Burning Man!

It looks like this year I am finally going to Burning Man!

I heard about it for the first time years ago from Los Angeles-based Ukrainian woman on a bus in Berlin. She first asked me for directions, and then we were talking about random stuff, and all of a sudden she said I should check out Burning Man. I don’t know how, but she knew I would love the idea of a festival that celebrates everything peaceful and artsy and where nudity is seen as a part of freedom of self-expression.

Needless to say, it’s been on my wish list ever since. Strangely enough, I was reminded about Burning Man once again by a random encounter at a subway station in New York, by a guy who asked for directions… and he happened to be from my native Ukraine as well. It was last September and he just got back from Burning Man, full of impressions.

Last year was the first time when the organizers had to limit the amount of tickets and it was quickly sold out. This year, they tried a new lottery system for selling tickets, and I was among the lucky ones who got the tickets! Yay!!! A lot of things will have to be organized in terms of logistics, but it will be a lot of fun 😎

Vita Nuda at the Lighthouse beach, NY

Vita Nuda Northeast is a part of network for young adult nudists. During summer, they organize regular beach parties. The favorite spot is Robert Moses beach aka the Lighthouse beach in Long Island, NY.

Not all Lighthouse Beach is clothing-optional, but just walk around and you’ll figure it out. Maybe something like this could be a clue for you 😉

Vita Nuda’s parties are always fun and bring together a lot of people from the area.

Besides chilling and grilling, there are always some fun activities.

Body painting is of course one of the favorites (even if it means that you need to wash in the ocean when it’s a little rough and chilly).

And there is always plenty of hula hoops, it’s almost like Vita Nuda’s trademark. If you see some naked people with hula hoops, it’s almost certainly someone from or inspired by Vita Nuda group 😉

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Some go for traditional beach bats, though.

But one of the parties featured aqua-ball, something I’d never even seen. When I saw the ball, I was totally eager to try to conquer the waves in it!

It was quite an effort to get it to the waves, but it was totally worth it! In the end I felt happily dizzy and my friends took their turn.

But this was not the only aqua-ball. There was another, that you are literally sealed inside… and try to walk on waves. This one certainly needs some assistance, with pushing it towards the waves and on the other hand keeping it under control with the rope.

Frankly, it did feel a little creepy being inside an enclosed ball, but again it was too much fun not to try.

Just look at this video!

When I was working on it in iMovie, I found there was a number of preset clip-makers, one of which was called ‘Surf Kid’ with the idea that surfing is not only for big guys. While aqua-ball sounds more childish, I actually found it quite challenging, so the video below is not entirely a joke 😉

Looking forward to aqua-ball and more parties with Vita Nuda next summer!

געש חוף הים בתל אביב

English

תל אביב מכונה לעתים קרובות כאחת הערים הטוססות והמרגשות ביותר במזרח התיכון ואולי בעולם כולו. כעיר ים תיכונית יש לה כמה חופים עירוניים חוליים צרים וצפופים. אם אתה רוצה לשכוח מהעיר ההומה ולהתמזג עם הטבע, אתה צריך להצפין לחוף געש. החוף ידידותי להומוים והוא מאוד אהוד בקרב הקהילה הגאה הצעירה בישראל.

בחוף געש יש מספיק מקום לכולם. בחודש יולי, כאשר רבים מוצאים את מזג האויר התל אביבי כמעט בלתי נסבל, גם בגעש חם מאוד, בעיקר בשעות אחר הצהריים, כי אז השמש המערבית מכה. בכול זאת אין דבר יותר מרגיע מאשר טבילה במים החמימים והרדודים באחת הבריכות הטבעיות שעל שפת הים. אם אתה יש מדוזות בים, זה גם כנראה העמוק ביותר שכדי לך להיכנס, כי המדוזות, בתזמון ממש גרוע, נפוצות מאוד לאורך החוף באמצע הקיץ!

אבל אתה חובב שיזוף ופעילות בעירום, נכון?! אז תזיז את התחת וצא לקצת פעילות כמו ריצה משחררת! 😉

החול הרך מושלם עבור ריצה ערום מכל סנדל ונעל.

החוף נמצא בתחתית צוקי קורקר

מרהיבים ביופים

אז כמובן לא יכולתי להתאפק ויצאתי
לטיול באחד ממסלולי ההליכה.

מסלולי הליכה מסומנים, ואי אפשר ללכת לאיבוד בגלל שהמסלול עובר ממש מעל לים.

