From: tesmer@sleepy.bio.purdue.edu (John Tesmer)
Newsgroups: rec.nude
Subject: Hedonism II trip report (long)
Date: 27 Aug 92 15:11:43 GMT
Distribution: rec.nude
Organization: Purdue University, Dept. of Biological Sciences

Hedonism II trip report:

	My wife and I travelled to Hedonism II (in Negril, Jamaica for
	those of you who don't know) from Aug 5 to Aug 12 this year.
	Hedonism II is an "all-inclusive" resort that features a textile
	beach as well as an "infamous" CO beach.  It allows couples and
	singles, and only children over the age of 16.  

	To summarize me and my wife, we are both graduate students in
	our mid-20's, and this was our first trip to a place I would
	qualify as a nude resort...we've both been skinny dipping at
	some times in our life, but only in remote areas with not a lot
	of folks around.

	Our initial apprehensions about the place were that it (1) would
	be too wild and crazy even for us (Hedonism II has that reputation)
	or (2) would have a large porportion of men over women, that is,
	my wife didn't want to be the only girl on the beach.  However,
	the price was right for this resort and we decided to go for it.

	We took an Apple Vacation package that flew us by Private Jet from
	Chicago to Montego Bay.  At the airport, it took us about an hour
	to get through customs (they are seriously understaffed) while
	standing in sweltering heat (needless to say, no air conditioning).
	We found the appropriate bus and waited for all the Hedonism folks
	to arrive from their respective planes; this acutally involved
	quite a wait.  But after the bus got rolling, the Hedonism guides
	handed us a Red Stripe and we began to relax into what was to turn
	out to be a wonderful vacation.  The bus trip takes about an hour
	and 15 minutes, and a lot of folks mention it as somewhat of an
	adventure in itself (the road is twisty and narrow), however my
	wife and I never felt in danger or excited about it.  What WAS
	interesting was all the small towns that the road travels through,
	which may be one's only oppurtunity to see how the Jamaican people
	really live.  There are many metal shacks and garbage about; they
	are a poor people, and I don't get the feeling that they see too
	much of the money that the big resorts generate.  At Hedonism II,
	a typical waitress would only make about $10 US a week.  With
	this in mind, I can see why many tourists feel that the native
	Jamaicans don't care for them too much.

	The porportion of men to women on the bus was about 15 to 2, and 
	most of the guys were single.  This had us worried for the above
	reasons given, but when we got to the resort there seemed to be an
	equal balance of guys to gals, even in the singles crowd.

	I was not expecting a very nice looking resort, but I was very
	pleasantly suprised.  I had read many postings suggesting that
	the place was a bit older than the other resorts, was less well
	maintained, and the rooms were shabby.  At least to us, none
	of the above held true (incidentally, the rooms were recently
	remodeled...they still sport the mirrors above the bed, however).

	The resort is covered with lush plants and many trees, and the
	grounds were well maintained.  As you enter the resort, the
	first thing you see is a long hallway lined with tropical plants,
	leading on into the dining area.  The meals are always buffet
	style, and an initial concern of ours was the dining area
	was not going to be very "nice".  But it was: they had recently
	put in new tables, each one had a tablecloth and was set up
	for whatever meal was next in a somewhat elegant fashion.  When
	someone finished eating, it was (usually) quickly reset to
	provide room for the later diners.  The tables were arranged
	around a dance floor and stage on different levels, so that
	a lot of the tables had a good view of whatever entertainment
	was going on.  Or, you could retreat back farther and stay as
	much away from the action as you wanted to.  The food was
	passable, at best, but not bad and there was plenty of it.  In
	all fairness, we should note that many people loved the food...
	but we are epicurean gluttons.  The
	best meal was lobster night on Saturday.  We found that a lot
	of the native dishes they offered were not very authentic (a
	trip to a restaurant called Cosmo's proved this point very
	quickly) nor tastey.  I guess the food can be best described
	as standard american fare.  However, we didn't mind this so 
	much because the last thing we wanted to do on this vacation was
	overeat.

	Next to the dining room is where the old piano bar used to be;
	it is now being converted into a Italian restaurant :) which
	makes me more enticed to go back.  The new piano bar/game room
	was very nice, albeit smokey later at night.  There were the
	token gift shops as well, an open air gym that appeared to be
	reasonably equipped, tennis courts, squash courts, and other
	places we never frequented.  Beyond the dining room is the
	pool, and below it (with windows that look into the deep end
	of the pool) is what is known as the best disco in Jamaica.  We
	only went there once for pygama party, and it was just fine
	until it got really crowded.  They played good dance music and
	had recently installed a new light system that was really
	quite good for the size of the place.

