Clothing optional beaches

[ishmael]

The brou ha ha about the bikini babes, along with temps. hovering around 0 F., has me thinking of warmer climes. How many here have spent much time at a nude beach?

I lived for awhile at a sort of non-official one. It was a short walk from my front door. Long beach, not a lot of people, so if you wanted to shed your suit it wasn't a big deal. It was in an underground guide to nude beaches, which didn't please the owners who were an old Quaker family. Then it was granted to a joint stewardship of Bates College and The Nature Conservancy and all kinds of rules got posted, mostly about keeping your dog off the beach-side dune area, where Least Terns nested.

Or how about a nudist resort? That I've never done, but I think it would be kinda fun! It might inspire me to get back to walking and yoga. LOL.

Michael Beckman, wise beyond his years, posted something over on the bikini debate. I don't have it saved so I can't quote him directly, but something to the effect that it's good for people to see each other, really look. When they do they get over some of their squeamishness around nakedness. What was the first thing Adam and Eve did after they'd eaten the fruit? They covered up.

I'm not advocating that everyone run around naked(that could spoil your appetite for fast food!,) but what are we ashamed of? Why? And how does that drive the commercialization of sex decried on the other thread? Is the forbidden fruit the most appetizing?

Just curious, not advocating anything.

[S.V. Airlie]

Well, having bicycled through southern France, Denmark, Sweden etc... I guess I have seen a few. No biggie...saves on drying clothes...

[Phillip Allen]

never but not because of a moral compunction

[martin schulz]

I was more or less forced by my student-parents to spend our vacations on nude camping places in former Yugoslavia. They, coming from puritan households had recently discovered alternative lifestyles and thought being in nude camping places/beaches is the right thing to do (nature, body awareness and all that).

This was very disturbing for me back then. Being right in the middle of my puberty I really couldn't handle erections very well and the whole experience was embarrassing.

But since then I have often stayed at nude-beaches (except the USA where I never even heard about a nude beach).
In East Germany the nude beach was the usual beach (the state-police or the regular police could easily be recognized). For them, growing up in a secular state, without any traditional gender roles getting their clothes off was the most natural thing to do. In that respect East Germans are still much more frank than us US influenced West Germans.

[S.V. Airlie]

never but not because of a moral compunction

Makes sense, not many beaches where you are Phillip...

[Rum_Pirate]

Went nude on Orient Beach St. Martin once.

Was mainly populated by old overweight individuals.

A few pic here

http://images.google.com/images?clie...=1&sa=N&tab=wi

[brad9798]

Unfortunately, about 90%+ of folks on said beaches would be better served to wear their swim trunks!

It's a great concept, though ... a concept that has gotten many-a-man slapped ... including yours truly! "Geez, hon, how can I help but look!" was not a sufficient response!!!

[ishmael]

"This was very disturbing for me back then. Being right in the middle of my puberty I really couldn't handle erections very well and the whole experience was embarrassing."

I had similar experiences with my sexual awakening. It's just the burgeoning of sexual energy that happens in adolescence, eh? Putting a kid in that situation of disparity between freedom and naughty erection isn't very responsible. But what if there were a different ethic, where an erection was nothing to be ashamed of, and, along with that a recognition of the responsibility which comes with sexuality. "The kid's got an erection, no big deal, he's around women. You don't engage it irresponsibly." I'm probably asking too much there.

I dunno, just pondering this weird divide in the psyche.

Jung, who was a great thinker on these matters, would likely point to what he saw as a native ability of the psyche to combine opposing elements. On one hand you've got a prudishness, on the other a license to be nude and have sex with anyone who comes along and catches your fancy. Neither are sustainable, and when it reaches a critical mass of conflict a third, something new and unexpected, breaks the impasse. I don't know what it is, just pondering and yakking.

[paladin]

they had them in North and South Carolina, at least at one time.....sorta got some birdshot in my little Aeronca for "low and slow" flying......

[S.V. Airlie]

they had them in North and South Carolina, at least at one time.....sorta got some birdshot in my little Aeronca for "low and slow" flying......

Sounds like "Naked Guns" were in evidence...

[Kaa]

There are plenty of nude beaches in the US. For example in the New York City area the two main ones -- the Fire Island on the Long Island, and the Gunnison beach on the Sandy Hook in New Jersey.

Kaa

[Bruce Hooke]

I believe the usual protocol at nude beaches and resorts is to keep a towel handy and if you show signs of sexual arousal, discretely cover yourself up. Whether it is right to draw this line, I don't know, but it seems to be usual. In addition, people should not be judged if they choose to wear a bathing suit at a nude beach. For teenagers at such a beach with their family, this might well be the more comfortable solution.

[glenallen]

I lived near Hippie Hollow in Austin for a time.
It's a county park, clothing optional. I visited it a few times but wore my optional shorts.
McFaddin Beach on the gulf coast is another one. I used to go there hunting Clovis artifacts that wash onto the beach from a submerged offshore ancient campsite.
Most of the people at these places are the ones you don't want to see naked!

