Hedo trip report, 6/1-10
Day 1: Arrived (via US Air) at a little after 12:30pm. Got to Superclubs desk shortly before 1:00pm to wait about 20 minutes for bus. Everyone tries to handle your luggage so be quick to brush them off if you don’t want to pay the tips! Instead of expected crowds, there was only one other couple (heading to Grand Lido) on the air conditioned and comfortable bus. Trip took 1 hour and 45 minutes (including 2 stops for refreshments) and was worthwhile. All along the way you can see signs of construction of the new, straighter and faster road. Check-in (expecting the worst) took about 45 minutes. Not too bad considering what we were expecting, but horrible compared to typical check-in for a hotel in the US. But, we got the room type we wanted (ocean view, nude) in a great block of rooms midway between the main beach access and the nude pool/facilities. Good quiet location for sleeping (away from jacuzzi and parties), but close to the activities and fun. Met up with our friends Dave & Linda, as well as frequent visitors Andy & Kate (19th visit!). Had a great burger at Delroys and plenty of Red Stripe (too bad they don’t serve Dragon Stout), floated around for a bit, then off for a nap before PJ nite (lots of fun, interesting, revealing outfits) where we also met Achilles & Carmelita. Disco was fun and well air conditioned (almost too well), so we partied ‘till 2:00am, then off to bed.
Day 2: Up at 7:30am (argh!), staked our claim on the point on the nude beach, laid out for a bit, then off to breakfast (great omelets!). Took long walk past Sandals and back, attracting the attention of very few hawkers. Perfect weather, so off to the nude beach for Red Stripe and Purple Rains by 10:30am… Getting rafts was no problem at all. Met our new friends Art & Bev. Lunch (burgers again at the nude bar & grill), nude body painting (lots of fun), nude volleyball (ouch, skinned knees) then off to float in the ocean some more. Showered, dressed, and off to dinner to celebrate Art & Bev’s 20th anniversary at the Italian Restaurant (very good food and service). Disco ‘till midnight (very slow though), then off to socialize in the jacuzzi and play in the cave and floating platforms in the ocean (security was discretely present, but left everyone alone). Fun evening, but up until 2:00am again.
Day 3: Up at 8:00 (not much better), lotioned up then off to float and veg until lunch. After lunch, Kellie got her hair braided (negotiate the price!), then we floated and socialized some more before heading off to the 3:00 catamaran cruise to Rick’s (highly recommended, lots of fun). While not officially clothing optional, the three women in our group made it that way immediately upon boarding. By the time we made it to Rick’s, half the women on board were at least topless and several of the guys lost their clothes too. Fun crowd, and Rasta Ralphie was great. Met Doug & Brandy, great couple due to get married the next day! The cruise was better than the actual visit to Rick’s (rained heavily while there), but overall, very worthwhile. Got even more people naked on the way back and with the rum punch and beer being served, everyone was pretty rowdy as we mooned other boats and beaches… Back in time for a little rest and preparation before the Toga dinner at 8:00pm. After dinner, we went to our room to take a nap before the Toga judging, but in all honesty, we slept through our alarm and didn’t wake up until 11:15pm! So, we missed out on that activity… Headed to the disco, but it was completely dead, so we finally got to bed early (well, a little after midnight).
Day 4: Woke up at 8:30 (getting better) to a beautiful, sunny day with NO clouds. Perfect. Went to watch Doug & Brandy’s wedding and ended up video taping and taking pictures as well. Great little ceremony, the staff did a wonderful job trying to make sure things went well. We ended up “witnessing” the wedding and acting as best man and maid-of-honor for the post ceremony activities, so that was some unexpected fun. Beach Volleyball never happened (where were you Chaka?), so we got more drinking and floating time in. Good acrobat/stunt show during dinner. Steel band was good too, though the management was real pissy about videotaping the performances (copyright law my butt…). Disco was dead again, so it was off to jacuzzi and cave for more socializing and play until 3:00am (argh).
Day 5: Up at 7:00 (yuck, see bedtime), b’fast, then out on the 10:30am catamaran cruise to caves, reefs and Pickled Parrot. Great day for sailing and snorkeling. We all managed to make it a mostly clothing optional cruise again – very accommodating crew. Kellie managed to get a freebie foot massage from Steve (local on board providing ‘services’ to the guests) by giving him one first. Funny actually, Steve was a lot of fun. Water and caves around Pickled Parrot were great. Back to shore to get some more sun, do body painting again (be creative!), watch naked twister (what a bust), play nude volleyball again, and nap until dinner. Dinner was good, but entertainment was bland (nightclub type stuff and dumbed down reggae). Disco was dead again (pattern here?) so off to Veronica’s for a bit before heading off to nude jacuzzi (and cave :-) again until 3:00am. Gotta stop that!
