John - April, 2007

Trip report April 21-29, 2007

 

I decided I needed a break from the miserable New England winter/spring and after several trips to H2, wanted to try something different (H3), see some different dive sites, and could not wait for the annual Beach Rangers trip to H2 in June.  I picked the key dates, sent an email to Denny P, followed up with a phone call, and started dreaming about warmer, greener climes.  I was a bit disappointed that airfare was more than twice what I have ever previously paid, but swallowed hard and paid anyhow.

 

Prior to leaving I checked the visitors list for people attending during the same time and contacted a few people.  I was a bit concerned about not knowing anyone, as most of the people that I know are H2 diehards and would not consider going to H3.  I was pleased to find out that there was an established group going at the same time, the Castaways Travel/Spring Break 2007 Group.  This group had a website and while I missed their chats I was able to post a few messages and get a feel for the character of the group.

 

Travel

US Air took off and landed on time going in both directions.  This was a welcome change after the last few trips and having serious delays on Air Jamaica and Continental.  Despite arriving at Sangster midday on a Saturday when at least two other planes were landing, I was through immigrations and customs within 45 minutes.  Sangster had a lot of agents on duty and the line moved steadily.  The SuperClubs office has moved and is now a bit more of a walk.  As soon as they had processed my paperwork the desk agent said, “Your bus is leaving now.  You should go identify your bags and follow the porter.”  That was music to my ears.  Our bus had about a dozen people including some that were getting off at Breezes.  Most of us were going to H3 and the overall atmosphere for the ride was upbeat.  We made one quick stop for beer and the total travel time was about 80 minutes.  On April 21, the highway was not complete – there are a few areas where the shuttle busses had to ride on hardpack for a considerable distance rather than on highway.  Highway, soon come.

 

Weather

The week started out rough with periods of rain and wind.  On a few nights a heavy cold rain fell after midnight chasing people out of the hot tub.  After that it was sunny with temps in the high 80s.  Water temps were 79 to 84F.

 

The resort

Having been to H2 thirteen times previously I feel a strong affinity for that resort.  Still I am open to new things and was anxious to see what H3 was like.  I had heard that H3 was smaller, but nicer.  I had also heard that H3 attracted a younger crowd and had better food.  I had heard that people who have been to both resorts tend to prefer the one that they went to first.  I arrived open-minded.

 

I was assigned to the 500 building.  The building is between the quad and the CO pool complex.  I think it is the quietest area of the resort.  I had a nice view of the CO beach from my window.  The room was nicer than the H2 rooms and since I was on the third floor I had the nice vaulted ceiling.  I liked the fact that the room and bathroom windows opened.  One rainy afternoon I took a power nap with the window open and got bit several times by unseen critters.  That ended the open windows experiment.  The louvered windows in the shower were nice for letting steam out during showers.  I also liked the big whirlpool tub.  I did not use mine, but by the sounds of things, my neighbors sure did – if you know what I mean…..J

 

I found H3 to be a very nice resort.  It IS smaller than H2, and as a result many things are built higher to make use of the available space.  That means that the housing units are three floors instead of two.  The disco and piano bar are also on the upper floors.  There is the potential to walk a lot of steps, which can get tiring to some.  I was in the middle of a work-sponsored contest and I wore a pedometer and counted my flights of steps.  I walked more than 80K steps and more than 150 flights of steps in the one week period.

 

The water slide kicked ass!

 

The disco was smokin’ most nights, sometimes till as late as 3am.  The music was far better than the music in the H2 disco on my last few visits.  I particularly liked the big open format of the disco compared to the disco at H2.  The dancing cage and dance pole kicked ass and saw lots of action.  I also went into the piano bar almost every night, but only saw karaoke, no piano player.

 

I thought that the buffet area at H3 was smaller than the buffet area at H2 offering smaller serving and seating areas, but there was never any difficulty finding a place to sit.  The old Scotch Bonnet, now called the Reggae Café, is a nice place for a meal, to get out of the sun for a bit, or to watch the sunset.  I also liked that there were several gazebos around the resort that had swinging platforms.

 

I spent most of my time at the CO pool complex, but also spent some time in the quad pool.  I particularly liked the quad pool and the large area for pool volleyball and will probably spend more time there on a return trip.  Still the CO pool was the place to be.  Most mornings you had a hard time finding a seat unless you got out there early.

 

I was unimpressed with the small CO beach area.  No floating platforms in the ocean like at H2.  Rarely was there more than a handful of people on the prude beach.

 

I really liked the electronic card keys.  They made me feel a bit less likely that something would get stolen from my room.  I also liked the big in-room safes that you can set your own combination to.  They were big enough for a good sized laptop computer (if one is so inclined).

 

The food

The food was good to above average.  I don’t think that the selection matched what I have seen at H2, but some things were done up nicer.  For example, there was full suckling pig several nights, and there was a nice beef or lamb carving station most nights.  I always found something tasty to eat.  On Friday nights, tables were set up outside on the deck area for dinner under the stars.  The desserts looked great, but frequently did not taste as expected.  I don’t mean that in a negative way, just that they tasted differently than expected.  Frequently dessert items were not as sweet or heavy as expected.  Jamaican chocolate is more cocoa based than we are used to.

 

We had dinner in Munasan two nights.  It is nice being waited on during vacation and Munasan is air-conditioned.  I spoke to several people that had dinner at Pastafari.  They were unimpressed, but did not complain.

