before. This was our second trip to Jamaica, (first time to Couples) so we knew there was a bus ride ahead of us. The check in procedure at the airport for Hedo II went smoothly. After claiming our luggage and waiting about 1/2 hour, we were on the much maligned bus to Hedo II. The road ahead reminded us a lot of the Hana highway in Maui. Lots of hairpin turns, missing pavement along with some small towns in-between. It rained quite a bit in route. Luckily, the driver seemed to be in a hurry, so no Red Stripe stops in route. We met the first of several people we'd talk to more the time we were there.
After spending 10 hours in transit between the drive to the airport, the flight and the dreaded bus ride, we arrive at Hedo. Our luggage was unloaded, and we were invited to join the lunch that was in progress. Found the buffet style food to be very good. The menu was oriented toward a lot of salads. It went well with the hot weather.
After lunch, we decided to take a stroll over to the nude beach. We found our spot and I said it was time to take a dip after the long trip. Without thinking about it, we jumped right it. Felt good to cool off after our long journey. After a short skinny-dip, decided to get dressed and go back to check for our room key.
Our room was ready and our bags had been delivered. We had room 2225, just above the nude volleyball net. My wife opened the curtains to check out the ocean view. Upon spying a couple of guys in the beach, she announced that the view from the room was much better than she had anticipated.
We spent the evening in the main lobby, enjoying dinner and the Elvis floor show. Some of the music and dancing we did was just as romantic as can be. It had been awhile since we were on the dance floor. Throughout the week, I think we enjoyed the soft lights and music whenever we could. It added to the special feeling that Hedo can give you. No stress. No schedules, or meetings or difficult employees to deal with. We thought everything was well done.
Day 2: (Monday)
What can you say about another day in paradise. The day started sunny and warm. We started a routine of getting breakfast in the main lobby, then heading over to the nude beach and hanging for awhile. Then back for lunch, and back to the nude beach until, o say 6 o'clock or so, when it was dinner time. We signed up today for the horseback riding trip on Wednesday. However, when the time arrived to be picked up, the tour operator didn't show. We waited over an hour, but still nobody showed. We wound up trading the horseback riding for the catamaran cruise on Thursday. (Great idea!)
Day 3: (Tuesday) Again, a really relaxing day. Kind of the same routine as yesterday. Started to meet a lot of people around the nude pool. Met Paula and Bill from St. Louis. Great couple. Introduced us to the Bob Marley drink at Veronica's that night. They were nine timers, us our first. Bob Marleys are four layer flaming drinks. Grenadine (red), Creme de Mint (green), dark Appleton rum (yellow), topped with 151 rum and set a flame. The trick is to drink it before the straw melts. Later, we attended the P.J. party at the disco. The P.J. party is loud, hot and crowded. Kind of fun, if your like us, and don't get out much. Tried the disco later in the week, but it was mostly a bunch of guys looking for a pick-up. They were mostly out of luck. Almost everybody had brought somebody with them. After the hot experience in the disco, I hit the nude pool for an hour to cool off while Pat hit the sack.
Day 4: (Wednesday)
Kept on meeting more interesting people. Met a lot at the Go Classy luncheon at the COSMOS restaurant hosted by Jamaica Jim and Kevin, the general manager of Hedonism. Seems a majority of the people we're meeting were professionals, looking for a real break from reality. Well, that's what Hedonism is for. We started to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with people we met on the nude side. The prude side, well almost deserted the entire week. All the action and fun is on the nude side.
Day 5: (Thursday)
Well tonight is toga night. After 4 days of just enjoying our surroundings, with lots of friends, sun and good food, we are going to take in the toga party. But first, the catamaran cruise. It started to rain like crazy just before we departed for Rick's. However, after about thirty minutes, the sun came out and the cruise was great. Due to a lack of info, we wound up on the textile cruise. We'll next time, nude. We thought the $40 per person price tag was well worth it. We tried cliff diving at Rick's. Lot's of fun-- could have done it all day. The toga party- well it's loud, and well attended. Prizes for all types of togas. Many women wore very revealing togas.
Day 6: (Friday)
Well a very sad day for us. We're leaving. Now I know why so may people go back. It's tough to go. Like you waited and planned so long to be there. All the daily stuff you have to put up with is coming back on Monday morning. We traded e-mail addresses with some of our friends, hoping to meet up again. Possibly next year. Overall reaction- great. We had no complaints against the room, facilities, staff or other people we met. As far as any after hours activities anywhere on the grounds, we didn't see any. Go Classy Tours did a great job of arranging everything for us. I was a little worried that Go Classy might not come through. However, after all the work that's been done on the Internet, I figured I couldn't go wrong and I didn't. Lance does a great job and gets an attractive price on room and air.
Other things we did while there: Took part in the body painting contest. Entered Pat as a mermaid. Took in the adult oriented scavenger hunt and the wet T-shirt contest Got bitten by a jellyfish- watch out- about 3 people a day are stung. It takes a few hours and then the sting goes away. However, in the meantime, go see Delroy. Put a couple of rum punches down to kill the pain. Fell down the stairs at Rick's. Watch out, the stairs are cement and tile. I took my aqua socks off so I wouldn't lose them. Maybe the jellyfish sting and the rum earlier in the day were a little to much to handle.
Overall Recommendations:
If you don't like the nude beach, go somewhere else. We walked over to the textile side many times after meals to see if there was anything going on. Not really anything there. Meals- If you're a real meat eater, you might be a bit out of place. The buffet has a lot of salads, and fresh fruit. A pretty healthy diet compared to what a lot of us eat here in the U.S. Types of People- We met a lot of professional people who wanted to escape for awhile. Age group, pretty varied. I think a lot of people found their own age group and stuck with it. For the most part, people without children, or children that were grown up. Nobody there with toddlers. Compared to Grand Lido- We took the tour of Grand Lido and were impressed by the facility. However, Grand Lido is really subdued. You're not going to find the stress relief of the party atmosphere of Hedo. How many nights to stay? I'd say 5 is about right. We did 4 at Couples in 1996. That was ok, but the travel time took up at least a whole day (round trip). This way you can unwind and make it back to work on Monday, with some time to get back into the daily routine on the following Saturday and Sunday.
Would we go back? If the opportunity presents itself. It was a nice escape from the kids, but we have a few places left to take them before they grow up and move out.
Well Denny, there you have it. You can edit some of the stuff out at the end if you want. We enjoyed ourselves. I spent a lot of time, reading all the info on the net from everyone and found it useful. However, when is the nude catamaran cruise? That seemed to be missing while we were there. Thanks Bill and Pat See you on the NET!!!