My First Time on a Nude Beach

Releasing all of society’s training about nakedness and beauty

It was on my bucket list… and it was no small thing because I had always been very self-conscious about my body. I could barely imagine actually being naked in front of a bunch of total strangers. But I was going to do it.

My husband and I went to a resort in Jamaica that had two sides — clothed or “clothing optional”. (On the naked beach, the two sides were considered “nude” and “prude”. ) I could hardly wait to step into this fear and experience what this was like!

My husband, however, was not so thrilled. I’m not sure he thought I would actually go through with it. It was one of those times that I’m sure he was regretting just going along with my idea to keep me happy! Well, when faced with the fact that I was going with or without him, he decided that he should be there. He didn’t want me walking around a nude beach appearing to be single!

Day One — Terrified:

I was so nervous. We found our chaise lounges on the beach and I just sat there trying to get the nerve up to actually take off my sarong. Oh, the mental wrestling between my desire to do this and the total fear of being exposed to all of these people!

I lay back, closed my eyes, and took off my sarong. I lay there convincing myself that I was fine. I wasn’t nervous. I loved skinny dipping. This was basically the same thing. After all, everyone is naked under their clothes. This was no big deal. I’ll just lay here and no one will even notice.

“Can I get you a drink ma’am?”

I opened my eyes to see a waiter (fully dressed) standing at the end of my chaise lounge smiling. I thought “Can’t he see I’m naked? What is he thinking?”

All I could muster up was, “No thanks.” Even if I wanted a drink, there was no way that I could actually talk to him about it! I was naked!

Most of this day was spent lying there sneaking peeks at the people around me and wishing that I had the nerve to walk from my chair to the water so that I could go swimming. Alas… no swimming was had that day.

Day Two — I can look around:

This day felt completely different. It was like the monster fear that had held me so tightly was now gone. As we walked into the clothing-optional area, I was able to look around at what was there: the bar, hot tub, pool, bathrooms. It was really nice.

As we got to our chaise lounges, I had no problem just dropping my sarong, arranging my towel, and laying down comfortably. I even got out my Logic Puzzles book and started doing a puzzle. At one point, I was feeling so comfortable, I turned to my husband and said, “Hey! Guess what? I’m doing a logic puzzle… naked… on the beach!! How awesome is that?”

A while later, the man on the other side of me started talking to me. He was a retired fireman from Pennsylvania. When I told him that this was our first time, he shared with me all about how these nude beaches work. He explained the difference between a “naturist” beach and a “hedonist-type” beach/resort. Across the road from our resort was the famous “Hedonism” resort. This was also a nudist space but it was also open to all kinds of sexual play and exploration.

The resort we were at was considered “naturist” so there wasn’t any of the sexual exploration. These people just loved being naked in the sunshine. In fact, there is a strong divide between the two groups (mostly from the naturist side) where the rules are very strict that you do not try to pick someone up on a naturist beach, resort, or event. This way everyone feels safe to just relax without any sexual tension of any kind.

I also asked him about etiquette on a nude beach. Do you bend over? Do you hide anything? At this point, there was a group of men standing right beside us. One of the men — likely in his seventies — put his foot upon his chair and stood there chatting with his friends showing me very plainly that there was no need to hide anything. Anything went!

Day Three — I’m totally free:

This was the magical day where I was finally comfortable getting up and walking around. I walked down to the water and went swimming. I even floated in the ocean on a blowup mattress in the sun — total heaven! I walked up to the bar to order some lunch and get some drinks. We went to the hot tub and chatted with people from all over the world. It was so much fun!

I also was totally comfortable looking at all of the wonderful bodies. This was a revelation for me. I remember watching a woman walk along the water’s edge. She had a tiny upper body and waist and then a wide bottom and then tiny feet. I thought about how she might have struggled with this is in the clothed world where we are so judgmental about body shape. Yet, here, walking along the beach, she simply looked like a goddess — pure beauty.

I realized that wearing a bathing suit actually cut our bodies into parts that we could analyze. If I am wearing a bikini, I can look at my arms and think they are flabby. Maybe my breasts are too small or too big. Maybe my belly has fat on it or my legs have cellulite, etc…

But naked, we are just a body. Our eyes aren’t distracted by the bathing suit. The skin just flows into this wonderful whole.

As I saw bodies of all types, sizes, and ages, we all just started looking like plasticine people who had been squished into different shapes — some skinny on the bottom, some skinny on the top. It made no difference. We were all just glorious bodies.

Today I love naked anything

I now take the opportunity to go to any naked beach I happen to be near. I have gone to festivals and walked naked down the streets of San Francisco. I have even gone on a naked cruise with 3500 other naturists!

I absolutely love it.

I love freedom. I love the way the air and sun feel on my skin. I love chatting with the other people who are there (they tend to be very interesting and open-minded folks)!

They say that the door of opportunity that we want to go through is often blocked by fears that seem like a scary tiger. But as we approach the door and decide to go through, we realize that the tiger was made of paper. There was nothing to fear after all.

This is how I feel about nudity. The fear was nothing more than a paper tiger. And going through that door was so incredibly worth it!