Eric & Karen

Hello! Trip was great. We lucked out with sunny weather the whole time, saw a few sprinkes last 20 minutes we were there. Must have been Jamaica crying because we were leaving...J/K!

A little about us, we are 21 and 22 years old and have been married for 3 years, no kids (except us). We were the youngest couple there when we went, although there were many couples in their mid 20's. We don't drink, or swing. I know, you are thinking, non-drinking monogomous couple at hedo... HEY! It's our favorite vacation to date! If you are like us and thinking you don't belong at hedo, cast those thoughts aside. You will have a great time!

This was our first time going on this type of trip. We booked the trip about 4 months before actually going. The anticipation was half the fun, and Hedo lived up to our expectations and then some. We have read other people's trip reports who didn't have a good time, and that's unfortunate. Bad things happen, but many were complaining about seeing sex or having to be nude on the "nude" beach....hmmmm, not sure how you missed that one. Now you have no excuses! I'm here to tell you, you will see sex, and you will feel foolish on the nude beach with so much as a thong on! So don't go to "hedonism" if that type of thing is not for you.

Had a room in the green quad building...it was awesome, but our TV remote wouldn't do the volume. That was the only complaint with the room.

SCUBA was really great. Claude was our instructor, very nice and funny. The swim test just about made Eric puke, and he's in great shape, so make sure you had a good night sleep and some food about an hour before the swim (it's at 8:00 am!) If you aren't certified, make sure you sign up early, they typically only do the certification twice a week, and you can't dive 24 hours before you fly out.

Snorkeling was good, but it's a good idea to buy a snorkel rather than using theirs. They don't have the backwash stopper so you end up drinking about two gallons of ocean water ICK! You can pick up a pretty nice set for about $50-$100.

Lady on the side of the road selling jewelry hit me at $60 for a hemp necklace. I said "great!" and pulled out $60 jamaican dollars (about $1 USD). She laughed and said "No, $60 USD". Then I laughed and said something like "I can buy a TV in the U.S. for $60 USD, I'll give you $5 for the necklace" (a generous offer, it wasn't that cool). She wouldn't go lower than $30 USD....she must have smoked too much ganga that day. So the moral of the story is....don't pay asking price, unless you feel charitable, which is OK too I guess.

One more suggestion, make friends via e-mail before going. This was paramount to our having a great time. Sure you can meet people when you are there, but knowing people first just increases your chances of making new friends...they know people, who know other people, etc.

Eric & Karen - October, 2004