Day 6: Slept in late (finally!) and barely made breakfast before it closed out. Down to nude beach to float around (and recover) and finally met up with Paula & John. Up to lobby at 2:00pm to see Dave & Linda off on their trip home, then back down to the beach for the day. Met David & Brooks briefly that night at the jacuzzi (too late again), but would bump into them a few more times before we left. Partied hard in the jacuzzi and cave again (security was once again very accommodating :o).
Day 7: Slept ‘till 9:30am (getting better at this), then off to b-fast, beach and soak all day. No activities to speak of. Did take some fun and sexy pictures with Kellie, Kim & another friend up in our window – which attracted too many onlookers, so we had to break up the fun. Hope the pictures come out! Reggae showcase and show was good, but the games were silly. A group of us headed off and got a security person to take a fun pictures of 8 of us in front of the “Nude Beach, no photography” sign on the prude side – only cost us a couple of drinks! Good sport. Stayed up too damn late again though!
Day 8: Slept in and barely made breakfast again. Hung (so to speak) at nude beach and pool again all day. Great nude volleyball game in the afternoon where we met Kristin & Jason – fun couple. PJ party was even better than the first one – more people participating and much skimpier outfits (what was that string you were wearing, Bing?). Knocked off early (2:00am, hah!).
Day 9: After another good night’s sleep, we headed out on the “booze cruise” for the Island picnic. We were a little hesitant to go on a trip that was purported to exist solely for the purpose of getting you drunk, but no problem. Drinking didn’t really start until noon and there were ways to keep consumption down (or up if that was what you were into). We did run out of beer and rum though! The island is beautiful, worth going to even if you don’t get drunk. Back by 2:00pm (too late to say goodbye to Doug and Brandy though), to soak up some more sun and relax before our anticipated hectic departure in the morning. Dinner was good, then we spent some time at Veronica’s, playing casino games in the courtyard, etc. Still up until nearly 2:00am though. Not good the night before we leave!
Day 10: woke up at 6:30am to the dreaded eviction notice under our door. Since we had to be on the 10:00am bus back to Mo Bay, we headed down to the nude beach for some early morning sun and floating in the warm water. Stayed at the beach for as long as we dared push it, then up to shower, finish packing and off to breakfast. Wandered around and took some last minute pictures before boarding the bus (it was late though, about 10:15am). Bus made good time to airport though and we beat most of the crowds at check in. No matter though as our flight was delayed over an hour (gave them time to put us all through a second, very thorough security search).
All-in-all, a very enjoyable, relaxing and fun vacation. We’d highly recommend Hedonism II to anyone open minded and looking for fun. If you don’t want to socialize or get naked, you might want to think of some other place (like Sandals or Grand Lido). None of the “adult activities” were ever over the top or bothersome – just fun. Some of the textiles seemed to be a bit uncomfortable around the topless women and occasional nudes, but then, what did they expect? For the most part, the guests were all well behaved and the staff did a wonderful job of entertaining, and providing services. Chaka and Paul in particular were great! Very clean and beautiful surroundings. We’ll definitely be back!
General tips and fallacies dispelled:
1) Travel on weekdays! Far fewer people and problems than we anticipated coming in on Tuesday and leaving on Thursday! Also, arranging for a flight that puts you on the 10:00am bus, rather than a later flight that puts you on the 2:00pm bus seemed to be a good plan. The people that we knew who left at 2:00pm just spent the last several hours of their stay anxiously awaiting the bus, with nothing to do. Getting out earlier worked well for us.
2) No problem getting rafts or lounge chairs (at least while we were there). Peak season may be different. We were glad we didn’t pack rafts for the trip.
3) “Sex Police” were virtually non-existent – or at least we didn’t attract them! Security seemed more intent on keeping non-Hedo guest off the grounds than stopping anyone’s fun. We even got the security people to take some pictures (including a nude group shot in front of the “Nude Beach, no photography” sign). The only memorable time that we saw security hassle anyone was when a couple of clothed guys wandered into the nude beach area and were just hanging around gawking. The security person there told them to get naked or leave – so they left! Yeah!
4) There wasn’t too much reggae music for our taste. They did play a lot of ‘Americanized’ reggae (i.e., UB40), but that doesn’t count. We would have enjoyed more authentic stuff.
5) Showers were fine, the water pressure was more than adequate. The temperature did fluctuate wildly at times, but that was no big deal.
6) Naked people are much more social than the prudes. Lose the clothes and hang out with the fun people!
Have a great trip yourself!