 

The people

First, a big round of applause for the Castaways Travel/Spring Break 2007 group and their leaders.  Even though I arrived at the resort at the same time as at least one other bus, the leaders were in the lobby meeting people to welcome them to the resort.  I was chit-chatting with people before I even got out of the lobby.  They also held “Meet & Greet” parties the first two nights, which were great ice breakers.  The group also held pole dancing and belly-dancing instruction.  While I didn’t get a chance to talk to half of the people in the group they were instrumental to my having a good time.

 

I had a roommate for a few nights.  He was generally polite and quiet.  We saw each other around the resort a few times, but basically we did our own things.

 

Otherwise, it is hard to explain how much the people at Hedo add to the vacation experience.  You meet so many nice, fun people that there is never a dull moment.

 

Monday afternoon leaflets started showing up around the resort promoting Swingers International and activities they were promoting for each day of the week – “Monday night:  Oral is moral.”  However, I never met anyone that admitted to being with Swingers International or were there for their activities.

 

Usually there are far more single males then single females at the resort.  There were 4-5 single guys (myself included) around the CO pool during the week.  Early in the week there were just as many, if not more single females in the pool and hot tub at night.

 

The diving

Strong rains with wind prior to arrival and for the first few days cancelled all water sports activity including scuba.  This was a bit disappointing as I usually try to do 10-14 dives in a seven day period.  Still I realize safety comes first.  When we finally did get out, the dive master brought us up after about 7 minutes because people were having a hard time getting down in the rough seas and rough surface conditions.  We moved to a more shallow area closer to shore, but two women and myself stayed on the surface while a few divers went back down.

 

The seas began clearing the next day when we got in one shallow dive (The Nursery), followed by a two tank dive the next day to The Canyon and Gilbert’s Reef.  The Canyon was very impressive with a very cool tunnel and an awesome wall.

 

I heard that the snorkeling was good off of both beaches.

 

The activities

There were good volleyball games every day, which made me very happy.  The entertainment coordinators did a good job of keeping us entertained.  Several of them were excellent dancers and really showcased their ability to shake it in the disco.  There were numerous poolside activities each day.  I won a bottle of Appleton playing the “rum-runner game”.  There was also poolside trivia and blindfolded “find your mate”.  One of the coolest things was the couple that gave poolside airbrush tattoos several afternoons.  I got one early in the week and another the day before I left.  Kudos to them, and to the resort for bringing them in.  That was a very nice touch.

 

Overall, I would rate the sexual atmosphere for the week a 7 out of 10.  The week started out smokin’ but cooled off considerably midweek.

 

Overheard at Hedo

“We’re in a committed seven-person relationship.”

“I don’t think that there is a part of my body that wasn’t explored.”

“This is the new rule:  No heroin.”

“If I say anything negative this week, spank me.  Actually, even if you just want to, spank me.”

“She is a bit frail and I am a bulldozer on steroids.”

“I think everybody is just three shots away from being bisexual.”

“I won’t squirt in the hot tub.  That’s just not right.”

“Do it again!  Do it again!”

 

Overall impressions

Usually you would have to pretty much drag me out of there and shovel me onto the bus, but this trip I was thinking about going home by Saturday afternoon.  Sunday morning after packing I went down to the pool for a few last rays.  Even at 10 am there were only seven people around the pool and I didn’t recognize any of them.  At this time any day earlier in the week the pool would have been packed.  So, I knew I was ready to go home.  Even though I didn’t party much I was pretty bushed from too many late nights and too little sleep.

 

The disco was a great place to dress up (or dress down based on the lack of clothing witnessed) and show off.  The cage and pole in the disco added a hot dimension to the place.

 

Random thoughts:

Kudos to every woman who wore her Hanky Pankys in the disco.  They make perfect disco wear.  I don't remember ever having seen so many before.

 

Kudos to the two women in the piano bar who saw my T-shirt, grabbed me, pulled down my pants, and .......

 

Kudos to the couple that provided air-brush tattoos poolside in the afternoon.  Definitely one of the highlights of the trip or many of us.

 

It was nice to hear a different collection of music poolside, but they needed to expand their selection beyond the two or three discs that they played.  Hearing the same songs got pretty old by the end of the week.

 

If there was a repeat offenders party I did not hear about it.

 

The hot tub was drained, cleaned, and refilled every other day.

 

On several occasions I saw the CO bartender walking through the crowd taking drink orders.

 

Upon check out I was told I had a $2 charge for use of the phone, which was impossible since I didn’t use it.  The charge was erased without any effort.

 

And then there was the young lady who I do not recall seeing before the pajama party – with her hair tied back and her mild demeanor she seemed a bit shy for this type of crowd.  She covered over her nighty with her robe after only a few minutes.  However, I stepped outside to get a few minutes of fresh air and when I came back she was on the bar, with her hair down, working the dance pole like a pro.

 

I have Sprint cell phone service.  I was reading a strong digital roaming signal from my room.  I made two calls for a total of about 15 minutes and found the rates to be pretty cheap.

 

Things I liked:

I really liked the accommodations and color scheme at H3, especially compared to H2, which is starting to look old.

 

The H3 disco blows the H2 disco out of the water.  The big open format coupled with the better DJ made for some great nights.

 

Awesome in-room air conditioners.  Remote control, quiet… – set ‘em and forget ‘em.

 

Munasan – air conditioned – ahhhh!

 

Light up shoes and belt buckles that spell out messages kick ass.

 

Straw cowboy hats can be sexy.

 

I really liked the canopies with the swinging platforms underneath.  They offered a good spot to get out of the sun for a bit.

 

Things I wasn’t so crazy about:

I was shocked to see grounds crew members going behind the bar and filling up screw-top soda bottles with Appleton.

 

The sex police interrupted things one afternoon.

 

No lobster.

John