There were no scented candles burning, no New Age music wafting from a hidden CD player. There were no flowers in the massage room and there were no dimmed lights.

And yet… it was the most relaxing spa treatment I have ever experienced.

At Grand Lido Sans Souci in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, the massage is included in the price of your stay. Little open huts dot the landscape at one cliffside end of the resort; some of the huts are quite a climb up a set of steep stairs, almost hidden amid vegetation, perched tenuously on the verdant hillside. Others are located at the cliff that drops off into the Caribbean, and it was in one of these that I experienced near Nirvana.

I was led from the spa office to a path that brought me to cliff's edge and into a wooden building that was open on the side facing the sea. The other three sides were slatted; the angle of the slats made it impossible for anyone on the path to see in but allowed me to see out. The seafront side had a little balcony, open to only the Caribbean beyond.

The attendant who walked me down told me to disrobe and to lay on one of the two tables in the hut. "Don't worry," she laughed, "no one else is coming in here. It's a dual-table room so couples can get their massages at the same time."

A few minutes later, my masseuse Sonia walked in carrying a single squirt-bottle of massage oil. Not aroma therapy oil, just a simple solution that allowed her to do her work.

The massage itself was almost perfunctory, nothing special, but the sound of the sea, the scent of the surrounding gardens, the gentle breeze across my skin as Sonia worked caused me to wander in and out of dreamy consciousness. My disappointment was palpable when she brought me back to reality by telling me she was done. I couldn't move for several minutes; I just stayed on the massage table allowing the sound of the waves and the birds to continue to lull me.

SuperClubs employees are forbidden to accept gratuities so Sonia declined the tip I tried to give her. I believe, however, that she had no doubt about my gratitude.

SuperClubs Resorts
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