Tag: naturism

video from River Island Nature Retreat (NSW, Australia)

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

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…

snorkeling naked in coral reefs again! (Red Sea, Israel this time)

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

עברית

I have been dreaming of swimming naked in the warm and full of life waters of coral reefs ever since I visited Egypt in 2005 and went snorkeling at a clothing-optional beach there. Finally I could do it again on my trip to Israel, and this time I had my waterproof camera with me.

And again I was amazed by the colorful and vivid underwater scenery, certainly one of the most stunning I have ever seen, even though Israel has less than 10km of seashore at the Red Sea and it is the northernmost tropical coral reef.

I had a little more than 24 hours in Eilat, so I didn’t want to spend my time on anything else but snorkeling there. I couldn’t find any information on a nudist beach in that area, but the first hint that I could go swimming naked there came from a girl who I got to know through CouchSurfing and who I was going to visit later on my trip at the Dead Sea; she said she liked a relatively empty Lighthouse beach where she sometimes stayed overnight with her friends. I found another couchsurfer in Eilat who agreed to host me even though he was busy preparing for exams, but I just left my stuff at his place and decided to go to the beach overnight. Given that it was late June and it was very hot, I wouldn’t even need a tent or a sleeping bag, so I loved the idea!

Lighthouse beach is before the last stop of the bus line that goes along the coast from Eilat’s central bus station to Princess hotel at the border with Egypt. There is not official bus stop, but I asked the driver to let me get off.

I came to there already at sunset, but because of the mountains the dusk was coming even quicker. So I had to hurry if I wanted to see the reef before the darkness and I still had to find a place to sleep. The beach itself didn’t impress me. As you can see on the photo above, it is just a several meters wide stretch of pebbly shore squeezed between the road and the sea (the road has to go so close to the sea because of the rocks). But it wasn’t the beach I was after, so I went straight to the sea (in my shorts that time). And I was immediately astonished by the beauty of the coral reef. It wasn’t as big as the one I saw in Hurghada, but it was full of life. And as soon as I saw a moray eel that was twisting menacingly next to its hole, I felt happy to have encountered such a distinctive inhabitant of the coral reef that I hadn’t seen before. While snorkeling I noticed a place at the border with Princess beach that seemed to have an about 1m high elevation which I thought would hide me from light from the road as well as protect me from wind. By the way, the beach was full of tents, but I couldn’t seen anyone around most of them. In any case, it gave me an impression that camping was OK there and people felt confident to leave their stuff. So I picked up my small backpack and went to that place. It felt so great to be able to sleep outdoors without a need to cover! So I slept under the starry sky next to the sea and the only thing that disturbed me was the light coming from the road. Well, at some point there was also a small mouse that tried to get into my backpack but after I scared it a couple of times it left me alone 😉

I woke up with the sun that was rising over Jordan. What a great start of the day to wake up at the sea with 3 countries in your view.

I had some fruity-nutty breakfast and decided to sunbathe naked as I didn’t see anyone around.

But soon I was ready to get into the water. BTW, on the water above you can see that there is a fence next to the sea and there are designated entrances into the sea which is an absolutely necessary measure to protect the coral reef… So here I was, going to the sea again but I didn’t dare to walk naked. I entered the water and then left my swimming trunks at the rock and continued swimming totally naked (except for the mask with snorkel 😎

With the sunlight, the coral reef looked of course even more stunning and many fishes were colored in an amazingly bright manner.

Some, like the crocodile-fish below, were on contrary barely noticeable and looked rather menacing.


But overall, it was a fantastic experience of seeing such an incredible variability of fishes during just a couple of hours, and most of them do not even try to escape when you come closer. I was lucky to capture most of the fishes I saw on my camera.
Here is a slideshow with some photos.

I didn’t bother putting names of the species, as my blog is about naturism and not naturalism after all, but I for myself, I was happy to find a list of fish species of the Red Sea coral reefs on wikipedia; apparently I have seen most of the typical species in such a short tour! And I was happy to see even some interspecies cooperative interactions: the famous example of cleaner fish (a type of wrasses on my photos) taking care of the skin of their big fellows (needlefish on my photos).
And here is a video with some of them.

And I was happy to experience an interaction of one of the fishes with me! That was a Picasso fish trying to intimidate me protecting its nest. And it worked, despite its size :O

And did I mention I was naked too? That’s what I call to be connected with nature 🙂

Unfortunately, fish and corals were not my only encounters:

Once in a while I saw some rubbish floating…

Most likely it comes from those tourist boats… I saw plenty of them; people seem to have lots of fun there, jumping from boats to the sea, but probably they don’t bother looking at beautiful underwater world. Otherwise I cannot imagine how someone could throw garbage into the sea knowing that there is such a marvel right under the surface.