בכמה מקומות יש רוח ודיונות. זה מקשה על ההליכה, אבל מאפש למצוא נקודות מיסתור נעימות.

חבל שלא יכולנו להישאר שם עד השקיעה. הגיע הזמן לחזור אל החוף, ולאחר מכן אל העיר …

Text in Hebrew by Dror

Naked Spring Bash with Florida Young Naturists

This post was actually about to be published in my old blog, but right when I clicked the ‘publish’ button, Google suddenly deleted my blog… irrevocably. Well, enough complaining, now the blog is back, and several months after the first attempt this post is finally out! It is actually a good time, because Florida Young Naturists group has just announced (through their Facebook page, their website is not updated) the next Naked Spring Bash in April this year. So here is the original text, I leave it unchanged:

One of the reasons why I haven’t posted last weeks was because Joe visited me, and we went to South Florida for few days and had a lot of naked fun in the sun. We actually spent most of our time there naked: the CouchSurfing hosts we stayed with were also nudists, we went to the famous Haulover Beach (that is where the World Record Skinny-Dip took place) and got a chance to swim in the buff in a couple of other places, but most strikingly we visited a nudist colony Sunsport Gardens for the Naked Spring Bash organized by Florida Young Naturists. I came across their website a couple of years ago and thought it would be fantastic to join the group of naked peers that organized numerous fun events. I was reminded about FYN once again at the Nude Year’s Eve, as two of its members were there as well. The program for the Naked Spring Bash sounded really cool and after the long and cold winter we were craving for the sun and warmth, so it was amazing that Joe and I could go there together.

Too bad we didn’t get in this video, but they’re right, you can do all kind of fun things there!

The event included all kinds of activities.

I loved the drum circle around the fire on the first night. There was a dozen of drummers and other people were dancing around the fire. I got a frame drum of pandeiro type, the same as we use in capoeira, which I practice, so I could play and dance at the same time. And of course there was body art.

Joe got Sun and Moon from me,

but he took an easy path and “painted” handprints on me 🙂

Spring Bash participant were given a free spot for camping by the pond, and when we woke up, we got a chance to meet a couple of its friendly dwellers.

Then we went for a walk around the gardens with beautiful tropical and subtropical plants.

The tiny island in the pond was quite picturesque. Then there was some pool time and lunch, naked lunch of course. I was disappointed though, that they mostly provided fast-food and served it on single-use ware. I’d expect a naturist venue to be at the frontier of health- and eco-consciousness.

In the afternoon, there was a short excursion through the bit of tropical forest that belonged to Sunsport Gardens. We were very pleased to find this forest with many native plants of South Florida, and we went there on our own a couple of times again.

In a couple of places there were tables and benches, so you could have a quiet lunch in the forest as well.

The plants were diverse, there were some bamboos, but most of the forest was pine and palm trees,

some of which we tried to climb.

As to the Spring Bash itself, there were also volleyball matches, sauna, disco… but we were too busy enjoying it to take pictures 😉

On the last day of the Spring Bash, most of the people went to Haulover Beach.

But besides having nice company at the beach, when we went for a swim we were accompanied by a school of small fish… Either they mistook us for their parents or thought we’d simply provide them shelter from sharks 🙂

In any case, they followed us for half an hour!

I was quite surprised to find out that Haulover Beach was just one of two official clothing-optional beaches in South Florida.

But when we were driving around we found a couple of secluded spots in mangrove forests, where we went skinny-dipping too.

Kiev: central nudist beaches with landmark views

Русский

Last summer I rediscovered the capital of my homeland, Ukraine. I’ve spent most of my adult life outside Ukraine, in Moscow, Berlin and now New York, all of which have accessible naturist beaches, so I was pleased to find that Kiev has its own beautiful naturist beaches in the very centre of the city! Kiev boasts the mighty Dnieper River with some forested islands, that are luckily protected and not used for mansions of the nouveau riche. A couple of neighboring clothing-optional beaches at Hydropark (Gidropark) are located most centrally and have pretty amazing views.

This is how it looks from the bridge on the way from Gidropark subway station.

You cannot really see if it is a nudist beach at the other bank of the river, but trust me, it is! So after the bridge you need to continue till one of the typical city style beaches and take a “canoe-ferry” for 5 hryvnias (approx. 50 cents); from there, you can already see where you should head to 😉

First time I went there on a weekday, so it was relatively empty, and I stayed at the part known as a local gay beach, as my friend advised (he was at work that day).

