March was a busy month, but we're in a lull in the moving storm, so we have time to write about our anniversary trip to Hedonism III in Runaway Bay, Jamaica.

Dee and I have been traveling a lot, but mostly it's been back and forth to our new Texas ranch. I'm not just a pack rat, I'm a pack capybara. It's hard for me not to travel with an SUV or pickup truck and an extra trailer. We were getting burned out.

Our eighth wedding anniversary was coming up at the end of February. I suggested to Dee that we go back to Las Vegas, since we haven't been there for a year. Dee doesn't gamble, even though she does watch me gamble, and she countered that we should go to a Caribbean beach.

So we decided to go back to Hedonism III to see what it's like when the Kink People aren't there.

We were happy to have Ward and Jean accompany us. This was their first trip to Hedo III. We've become quite good friends with Ward and Jean, and Jean has been in many of our photo shoots in the pat year. Just a note to our polyamorous readers: Jean is collared to Ward, and we get to play with both of them. Jean is not our "third" (if she was, she'd have to sleep on Dee's side of the bed).

We were very curious what Hedo III would be like during a "normal" week. We didn't go during Valentine's week, or Playboy week, or Lifestyles week; this was just a random 7 days in the life of Hedo III. The results were mixed.

Pros:

• We were able to do nude bondage photo shoots at the beach and quad pool. Of course the nude pool is off limits to all cameras, so we don't play there.
• We even got to do some night shooting at the faux Jail Cell. Some years ago, another couple tried to do a flogging scene at that same spot and were stopped by resort security.
• The food quality and customer service of the resort were slightly better than 2004.
• Both the staff and guests were curious and mostly positive about our bondage play.

• We didn't find new play partners; the guests seemed timid by comparison to members of organized groups that go to Hedo.
• During Kink, the shows are put on by major fetish performers and vendors. The resort staff puts on good shows (and they've gotten more fetishy in the last 4 years), but they can't compete with the Kink Professionals.

In one way our week at Hedo III was pretty much the same as always: we hung out at the quad pool during the day and played with rope. Mick and Dee will be teaching the class on Karadas at ShibariCon 2008, and we did karadas on both Dee and Jean over and over again. The Carrick Bend at the right is a favorite of the Two Knotty Boys, and you'll see a gallery of karadas in the coming weeks.

The first day we got to Hedo, there was a blow-up doll, with a blonde woman's face printed on the front, that appeared to have been left by some previous guest. This doll floated around the resort for the whole week, sitting at a table, floating in every pool, and generally having a good time. I made sure that "Bertha", as I called her, got a taste of rope suspension, too.

Since this was Ward and Jean's first trip to Jamaica, we decided to take them to the biggest tourist attraction near the resort: Dunn's River Falls. This is a beautiful, if cold, waterfall that tourists get to climb in groups led by tour guides. Dee and I had climbed the falls several times in the past, often with our children. This time we were all adults, so we could lag behind the group and use our waterproof camera to capture several "wardrobe malfunctions" with both Dee and Jean's bikinis.

One of the fun things about spending a week at a resort doing bondage shoots is the strange juxtapositions of objects, such as this tableaux of Mick's swim trunks and Dee's cuffs and chastity belt drying on the TV stand.

We certainly had a fun week. Dee and Jean get along well (sometimes too well), and they are both photogenic and up for any kind of shoot.

Every night was a theme night, and so we wound up taking four suitcases to a "nude" resort", because we needed a lot of outfits. To the right you can see Dee's sheer dress for lingerie night (Mick's purple robe is shown at the top of this page).

We'd be remiss if all we did was talk about fetish and bondage...Jamaica is a beautiful place, and there are lots of opportunities for striking images. This photo of the "prude beach" and boat dock at Hedonism III was a time exposure shortly before sunrise. The mix of tungsten, sodium, flourescent and natural light makes a very colorful and surreal photo. This image and other by Mick are available as prints at DeviantArt.

All good things come to an end, and after a week of swimming, sunning, eating, fucking and shooting, it as time to fly back to the US. One of the biggest changes on the whole Island of Jamaica is the improvements to the airport. A decade ago it was a utilitarian place to catch an airplane, but not a great place to wait. That has changed; there are many places to shop and eat. Mick loved this restaurant based on the Jamaican Bobsled team. They refused to sell the sled to Mick, but enouraged us to watch the team at the Winter Olympics in 2010.

All in all it was a fun vacation, and it was certainly fun and relaxing. For me (Mick), it was the first time in a long time that I came back from a week-long trip feeling relaxed and happy.

It wasn't as much fun as our usual fetish week, but it was worthwhile. Just to make a good comparison, we will be going back to Kink in the Caribbean 9 the first week of November, 2008. Ward and Jean are coming along, too.