But then a very pleasant surprise came from above the surface! When I was swimming back to my place, I noticed a man sitting close to my stuff and I was preparing to put on my shorts before getting out of the sea, but then I noticed he was naked too! I was quite happy to see a fellow nudist, so I felt even more comfortable staying without clothes, although the place wasn’t known to be clothing-optional. I spoke to the guy, who turned out to be a strip-dancer from Chile, and he said he went there quite regularly and saw some other people naked too. I was quite thrilled that I managed to find that spot just by chance, although everyone told me there was no nudist beach at the Red Sea in Eilat. I thought I might have some special sense, radar, for such places which I called a ‘nudar’ 🙂

Ga’ash beach in Tel Aviv

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Tel Aviv is often dubbed as one of the hippest and most exciting cities of the Mediterranean and the whole world; and as a proper mediterranean city, it offers a few sandy beaches. However, the centrally located beaches are crowded, so if you want to take a breath off the bustling city AND take off your clothes, you should head to the north of Tel Aviv to Ga’ash beach. It is also the most famous gay-friendly beach in Israel. I don’t know how to get there by public transport there, but I was lucky to be brought there by local nudie fellow, who was recommended by a friend in Berlin.

Seemingly endless, Ga’ash beach has enough space for all. In July, when many find the heat in Tel Aviv almost unbearable, it also gets very hot at this beach in the afternoons, as it faces the West, but it’s hard to find anything more relaxing than soaking in the warm waters on the edge of the sea. (if you’re afraid of jellyfish, that’s also probably the deepest you can get into the sea, because jellyfish are abundant in Tel Aviv during mid summer; very bad timing they have!)

But if you are a true active naturist, you shouldn’t lie too much, move your ass and go for a run! 😉

The soft sand is perfect for running barefoot.

The beach lies along sand cliffs,

which provide scenic views,

so of course we couldn’t resist from going for walk by one of the hiking trails.

There are indicators of hiking trails, but it would be difficult to get lost given proximity of the sea.

In some places the sand was very hard but smooth from wind, and the combination creates some cozy corners.

Too bad we couldn’t stay there till sunset. It was time to go back to the beach, and then to the city…

Swan Lake

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

swan 0000 Wannsee, Berlin, Germany

I’ve seen something that impressed me so much, I couldn’t skip it on my blog, although it has little to do with naturist activities…

Swan Lake, Pyotr Tchaikovsky‘s masterpiece, has been arguably the most popular ballet for decades and has also become classics in modern dance thanks to Matthew Bourne‘s interpretation, first staged in 1995 in London’s West End and never having a break since then with several tours around the world.

I first saw their billboards in Athens where they were on tour last autumn, but finally got a chance to see the show itself last weekend here in New York.

I won’t pretend being an expert in modern dance (although I do like it), but I hardly can imagine any other show that can beat Bourne’s Swan Lake in both choreography and emotional message, so beautiful and powerful, romantic and tragic. There is an interview with Matthew Bourne on youtube where he talks about New York’s production specifically. In short, the Prince is struggling with his false and exposed life where he cannot get love and understanding neither from his mother nor girlfriend, and then he sees (dreams of?) a flock of swans…

He falls in love with their leader, who is a reincarnation of everything the Prince actually wants to be: strong and free…

One of the things that struck me was that the swans in the show moved and behaved pretty much like swans in reality. I tell you as a zoologist 😉 , and I’ve seen plenty of them at the Wannsee lake in Berlin.)

The swans in this performance were not only gracious creatures, typically portrayed in Tchaikovky’s ballet, but also vigorous and sometimes fierce.

naturist & swan 0001 Wannsee, Berlin, Germany

They may come to you

swan 0000 Wannsee, Berlin, Germany

and bow gently.

naturist & swan 0002 Wannsee, Berlin, Germany

(oops! this one even slightly overdid it, putting his head underwater.) But they may also hiss and move menacingly if you come too close

naturist & swan 0005 Wannsee, Berlin, Germany

or simply leave all of a sudden…

And don’t even try to catch them:

naturist & swan 0000 Wannsee, Berlin, Germany

you are lucky if they decide to escape, otherwise they can actually hit you!

But if you are even luckier, perhaps you’ll be able to find your way to a swan… A possible interpretation of Bourne’s Swan Lake is a desire to be one with nature, whose symbol in the story is a swan. Maybe Matthew Bourn should have staged some of the scenes in the nude, that would certainly make the connection even more powerful and dancers’ moves even more beautiful…

naturist & swan 0004 Wannsee, Berlin, Germany

Anyways, this is how the Prince found his ultimate freedom…

River Island Nature Retreat (NSW, Australia)

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

River Island Nature Retreat is about 2.5 hours drive from the centre of Sydney in the Southern Highlands. It’s probably an odd choice of location for a clothing optional retreat as the Southern Highlands aren’t exactly very warm a lot of the time.