It was nice and relaxing, except that the music from the opposite beach bar was quite loud, but I actually liked it. It is also possible to go a little upstream and find some small secluded spots.

There is a shaded kiosk where you can buy beverages without having to put on clothes. In the afternoon, I decided to explore the area a little more and went to the southern tip of the island, and it turned out to be clothing-optional too!

I actually liked that part more, as it was more spacious and had a great view with some of Kiev’s landmarks: Motherland monument, Kiev Pechersk Lavra (monastery), and a restaurant styled as Noah’s Ark.

So when I went to Gidropark beach next time with my friends Sergey and Sveta, we headed directly to the tip part. I couldn’t resist mocking the Motherland monument by posing with a bottle of water instead of the sword and a frisbee instead of the shield 🙂

Although the day was going to be fabulous even with those regular attributes of naturist pastime, it turned to be even more fun as someone brought body paint and anyone willing was welcome to join the body art frenzy!

Since it actually was the Independence Day, main themes were quite patriotic and Ukraine-inspired. I had our coat of arms (trident) painted on my chest, but frankly, Sergey did not do a great job, so you can hardly see it on photos.

Sergey himself had sunflowers painted saying ‘Support homegrown’, which referred to Ukraine being the biggest exporter of sunflower oil.


Sveta had hearts colored as the national flag and altogether looked very artistic.

And Petya was arguably the most popular model with the watermelon painted on his buttocks :p The “price-tag” said that the watermelon was sold at 2 hryvnias per hour (whatever that meant!) and that it did not contain GMO 🙂


Having a real knife in the not-so-real watermelon, Petya was probably the most daring model too!

On the other (literally) side, the Independence Day was taken also ironically, as despite the patriotic spirits, it was clear that the country was facing too many troubles.

So instead of wishing a Happy Independence Day, it read ‘Happy Inability Day’, as Ukraine is hardly able to cope with its economic challenges (I could translate it as ‘impotence’ as well, but I assure that is not our problem).

But on such a day, it was hard to think of anything gloomy, so the optimistic side took over!

praia naturista em Rio de Janeiro

Surpreendentemente a praia de Abricó é uma das poucas praias naturistas da América do Sul. Localizada no Rio de Janeiro, é uma das praia mais belas (e limpas) da cidade, devido a sua localização em uma área de preservação ambiental. O público é bastante diversificado, principalmente nos finais-de-semana quando famílias vão a praia. Sua proximidade ao Rio de Janeiro a deixa bem cheia nos finais-de-semana, com algumas actividades esportivas naturistas organizadas pela Associação naturista da Praia de Abricó,

o que é muito bom, porque frequentemente as ondas são muito fortes

26552321306_7d7cdd567b_z_d

e a água é inesperadamente muito fria pra nadar (pelo menos em setembro). Em dias da semana há menos pessoas, mas muito mais liberdade.

naturist 0000 praia Abrico, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Além de outros poucos nudistas você pode ser acompanhado por estes pássaros gigantes. 8D

view 0001 praia Abrico, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Bem, eles são apenas garças brancas. 🙂

Mas de qualquer modo você tem a certeza da visão magnífica do oceano azul claro e de duas ilhas tropicais na frente da praia.

view 0000 praia Abrico, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

As plantas variam de cactos de diferentes formas e tamanhos, bromélias e agaves, que crescem nas rochas,

view 0003 praia Abrico, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

à palmeiras, hibiscos e muitas árvores tropicais.

view 0004 praia Abrico, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Se você ficar até anoitecer, o ar pode estar carregado de vagalumes, uma visão fabulosa!

O modo mais barato de chegar à praia de Abricó de Copacabana (ou em qualquer local próximo ao mar na zona sul) é tomar o ônibus 175 (Barra da Tijuca ou Recreio) ou S-20 (Recreio) na Avenida Atlântica (exceto aos domingos) em Copacabana, (nos domingos você pode tomar os ônibus na rua Barata Ribeiro. De Ipamena você deve tomar o ônibus na avenida Vieira Souto ou no Leblon, na avenida Delfim Moreira) e desembarcar na frente do Barra Shopping, na Barra da Tijuca. Então tome o ônibus 702 ou 703 (Recreio) e deça na frente do condomínio Maramar. Vá até o mar pela Prainha. Quando chegar a Grumari, procure pelo oceano e tome a esquera. A praia de Abricó fica atrás de grandes pedras. Em vez de descer do ônibus na frente das residências Maramar, você pode fazê-lo na frente do Recreio Shopping Center (o ônibus 175 também passa por lá, mas fique atento à cor da linha do ônibus (amarelo ou vermelho) quando você voltar. Melhor perguntar ao motorista se ele vai até Ipanema!), e então tome um táxi até a Praia do Abricó por aproximadamente dez reais. Mas também fique atento que não há muitos táxis naquela área, especialmente ara a volta. Mas os moradores locais podem dar uma carona (talvez por um pouco mais de dinheiro).

