by Sonya Nicole
With
its thousand miles of sandy shorelines and
warming sunshine year-round, Florida has to have
scores of nude beaches. Right?
Well, it depends
upon your definition. When I went through a
tan-line-free stage I thought finding a
"nude beach" merely meant finding a
stretch of sand where I could discreetly bare
it. This usually meant a beach well off the
flip-flopped patch.
That's pretty
much the case in Florida, with the exception of
one sanctioned nude beach and several private
resort clubs. If you want to go nude elsewhere,
you have to be plain-out choosy and careful.
Though a number of beaches around the state have
earned a reputation as skinny-dipping beaches,
one-by-one they've been, shall we say, redressed
by local law.
The compilation
below lists our one official public nude beach,
a few choices where you can try at your own
risk, and some private nudist or naturist, as
some say, clubs and resorts.
For more
information, contact the American Association
for Nude Recreation AANR in Kissimmee (www.aanr.com
800-TRY-NUDE) or the Florida Association for
Nude Recreation FANR (comprising of 21 clubs in
Florida)., www.fanr.com.
SOUTHEAST FLORIDA
LEGAL NUDE
BEACH
Haulover
Beach, 10800 Collins Ave., North Miami Beach,
305/947-3525.
Almost a mile of beach north of the northernmost
parking lot is sanctioned as a clothing-optional
beach. Patrollers arrest gawkers.
REMOTE BEACHES
FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
South
Beach, Ocean Dr., Miami Beach.
The safest non-sanctioned nude beach, its
popularity with European models has turned
certain parts into an unofficial
clothing-optional beach.
NUDIST RESORTS
a.k.a. "Landed Clubs"
Seminole
Health Club, Davie, 954-473-0231.
NORTHEAST FLORIDA
REMOTE
BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
Playalinda
Beach, Canaveral National Seashore.
Until about four years ago, the north end of
this out-of-the-way beach was designated
clothing-optional. That's when county officials
began enforcing no-nudity on federal land. The
legality of their actions will be tied up in
courts for years. Meanwhile, arrests have been
made. Naturists are hopeful today with the
appointment of a new county parks director. Bare
at your own risk.
NUDIST RESORTS
a.k.a. "Landed Clubs"
Sunnier
Palms, Fort Pierce, 561/468-8512.
Sunny
Sands Resort, Pierson near Daytona Beach,
904/749-2233.
RVs &
tents, rental units, home sites, restaurant,
bar, hot tub, pool, volleyball.
Sunsport
Gardens, Loxahatchee, 800/551-7217 or
561/793-0423.
NUDIST CLUBS
a.k.a. "Unlanded Clubs"
Central
Florida Naturists, Merritt Island, 407/381-0637.
Formerly Space Coast Naturists. Dedicated to
designation of Playalinda Beach as clothing
optional.
Northeast
Florida Naturists, Jacksonville, 904/NFN-7900.
More than 100 members.
FLORIDA PANHANDLE
REMOTE
BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
The
Panhandle boasts many remote stretches where
skinny-dipping is largely ignored, when done
with discretion. Naturists are losing some
ground due to development, parks and local
government.
East
end of Gulf Beach Drive, St. George Island
East of the last access, a four-wheel drive road
takes getaway-beachers and fishermen to the
expanding sands at the pass. Bare with care.
St.
Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, 850/653-8808.
Private boaters will find privacy here most
of the year.
Santa
Rosa Beach
The farther you roam from parking lots, the
better! At all Panhandle beaches you could be
cited for nudity.
Eglin
Air Force Base Reserve, east of Navarre Beach.
Another county-level attempt to squelch nudity
was made here. Naturists still frequent the
beach, always ready to dress in the presence of
patrollers, who do come around, but not on a
sudden, surprise-visit basis.
The
Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Beach,
850/934-2600.
At Santa Rosa Day Use Area and Fort Pickens
National Park, long stretches of deserted beach
look inviting to naturists. Be ecology-kind and
resist walking over dunes to find your private
stretch.
Perdido
Key Gulf Islands National Seashore Day Use Area,
Route 292/Johnson Beach Road, Perdido Key,
Pensacola, 850/492-0912.
You can continue to walk along the beach for 6
miles after the road ends.
NUDIST RESORTS
a.k.a. "Landed Clubs"
Riviera
Naturist Resort, Pace, 850/994-3665.
Sunburst
Resort, Milton, 850/675-6807.
NUDIST CLUBS
a.k.a. "Unlanded Clubs"
Panhandle
Free Beaches, Navarre, 850/939-8822.
Fights against the county's attempt to close
down the beach to nudists. It schedules beach
clean-ups and other civic-minded events.
Tallahassee
Bare-Devils, Tallahassee, 850/847-8537.
More than 100 members who lease a private
lake every weekend and plan trips to secluded
wilderness areas.
CENTRAL FLORIDA
NUDIST
RESORTS a.k.a. "Landed Clubs"
Cypress
Cove, Kissimmee, 407/933-5870.
A popular resort that owns an entire lake
with beach, motel rooms, apartments, RV and tent
camping, and a bar and grill named
"Cheeks".
WEST CENTRAL
FLORIDA
REMOTE
BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
Unbridged
Islands. Your best bets along the Pinellas
Suncoast are on remote islands, such as those
near Tarpon Springs and Dunedin.
NUDIST RESORTS
a.k.a. "Landed Clubs"
Caliente
Resorts, Land O' Lakes, 800/326-7731 or
813/996-3700.
Club
Paradise, Land O' Lakes, 800/237-2226 outside
Florida or 813/949-9327.
Gulf
Coast Resort, Hudson, 813/868-1061.
Rooms, rental trailers, tent & RV camping,
pool, hot tub, playground.
The
Island Group, Land O'Lakes, 813/996-3289.
On Lake Dupree. Furnished cottages, pool,
Jacuzzi, saunas, playground, workout room.
Lake
Como, Lutz, 813/949-1810.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
REMOTE
BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
Sanibel
Island.
The north end of Bowman's Beach, at the island's
north end, was unofficially clothing-optional
until the 1980s, when local police began
arresting even topless toddlers. Sanibel
Naturist Aleta Adam tells me her group uses a
stretch of Sanibel Beach "where we're not
hassled too much," but wouldn't pinpoint
it. "When you start publishing this
information, it brings out the nut cases,"
she said.
NUDIST CLUBS
a.k.a. "Unlanded Clubs"
Sanibel
Naturists, Fort Myers, 941/995-6833.
It uses a piece of designated beach on unbridged
Upper Captiva Island as well as on Sanibel
Island.
Southern
Exposure, Naples, 941/643-3022.
Meet at a member's private home on a lake with
beach, sunning deck, hot tub, picnic area,
petanque.