Perhaps I'll come back and add some more detail later, depending on what people would like to know. But here's the things that were most notable to me:
The 6am Air Jamaica flight out of Philadelphia got us on the front doorstep of H2 at 10:10am. We were on the beach at 10:40am, after unpacking our bags into the dressers/etc and applying liberal amounts of sunscreen.
Tony the bellman is no longer at H2. Reportedly he is in Virginia. Great for him, but we missed his smiling face, for sure. Carl the bartender is also gone, among others. Shamari and Akeem, newer bartenders, were both lively and enjoyable.
We had room 1113, a prude hot tub room. I really liked the location of this room; close to the dining room for evening outfit changes, quiet enough for "private time" with the wife on the back patio, and still not too far away from the nude beach. It also put you directly by the dive shack to exchange towels every day without having to walk out of your way, and the prude bar was only 20 yards out of the way to pick up a drink on the way to the beach.
Ashtrays were really scarce. Perhaps this is a sign of the times, with less and less smokers, but it was downright frustrating to find an ashtray at times. As someone who tries to be conscientious about my smoking (and the disposal of ashes/butts) I found this a bit cumbersome. Will definitely bring ashtrays next trip. Interestingly, another couple mentioned that ashtrays were more plentiful than they had ever seen; perhaps we've always just come right after a group that brings lots of them, but it was fewer than I had ever witnessed.
A friend of mine made up bumper stickers last December to take on his trip, and I saw one at the disco. Was kind of neat to see something as fleeting as that last so long.
Occupancy was low, really low. If it was at 30%, I'd have been surprised. Many of the workers were only getting 5 days every two weeks. I'm really curious how June will be next year once H3 is no longer an option.
The Kink in the Caribbean group was there, and generally kept to themselves, aside from the evening stage shows. They did invite anyone at the resort to visit their morning workshops; everyone I know who went and really enjoyed them.
Not a lot of PDA, but it's a slow time and a lot of non-swingers, so that's not terribly surprising. PDA police were not out that I ever saw. One guy we met enjoyed his smoke a lot and pretty much all over the resort, especially on the nude beach. Only one day did security ask him to put it out, without any explanation. I'm guessing someone must have complained, as he had no further issues that week.
At the same time, we had a number of men who were able to linger at the nude pool for a very long time before security bothered them about their clothing. This is something I do feel should be enforced more strictly.
More rain than typical. There was a tropical depression (later to become Alex or Adam or something? I didn't pay attention) which dropped a lot of water on us. I now know that all those aqueducts all over the resort are necessary.
As with any week, met tons of great folks, either repeaters from a different time of year or first timers. Had no problems with anyone that couldn't be resolved simply and easily. A few more-aggressive-than-usual single males, but again, all that I'm aware of took the word no seriously. And equal to, if not outnumbered by, the single males that we enjoyed thoroughly.
I'll leave it to magjoy to tell any specific stories, but suffice it to say, another week in paradise.
Return trip felt really long, but was on time and hassle free. Air Jamaica is apparently doing carryon bag searches of all carryons at the time of departure. So we did the whole security thing at the entrance to the airport but had to also be searched again at the gate. Annoying, but the plane still got off on time.
Absolutely no lighters or matches were permitted through security. This is in contrast to the US, where you can carry a BIC lighter or matches, but not a butane lighter. If you want to keep your lighters, put them in checked luggage.
That's all for now. I'll think awhile and see if anything else pops out.
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