Robs Hedo III Trip Report
After reading so many of
the great trip reports posted by others, we wanted to post an account
of our recent Hedonism III adventure. Most
of the reports weve read were written by couples -- this one is for the
singles, as it represents Hedonism from the point of view of four single guys
in their late 20s.
We were in Hedonism III from July 21 to the 27th.
Before I go into the awesome details, I want to say up front that it
was the best vacation I have ever experienced.
We were not sure what to expect from Jamaica or from an all inclusive
club, but we chose Hedonism III because we liked the idea of the casual party
atmosphere, no wallets, and wild times (hopefully)!
Hedonism III delivered.
None of us had ever flown Air Jamaica, and we were leery
of a long, overnight flight on airline from a small Caribbean island.
We shouldnt have worried -- Air Jamaica was great. The flight was on
time, the staff and service were excellent, and the landing was smooth.
We arrived very early in the morning, so passage through customs seemed
tedious after such a long flight. But
we were met immediately after clearing immigration by an Apple Vacations rep
who greeted us by name and told us where to stand to wait for the bus to the
resort.
While we were waiting, we were approached numerous times
by people offering to sell us pot. Unfortunately
one of our friends wanted to get an early start on the vacation and took up on
one of the offers. Despite what
you may have heard, this is illegal in Jamaica, and our bus driver had seen
everything. He had a heated and
hard-to-understand exchange with our buddy, with the end result being that our
friend had to leave the pot in the bushes.
But our driver remained extremely friendly and upbeat, and the drive
out to the resort was fun and informative.
We learned much about the history of the island, including the story of
the "White Witch" who murdered her lovers until she met a similar
fate. Our drivers most
passionate remarks were reserved for when we passed through the hometown of
"the Great International Superstar Bob Marley."
It was the first of many references to the Jamaican legend that we
would encounter throughout our trip.
The bus had several couples going to other Superclubs
resorts, and since we were on the same flights, we ran into these couples on
the way back to the airport at the end of the week. This enabled us to compare notes on the resorts -- more on
that later.
We arrived at Hedo III very early in the morning, so our
rooms were not ready. We left our bags with the bellmen and headed to the
dining hall for breakfast. As we
ate, we became kinda concerned that the Hedo III scene wouldnt be all it
was cracked up to be. The guests
who were milling around were not the young, sexy, party-type people we had
hoped for, and the resort seemed eerily quiet.
But we should have known better -- it was only 7:30 in the morning, and
most of the guests we would be partying with had just gone to bed!
They started coming out to the pool around noon, just at the time we
first ran into Debbie, Dee and Romeo, part of Hedo IIIs cool entertainment
staff. Before we knew what was
happening, they had us participating in the Beach Olympics.
Our two teams were named "The Wet Clits" and "The Sexual
Chocolates." We started
loosening up by racing kayaks, passing volleyballs between our legs, and
playing our first pool volleyball game of the vacation.
We met some of the other guests, and by mid-afternoon our rooms were
ready.
The rooms were great -- clean, modern and spacious, with
marble bathrooms and large, sunken jacuzzi tubs. Each room had more mirrors than you could know what to do
with, including large mirrors on the ceiling over the beds and the tub.
The air conditioning was controlled with a wireless remote control, and
the rooms remained cool & cozy the whole time we were there.
Also, each shower/tub combo had a large bay window over it.
It was intimidating at first, but after a long, hot day by the nude
pool, it was obvious that many people enjoyed a shower in full view of their
fellow guests.
That afternoon we made our first visit to the nude area.
About two thirds of the resort is considered "prude", and
bathing suits are required, at least until midnight.
We noticed that although most of the guests never got up the courage to
get naked and remain in the nude area, almost all of them seemed to
"casually stroll by" the nude side a few times just to check it out.
That was my friends first intention too -- the only problem was that
he encountered the wild nude-area cocktail waitress Nola.
She picked up on his hesitation right away, and like the rest of the
staff at Hedo III, playfully insisted that he have a little fun.
She suggested that he remove his clothing while she waited.
Then she told him to take a seat on a chaise lounge by the pool and she
would bring him whatever drink he wanted.
It was the first of many drinks, and the first of many relaxing days by
the nude pool.
As many other trip reports have mentioned, the guests in
the nude area were definitely way cooler and more fun than the guests on the
prude side. There just is
something about nudity that seems to break down peoples social barriers.
