Hedo III
July 5-11, 2002
Planning
This was our first trip to Hedo and our first trip to the Caribbean. We are both fairly experienced travelers.
Geoff planned this trip, and did so much research he almost knew TOO MUCH going in. After finding DennyP, and reading all of the Hedo III (and Hedo II) trip reports, and religiously following the message boards for both resorts for weeks, nothing came as a complete surprise..and that was actually a bit disappointing. You hate to anticipate your trip and then find out you suffer a bit of "been there, done that" (or "heard that, read that") syndrome.
I suggest planning and researching, but leave some of it to the imagination, that way you'll have some surprises along the way..:-)
Travel
Since I travel all the time, I'm very spoiled (Geoff writing this, by the way). Since my regular airline doesn't serve Jamaica, I booked us first class tickets on AJ, non-stop from LA. It was not much more expensive than coach.
Our trip started off a bit stressful, as while on the way to LA on the 4th, we found out about the El Al shooting at LAX. We were unsure of whether the airport would even be open the next night, etc. Turned out everything was normal by the time we flew.
The LA to MBJ flight is a redeye, arriving at 6:30 AM. The first class cabin made this a great choice for us. It gave us an extra full day at the resort. We ended up meeting others from the flight who really complained about the space and service in coach.
The bus was great both ways, and this coming from two who get carsick.no issues at all. We dreaded it for a month and ended up loving it. We ended up deciding against any off resort adventures, figuring the bus ride was equal to any we'd experience.
The return flight was fine, except for a terrible experience at MBJ, with security holding back all of the boarders for a bunch of flights, even though AJ kept announcing the flights were boarding. It was 500-600 people, including a lot of kids who were terrified, in a scene that reminded me of why people get trampled to death by mobs.
Arrival
We arrived at Hedo at ~8:30 AM. Our room wasn't ready but that was understandable, due to the time. We quickly checked in, and wandered around to get the lay of the land.
Once we were oriented, we said "heck, let's just get it over with" and went to the nude pool and beach area. Now, here is where research started to let us down. we expected derision if we entered this area clothed so we stripped down outside before entering. It was pretty funny, in retrospect. We were true rookies, wandering in carrying our shorts and shoes, etc. We later realized we could just strip down once there.
People
The first day was a blast, sunning, drinking, etc. While going over to the front desk to find out if our room was available, I ran into some folks I had connected with on DennyP. We spent much of the first night hanging with them. We did our first naked slide run (too cool), some time in the glass-bottom hot tub, and in keeping with the Hedo spirit, a game of strip billiards (at some point the guys were bottomless and the ladies topless when suddenly, out of nowhere, approached a couple from Israel. Next thing we knew, she had her skirt hiked up and her "womanhood" was now placed above the pool pockets while we tried to shoot. I may never be able to visualize my shots the same way again). We had fun that night, but for whatever reason, we never really connected with those guys again, and we feel bad about that.
On the plus side, we realized that it is really easy to make friends at Hedo if you want to, so don't feel as though you have to hook up in advance. Some of the folks we met while there were among the nicest people I've ever met. Don and Renee stand out (I dubbed them the "Mayor and First Lady of Hedo"). They took part in everything, befriended everybody, and are already in the center of keeping the friendships going. Maggie & Junior, Pat & Theresa and Bob & Julie were also great.
Unfortunately, two things that really bothered us happened at the nude pool, both the result of one particular "family", a mother and daughter. The first one was something that happened to me personally: I had never been publicly nude before this trip. I am also fair skinned, and despite 5 trips to the tanning salon in advance and three full days in Jamaican sunlight, I was still pretty white and sensitive about it.
After 3 days, I assumed that the party line of "no one will ever notice or comment on anything at Hedo" was pretty accurate. Then it happened. As I entered the nude pool, the mother yelled "OH MY GOD !!! LOOK HOW WHITE HE IS!!!!!" to the laughter and amusement of about 100 others.
I was devastated. If I had been anywhere else (and thus less mellow), I might have replied in kind about her abundant cellulite. Instead, I just retreated into a shell and was quietly self-conscious for 3 days.
The second thing was also a comment, from the daughter - that was racially insensitive - about an African-American guest, loudly and publicly telling him that he shouldn't be named his "normal" given name..that Tyrone would be better. I was disgusted.
So, the best part was the people.and the worst part was the people.
You can't set expectations about everyone you go on vacation with and who you'll meet while there..and in the future we won't try.
Other stuff
We loved the nude beach, it was quiet, mellow and comfortable.
We thought the "scene" at the nude pool and hot tub was pretty cliquish. We never saw any body shots or organized games at the pool (except one pretty objectionable eating out contest started by Teddy Bear, that even the participants didn't seem to enjoy).
The food was OK. We loved the breakfast buffet and especially the Scotch Bonnet, where we had lunch every day.we almost had Jerk overload! We hated Pastafari.
The gym was good. Only used it once, should have been there everyday. It really made us feel good to work out, kind of "burns off" the toxins.
The staff was nothing like what we expected. Most of the staff seemed disinterested with the exception of one security guard at the nude pool and Patrick from sales, who helped me out by letting me use his office computer to access the Internet to solve a problem, since the kiosks never worked. The whole concept of "respect" made sense going in, but we could never really figure out just how to show it, or how to return it.
Honestly, we don't know for sure how the ECs get their reputations. We didn't see them do much, except the organized shows. Maybe once they realized that we aren't joiners and didn't want to participate in any organized games they just blew us off.
All in all we really enjoyed our first trip. We are already planning a return to Jamaica, over Christmas, maybe to Hedo, maybe to GLB. This time, we plan on not even trying to connect with others beforehand, the mystery will be better. That said, we cherish the friendships we made while there.