naturist 0000 praia do Abrico, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Veja este vídeo bacana sobre o naturismo em geral e os naturistas da Praia de Abricó

Translation into Portuguese by Gus.

Nude Year’s Eve photos and new party from YNA!

naturist 0000 Nude Year's Eve 2011 with YNA, New York, NY, USA

So, as I announced briefly before the New Year, I joined Young Nudists&Naturists America as a DJ for their Nude Year’s Eve party. It was my first time to celebrate New Year in the buff at a social event and the first time I was DJing since 2007, so I was very excited!

I was there with my friend Jerry but I got to know a bunch of cool people, including Felicity, the PR of Young Nudists&Naturists America, and a couple of members from Florida Young Naturists, Kathleen and Mark. What they told me about naturist events and activities in Florida made me envious, but it looks like NYC has something to offer too 😉

naturist 0001 Nude Year's Eve 2011 with YNA, New York, NY, USA

Mark seemed to be pretty much into my music.

naturist 0002 Nude Year's Eve 2011 with YNA, New York, NY, USA

‘Music lives on’  – said his tattoo – that’s how we like our dancers 🙂 At some point I had to leave my ‘DJ booth’ (kinda) to join most of the crowd at the roof.

naturist 0003 Nude Year's Eve 2011 with YNA, New York, NY, USA

It was quite chilly, but when I saw that we were right next to Empire State Building, I couldn’t care less about the cold!

naturist 0004 Nude Year's Eve 2011 with YNA, New York, NY, USA

But I had to carry more though, namely Mark, as the roof was full of wet snow and he didn’t have shoes on him.

naturist 0005 Nude Year's Eve 2011 with YNA, New York, NY, USA

Well, I might have missed the Times Square Ball, but being naked on a rooftop next to Empire State Building seemed like a good alternative!

This Saturday night (Feb 19) Young Nudists&Naturists America organize another party at the same spot and I will play a couple of hours set there, hope to see even more people there! Go totheir website to register for the party.

Naked Gym in Paris (again)!

naturist 0009 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Many people, including me, find working out in the gym too boring… But as in winter the number of outdoor activities is rather limited, and even more limited if you want to do them naked, a gym may seem a little more attractive. And one way to spice up the exercises a little is to do them in the buff!

naturist 0010 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

I already reported about a gym and a swimming pool in Paris with naturist hours a year ago, and we visited it again last December. First, my boy and I had a dinner with the founders of Oh!naturist network, Philippe and Laurent, from whom I actually first heard about this gym.

Then it was a good time to burn the calories.

naturist 0007 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

This time we didn’t go to the pool and treadmills and concentrated on more serious work out 😉

naturist 0008 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Also, this time we took our camera with us and tried to capture our exercises on as many machines as possible till the gym would get crowded.

naturist 0001 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

It is, of course, more fun to exercise in a good company.

naturist 0000 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Also we were kind of lucky to see Paris covered with snow. Such heavy snowfalls are rare in Paris, and this one caused quite a bit of chaos in the city. But we decided to enjoy the snow, fully!

naturist 0003 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Not only did we run naked in the snow,

naturist 0006 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Laurent even dared to lie down and create a so-called snow angel.

naturist 0004 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Then, of course, a snowball game followed 🙂

naturist 0005 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Luckily, the gym has a steam sauna, so we could warm up.

So if you like to work out and hang out naked in company of good people, this gym is perfect!

naturist 0002 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Go to my previous post for more details and links.

video from River Island Nature Retreat (NSW, Australia)

My naturist pen pal Brenton wrote in his first post for this blog about a beautiful nature retreat in New South Wales, Australia, called River Island. While the north-eastern state Queensland is suffering from floods and is in a critical state now, NSW seems to have a good summer weather, so Brenton made this cool video about his latest visit to River Island.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgl0qv_river-island-naturist-reserve_lifestyle#.USBYWqVH3TY

Enjoy! Hope to visit that and many other places in Oz one day…