One of the reasons the nude area is so relaxing is the lack of concern
over peoples physical appearance. It
was crowded, and there were people of all ages, shapes and sizes.
There were a lot of extremely attractive singles and couples, but a
good many people also had less than perfect bodies.
The cool thing is that no matter what you looked like, you really got
the feeling you were among friends. The
pool, being beside the bar and constantly attended by the entertainment staff,
was usually very lively. The nude
beach and nearby boardwalk/pier was way more sedate, and most guests in these
areas were content to lie quietly in the sun, either on a chaise lounge or
floating on one of the many rafts provided by the resort.
The water was awesome, clear and warm for the entire trip.
The resort cleared the two beaches of the coral and spiny sea urchins
that blanket the area, but you had to be careful venturing outside of these
beach areas. We snorkeled around
to the outside of the rock barriers surrounding the nude beach, and the sea
floor was covered with urchins, anemones, and coral.
All of them looked extremely painful to touch, and stepping on one
would probably ruin a vacation.
The nude side was awesome, but dont think the prude
side was not fun -- in fact, the largest organized events usually occurred at
the main stage in the dining hall. Throughout
the day there were events such as wet tee shirt contests (these got pretty
wild), sexy shorts contests, baby oil wrestling, games of truth or dare, and
constant volleyball. On the nude
side things were raunchier there was a Miss Nude Hedonism competition and
a pussy shaving exhibition. The
staff did an amazing job keeping everything lighthearted and fun no matter how
crazy things got. They never
pushed anyone into something he or she wasnt comfortable with.
So heres how the typical evening went:
the resort would empty out around 4:00 pm as everyone went back to
their room to shower, rest, have sex, or whatever.
People started rolling out around 8:00, and most people went to dinner
in the dining hall. Each night at
the main stage the entertainment started with some sort of competition or
game, and usually ended with some type of musical performance.
The action then moved to the disco, which opened each night at 11:00,
though things didnt get going til after midnight.
Every night there was a different theme.
The best were the pajama party and the masquerade.
The dress was varied -- some people wore cool costumes (Rob and Heather
from Virginia stole the show at the Masquerade) and others wore shorts and tee
shirts. Costumes really helped
make the scene. If you can, you
should bring some wild halloween-type costume for the masquerade ball, some
cool boxers for the pajama party, and some bell-bottoms for the 70s night.
Some nights the disco never seemed to get going.
We never went to the piano bar, but it always seemed to be packed at
night, with a slightly older crowd than the disco.
The best part of the disco was the water slide.
Even though the slide operated throughout the day, it was really only
fun late at night, drunk, and naked. As
each night progressed, a line would grow longer and a crowd would form as the
prudes lost their inhibitions and actually experienced what Hedonism was all
about. A staff member usually
waited at the bottom to hand out towels, though most people jogged back up the
steps for another go at it. People
who had never before had their clothes off in public stood butt cheek to butt
cheek, laughing and having a kick-ass time.
It was awesome!
The other hot spot at night was the nude hot tub.
We didnt hang out there much, but it seemed like most of the truly
hedonistic stories originated there. Yes
-- there was group sex on the nude beach, and open sex in the hot tub.
Very late at night these activities seemed to spread outward from the
nude area, and could be seen pretty much anywhere. Our room faced the prude quad pool, and it was fun just to
watch the wild things that would happen after 2:00am. One couple pulled their bed out onto the pool deck, and
my (very drunk) friend recognized them from earlier in the day, didnt
seem to realize or care what was going on, and sat and talked with them for a
while. They seemed not to mind,
and were back to enjoying themselves pretty quickly.
My friend didnt remember any of it the next day.
He was surprised when the girl approached him warmly, gave him a hug,
and talked about how sad she was to be leaving that day.
She gave him some left over pot, kissed him goodbye, and left him
pretty confused. When I told him
what he had done the night before, he was both embarrassed and relieved that
he didnt do anything worse.
So whats the real story when it comes to sex for
singles at Hedo? The simple
answer is that there is a lot of it going on, and whether you participate is
going to depend on how outgoing and adventurous you are.
Many couples (especially older ones) are looking for a 3rd, so if youre
down with that you will definitely hook up.
There are also single women, but like most single women anywhere else,
you had better have something going for you if you expect to get anywhere.
Most singles at Hedo are looking to have fun first, and sex only if it
feels right. So if youre fun,
outgoing, and cool to hang out with, you will definitely have a good time.