[paladin]

I am convinced that the only folks worth seeing at a nude beach are the ones at the private resorts in the Bahamas...I ferried a few of those ladies there......

[martin schulz]

Funny that even here among adults in this harmless environment half of those posting confuse nude beaches/nudity with erotic.

What is almost compulsive with a male teen should really be redundant with mature adults. Of course not all bodies seen on nude beaches are attractive, but that is really not the point - a nude beach is not a swinger-club.

[hokiefan]

Spent an afternoon at Stinson Beach just north of San Fransisco the summer of 1983. It was not nude, but there was a nude section just south of there past a stretch of rocks. Not knowing this I was climbing into the rocks since that looked fun and there were a number of other folks doing that. After a few minutes a 10-12 year old kid asked, "Hey Mister, you going down to the nudie beach?" Wasn't, but I guess I am now.

Most of the folks there didn't cause any kind of sexual reaction, but a few made me glad I kept my suit on. There was one couple that was pretty funny though. She was fine, and he was putting lotion on her back. When he got to her butt, he decided to feel her up and she told him to stop. When he got back to her butt he went there again, and she sat up and slapped the crap out of him. Guess he didn't get any that night!

Cheers,

Bobby

[MiddleAgesMan]

Haulover Beach in North Miami was my regular Sunday AM hangout when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale. It spoiled me for going to any beach where clothing is required. I just don't do it.

I was usually with my GF but occasionally went by myself. As a single I have never been able to strike up a conversation with a stranger on a normal beach but the folks at Haulover were friendly and extremely approachable. We met many people there who became fast friends. Body types and ages covered the entire spectrum but what amazed me was that even the most beautiful and exotic looking women (and men) were friendly to everyone. They were as likely to be hanging out chatting with an old fat couple as they would someone their own age with perfect looks.

There was one old man who was there all the time. Everyone called him the mayor. I believe he had been instrumental in getting the county to designate the beach clothing optional. Many years after I moved away I saw him in a music video on VH1. The artists (they were big time but their name escapes me) played their music and danced in the sand on an un-named beach. Near the end of the song this old naked man danced into the scene and I knew immediately what beach they were on.

[Bruce Hooke]

There was one old man who was there all the time. Everyone called him the mayor. I believe he had been instrumental in getting the county to designate the beach clothing optional. Many years after I moved away I saw him in a music video on VH1. The artists (they were big time but their name escapes me) played their music and danced in the sand on an un-named beach. Near the end of the song this old naked man danced into the scene and I knew immediately what beach they were on.

That's a great story!

[Tar Devil]

they had them in North and South Carolina, at least at one time.....sorta got some birdshot in my little Aeronca for "low and slow" flying......

Dat's funny, Chuck. Reminds me of earlier summer days in a J3. Nude and topless sunbathing was fairly common on the tops of boathouses all along the Yadkin River basin. They hardly expected low, slow and quiet airplanes to pop over them.

What really surprised those gals was how easily they could hear me compliment them!

[paladin]

Don...I don't recognize that area...where is it.....I bypassed Sebastopol and went to Yalta, then to Kerch, then back over to Odessa......it looks like a nice sorta unpopulated area...

[Don Olney]

Chuck,

That is Koktebel. Its a little south of Feodosia. Still off the beaten path. In the background in the photo above can be seen the volcano, Karadag





http://www.mapofukraine.net/crimean_..._koktebel.html

Here's a closeup of the beach that shows an interesting feature of this coast -- those pesky rocks! If you go in the water a little ways though, the rocks give way to sand.



-Don

[Tar Devil]

I know you probably had good intentions, Don, but you must be careful about the content of your photos.

If you'll look, it appears there's a Post-It note in the foreground on those rocks.

The world if full of litter... I see it everyday on my drive home and there's no reason to subject me to it here also.

Careful, please?

[paladin]

Damn...I saw that on the charts but bypassed it. Before tying back up with Sweet Thing I had a nice thing going with a piano teacher in Kerch.....she wasn't into sailboats.......
and I misspoke earlier...not Simferopol, I meant Sebastopol....I had to carry diesel fuel from the club there in 5 gallon containers to refuel...they were damned nice though and in the process of building a new facility. The wimmins there make a bunch here seem like paper plates from last years picnic......(I'm gonna be in trouble)

[Don Olney]

Tar Devil,

You have sharp eyes...

You might be interested to know that Koktebel used to be known in Soviet times as "Planerskoye" which comes from the Russian word for glider. From Wiki: "the hills above the shoreline were the site of many early experiments in manned heavier-than-air flight by Russian pioneer aviators. The local airfield is still known as Planerskoye."

While I was there, a lot of small planes including stunt planes were buzzing around everywhere. From some of the posts above, now I know why: the pilots were, no doubt, honing their flying skills and using their keen eyesight to observe the local wildlife on the shores below.

[WX]

I used to be a Hippy back in the 70's, nudity was part of the lifestyle

could spoil your appetite for fast food!,

Fast food will spoil my appetite for fast food.