	HII has two hot tubs, a bathtub size one by the swimming pool,
	and one that has been said to fit a record 300 people 
	(uncomfortably) on the CO side of the resort.

        There were quite a few comments on the rooms posted before, in
	that people thought they were shabby.  Our only problem with
	them was that the bathroom was very tiny (you couln't open the
	door if someone was sitting on the toilet) and that you didn't
	always get good water pressure.  But hell, if a room is what
	matters most to you at a beach resort, you are probably 
	vacationing in the wrong place.  Our suggestion to anyone
	going there is to request a room that is on the "nude" side,
	preferably on the first floor.  There is more reason to this
	than just the fact that you can walk to the beach without
	having to put clothes on: our room was right next to the
	"prude" beach where they held evening beach parties. 
	They tended to be rather loud until very late at night.
	Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but after
	a long day of travel it was a major annoyance.

THE BEACH:

	There has also been a lot of talk about how the beach at
	Hedonism II was not as nice or well groomed as that of its
	neighbor, Sandals.  We walked down along the beach for
	several properties and we can safely agree that the beach
	at Hedonism II is the worst of the lot.  The sand is much
	coarser and pebbly at HII, and was almost like powder 
	on other properties.  This in itself didn't matter so much
	to us (we were there primarly to scuba rather than appreciate
	the nuances of the beach), because the beach was better than
	most we were used to.  The textile side of the beach was
	much more of a beach per se, that is, it had gentle sloping
	sand into the water.  The CO side was very rocky, and the
	lounge chairs were perched on top of a rock shelf that ran
	along the swimming area; there was a little bit of good 
	beach but not much.  For this reason you might want to have
	your own float or hang out on the floats they have there.
	One thing that we both like about the HII beaches over other
	ones there is that they weren't clearcut of trees.  We both
	thought that Sandals had probably uprooted a lot of 
	vegetation to make room for their beach, and we weren't sure
	how much of the sand was native or imported.

THE CO BEACH:

	One thing that was particularly nice about the "nude" beach
	was that it sported a small bar and grill (open from 10 AM to
	6 pm) that you could approach in any form of attire you wished.
	My wife notes that the loud reggae music emanating from the bar
	frequently had a tribal beat to it that really added to the
	hedonistic atmosphere of the place.

	Being our first visit to such a place, I was a little suprised
	how well we adapted into the lifestyle of the CO beach.  People
	pretty much wore whatever they felt like: in the buff, in thongs,
	or in full bathing suits...nobody seemed to mind.  What did irk
	a lot of the folks hanging out there were the tour boats from
	Sandals that would stop just off the beach to give the folks a
	cheap thrill.  Many of these boats were glass bottomed, and we
	were hoping one would stop just long enough for us to swim under...;)

	The age range of the place was from mid-twenties (US...I felt we
	were the youngest people there) to over seventy.  A couple we
	befriended there were probably in their fifties or sixties and had
	been there 12 times; as a matter of fact, a lot of people on the
	"nude" beach had been there multiple times...which says a lot for
	the satisfaction rate of these people.  Everyone was very friendly,
	and we made friends without barely even trying.

	Another interesting part of the atmosphere were the "drugboats"
	that would pull up near shore.  They would either braid your hair
	or take you around the point so you can sample some of the local 
	produce.  These folk weren't much of a nuisance.

	Generally, we wrapped up our days at the beach by hitting the bar
	one last time before 6:00 and then soaking in the hot tub.  This
	hot tub was truly nude, in that no articles of clothing were
	allowed.  This kind of upset my wife and I, especialy when a 
	employee of Hedonism II came and threw out some girls who were
	there topless.  The tub was truly huge:  my drunk wife ended up
	doing laps in it one evening before passing out (this was how we
	managed to avoid the infamous toga night).



	All in all we had a fantastic time and came home very relaxed.
	Hedonism II offers a lot of activities for free and we tried to
	take advantage of all that we could...but often we found ourselves
	just laying out in the sun instead.  We don't think that the
	"nude" beach at Hedonism II is a great place for folks who want
	to commune with nature in the buff.  It is a little more risque
	than that...not really for the faint of heart.  One thing that
	irritated me some was the plethora of cameras on the "nude" beach,
	being toted by the nudists themselves...in general most folks
	asked before firing, but like I said, not for the faint of heart.
	If my wife and I were to go back to Jamaica, we would certainly
	go back to Hedonism II...we really did have fun.
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