We didnt go to Hedonism for the food, but it was fine.
I would compare the dining hall food to a standard Las Vegas buffet.
There was a lot of variety and it was all decent, but there wasnt
anything particularly memorable except for the fresh fruit.
The service, however, was exceptional we never waited for a drink,
and plates were cleared as soon as we finished them.
The three restaurants offered a step up in quality.
The Italian and Japanese restaurants were both good comparable to
standard restaurants in any large city. The
Jamaican restaurant was outside overlooking the ocean, and it offered more
casual fare. It was great for a
quick burger and fries, or a good bowl of conch soup.
We didnt go hungry, but our Hedonism memories are definitely not
food-related.
The bar service was outstanding. The bartenders quickly mixed up any drink you wanted, and
offered suggestions if you werent sure.
Dirty Bananas were the drink of the week for us, along with
Hummingbirds and Yellowbirds.
We had heard that Hedo III offered free scuba diving, so
all of us got certified before we left the U.S.
The dive operation was very well run, but very strictly managed.
They had a large dive boat and shop right on the main beach, and
offered dives every day at 9:00 and 11:00 am.
I had left my certification card at home, and they required me to get
it FedExed to Jamaica before I could dive any of the deep water or night
dives. If you are not certified,
you can take a one hour introductory class, and they will let you dive the
shallow dives (up to 40 feet in depth.) This is quite a bargain without certification or any of
your own equipment you could dive every day if you wanted to, all without
paying anything extra. The diving
was good, and the water was clear and warm.
We dove a shipwreck and saw lots of fish and coral during the day, and
some beautiful lobster, eels, and stingrays at night. In addition to the scuba, the resort also offered kayaks,
sunfish sailboats, and windsurfing equipment.
We had no desire to leave the resort for any day trips
until one couple (Nelson & Marily) came back from Dunns River Falls
raving about how cool it was. We
decided to check out the falls and do some souvenir shopping in the Ocho Rios
craft market. The Apple Vacations
rep got a car and driver for us for $25 a head, and we were off.
We needed to stop at the bank to get cash, and that was a little too
time consuming. You dont need
any cash if you plan to stay on the resort, but if you want to do any shopping
you should bring cash with you rather than wasting time in the bank.
The craft market was full of lots of people all selling the same basic
mix of wood carvings, tee shirts and paintings.
We stocked up, then headed to the falls.
Dunns River Falls consisted of a long chain of fresh
water cascades streaming over beautiful rock formations and ending in some
dramatic spills into the blue Caribbean.
The falls are set in a lushly landscaped park, full of dark green,
tropical vegetation and towering banyon trees.
We spent several hours hiking through the falls, swimming in the little
pools, and exploring the park. It
was definitely worth the day trip, but we couldnt wait to get back to the
resort for some more fun.
Here are some things we wished we had known ahead of
time. The Jamaican sun is hot!
Get as pre-tanned as you can before you get there so you wont have
to worry as much about sunblock. Youll
want to bring some cool clothes for the disco and maybe the restaurants, but
otherwise lots of T-shirts and your swimsuit are all you need.
The resort has plenty of towels. If
you stay on the property, your only need for cash will be the gift shop, the
souvenir vendors, and the special entertainers (fortune tellers, tarot card
readers etc.) Also, they charge
$45 for the night scuba dives. Both
American and Jamaican dollars seem to be accepted everywhere without a
problem.
On the bus ride back to the airport, we ran into couples
that had stayed at other resorts. All
the Hedo folks were tanned, relaxed and still smiling from ear to ear, but
some of the people from the other resorts didnt have as good a time.
One couple that stayed at Breezes said that the rooms were old and
musty, the food was repetitive, and the atmosphere rather boring.
When we told them what a great time we had at Hedo, they were pretty
jealous. Another couple that had stayed at Grand Lido Braco said it
was pretty stuffy it didnt sound like they enjoyed themselves very
much.
In general I would summarize the sexual atmosphere at
Hedo III as energized and fun, but definitely not overwhelming.
If you go with the idea that youre going to have sex all the time,
you will be disappointed. Instead, think fraternity party for adults.
If you are thinking of going but worried that the resort might be too
wild, ask yourself: does it make you happy to see people having a lot of fun?
Do you enjoy music, meeting new, friendly people, and partying until
the wee hours of the morning? If you answered yes to all of these, then I
guarantee you will have a good time at Hedonism.
Any questions, just e-mail!