Well I guess it is about time that we get our trip reports in since the rest of the people we were there with have gotten their's in. It seemed like there was so much to get done when we got back and our time clocks had definitly slowed to "Jamaica" time while we were there.
Overall we had a great trip and can't wait to go back. This site definitly made our trip. Talking with people who were there at the same time we were gave us instant people to hang out with and helped us get ready for our trip.
Trip to Hedo We booked our trip with Apple Vacations so the trip to Jamaica was a TWA flight filled with all people going to All-Inclusives in Jamaica. In other words a whole bunch of families and then us. There were three other couples that were one the minibus with us on the way to the resort, but we did not talk with them much. We quickly got an intro to Jamaica driving rules: 1) faster is better 2) if it looks like two cars will barely fit on the road, there is probably room for a car to pass between and finally 3) in the case of which side of the road they drive on: left is right and right is suicide.
Check in Check in took no time. We were immediatly introduced to Leslie and Simone who took care of us the entire time we were there. After meeting us once they remembered our names the rest of the time. We were happy to find that we had one of the poolside rooms by the quad. Our doors opened up to bring us four feet from the quad pool, not that we ever went in that pool, but it was nice to look at. The room was great. The mirror over the bed was a little warped, but it still did the job, and the mirror over the bathtub was a little pointless since after about 30 seconds it would get fogged up, but the tub was still great. Definitly go easy on the bubble bath if you turn the jets on.
We had been at Hedo less than two hours when Jeremy and Mary, who we had talked to over the internet, found us and drug us over to the nude side. It seemed a little strange at first, but it was not long until we were actually more comfortable on the nude side than on the prude side.
Activities I don't remember all the actvities that we participated in, but this is the abbreviated version. The first night Antone and I did the Battle of the Sexes. It was just a mixture of different games where you could get as involved as you pleased. There were quite a few people involved including the "17-year-olds" that Chris talked about. The guys ended up winning (it was rigged), but both teams got prizes. We came away with a bottle of Rum Finzi and Tia Maria. The next day I did the Ms. Nude Hedo contest with Mary. I can't say we were the most active participants, but we did give Jeremy and one other guy a "golden shower". It is not what it sounds like. We got Hedo bucks for that. I did the body painting a few days later on the nude side. Romeo did a great job. He painted roses all over me that just looked great. The final day we went snorkeling in the morning. It was my first time snorkeling and I thought it was great. We got to see quite a few different kinds of fish, but we heard that there was not a whole lot to see if you went in the afternoon. The only other thing I can remember is the toga contest. More on that later. One of the biggest activites I did was the trapeze, which was one of the biggest rushes I have had in a long time. The circus instructors have you up on the trapeze just a few minutes after you show up, swinging, hanging by your knees, flipping and everything. I had a great time and ended up being in the circus show that is put on the night that dinner is out on the beach. It was a great time. The final day, I even got to learn a new trick. Circus of the Stars here I come.
Food We were pretty impressed with the food. Of course we are used to anything off the old George Foreman grill being an entire meal. We never had trouble finding enough food on the buffet. Breakfast and Lunch tended to be pretty much the same, but you could always get more at the Scotch Bonnet. I loved the jerk chicken. The dinner buffet had different choices every night that were always very good. There were also standbys like pasta and salad if anyone could not find what they wanted. The restaurants were pretty good. We eat Japanese pretty often at home so the Japanese restaurant was a little disappointing, but the pasta restaurant was good. They also had more selection. We tried the midnight buffet (midnight - 3am) one night after the nude hot tub as well. It was great, really hit the spot.
Tours We took three different trips while we were at Hedo. We figured it was our first time so we would get the tours out of the way so the next time we go we can just relax. We did the Ocho Rios shopping tour first. We went with Jeremy and Mary, we figured the more the merrier. The trip was about a half hour or so ride to Ocho and then two hours of bargaining. It was fun at first, but it got old fast. We were weary for Wal-Mart after an hour. The second trip that we took was the Dunn's River Cruise. You can read more about that on Jeremy and Mary's trip report. Like they said, it is something that you have to do once. The final trip we took was the Blue Mountain Bike Tour. It was well worth it. We had to be up at 7:15am for a three hour bus ride up into the mountains, but the bus driver did a great job of pointing attractions along the way. We got brunch when we were halfway up the mountain and then they took us the rest of the way up. 5,000 feet in all. The view was terrific. We then got bikes, that were not exactly first rate, but they did the job. You don't have to pedal at all and you get to go through the rain forest, the coffee plantations and through some of the villages. We stopped again for a jerk lunch and then continued down the mountain to a waterfall where we got to go swimming. Then back on the busses for the three hour travel back. Overall a great trip. The only downside to the tours was the we booked them through Apple Vacations. While we got treated like royalty since we booked with Apple, we were not treated so well by the Apple tour representative. We were not picked up by the tour bus for the Dunn's river tour and were never really reimbursed for losing almost half a day of our vacation.
Theme Nights We participated in quite a few of the theme nights, but we were there at a time when there were not a whole lot of people participating. The best night was toga night. We took our own material, including some see through mesh for me. We tied them as best we could and then proceeded to dinner. I ended up winning most revealing and another bottle of alcohol. We hit the disco quite a few nights afterwards. There were quite a few people who participated that night and the PJ night at the disco.
Going Nude Like I said we hit the nude side pretty early and were regluars after that. It is much more fun than the prude side. People are more likely to start up conversations on the nude side. We did take the big Wal-Mart mugs with us which was great. You could hang out a lot longer without having to go refill. We also took floats for the beach that we just left there for anyone to use. Overall we met more people than I could even list while hanging out at the nude hot tub/pool/beach. I am an editor of our college newspaper and wrote an editorial titled "Naked is Good" as soon as I got home. It seemed to go over pretty well, but I have gotten quite a few wierd looks since the issue came out.
Overall we had a great trip and are definitly going back. Our final suggestions: Do go nude Do take big mugs Don't book tours through Apple Vacations Do bargain for everything Do participate in everything that you can Do slide naked (faster is better) Don't be shy Do talk to everyone that you can AND Do talk to people before you go who will be there at the same time. Make friends.