view 0001 River Island, New South Wales, AustraliaThe retreat is set on the Wollondilly River and it’s beautiful in a very typically Australian Bush kind of way.You can walk for several kilometres and follow some 4 wheel drive tracks, swim in the river or enjoy the pool, all nude if you like.

naturist 0003 River Island, New South Wales, Australia

The area is home to some wild goats, and it’s at River Island that I finally got to see some of Australia’s native wildlife for the first time in the wild. The platypus and the echidna are very shy animals but along with kangaroos and wombats, they call River Island home.

kangaroo 0000 River Island, New South Wales, Australia

I’ve been three times now, at the very end of last summer and very very early in this Spring and I’ve only seen a couple of other people camping.

naturist 0000 River Island, New South Wales, Australianaturist 0001 River Island, New South Wales, Australia

There are cabins for hire up on the hill near the main complex but it’s too beautiful down on the banks of the river not to camp there.

naturist 0002 River Island, New South Wales, Australia

Text and photos by Brenton, but check out his video about this place too!

Nu York, Nu York! (Jacob Riis Park beach)

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists
As I mentioned previously, I was looking for a job and went for an interview in New York in May. Now, I am finally in the Big Apple and have been settling in quite good so far. At last, I feel I have some spare time to fulfill my promise to update my blog with the new stuff from this summer! First, however, I have an autumn surprise. I was worried there wouldn’t be a possibility to hang out naked outdoors within reasonable distance from NYC… Luckily, a good friend of mine told me about an ‘insider’ nudie spot within New York City Transit area; a picturesque beach where nudity is practiced too!
naturist 0000 Jacob Riis Park beach, NY, USA
I must add immediately, that the majority of people there are not totally naked , and many say one should be careful with police raids, but others convince me there is no problem with that. So, mostly, this beach attracts gay men, many of whom wear rather amusing (to my taste) kinds of swimming trunks – I have not seen such a diversity of swimwear anywhere else (probably not the best comment to a nudist beach). Nevertheless, it is probably as nude as it gets within New York City boundaries. Most of the people seem to be regular visitors who know each other, so it was difficult for a newcomer like me to stay unnoticed. Even though sometimes I felt like I got too much of unwanted attention, it was good to get to know locals. They are very friendly, and it is common to share food and drinks (or sun lotion) with your neighbors there. And ethnical diversity reflects the multicultural scene of Brooklyn and the whole New York City.
naturist 0001 Jacob Riis Park beach, NY, USA
It is Jacob Riis Park, a part of seemingly endless sandy beach line, but the gay and nudist-friendly part is at the border with the private sector section and with a former nursery home at the background.
naturist 0004 Jacob Riis Park beach, NY, USA
The ocean may be very rough at high tide but is usually calmer at low tide. I wouldn’t advice to swim too far if you are alone. Luckily, I’ve found a company of a good swimmer Hassan, who was also nicknamed as a mayor of the beach. naturist 0002 Jacob Riis Park beach, NY, USA
Be careful with a strong current at high tide, as it may bring you quickly westwards: it is difficult to swim back then, and there are remains of wooden pierce which may become a real threat if you get hit by a strong waive. Nevertheless, if you are careful enough and have a companion, it can be a great fun to swim under such high waves.
One day, there were also a lot of jelly fish, but it is not a problem for tough men 😉
naturist 0003 Jacob Riis Park beach, NY, USA
(well, the jelly-fish were all dead and did not sting, hehe)
So, I am happy to tell you yes, there is a place for naked beach time and swimming in New York City! And the weather was good enough even in mid-October, which is another good surprise after Berlin. (Though my first summer in Berlin, in 2006, was also amazing in terms of the weather: if you look at my post about Berlin and nearby areas, there are photos from Warnemünde at the Baltic Sea made in October! But I heard here in NYC it’s a norm unlike in Berlin.)
PS Did you notice what I was drinking on the photo above? The famous “Naked” smoothies 😉
Perhaps another candidate to sponsor this blog besides japanese “Kirin Nuda”
naturist 0005 Jacob Riis Park beach, NY, USA

Praia do Meco, Portugal.

by αNaturist, posted in Lisboa, naturismo, naturista, nudismo, nudista, pelado, Portugal, praia, Praia do Meco

A estupendamente enorme e maravilhosa Praia do Meco é perfeita para naturistas e para a prática de campismo. Esta praia encontra-se cercada por um pinhal, escarpas e fontes de água doce. É ainda possivel a prática de parapente que possívelmente poderá ser a nú!!

Apesar de ser considerada uma das melhores praias da costa Lisboeta, pode tornar-se num desafio usufrui-la no caso de usares transportes públicos. Terás de apanhar um autocarro em Lisboa – na estação de autocarros da Praça de Espanha – com destino a Sesimbra, saindo em Santana a meio caminho. Nesta localidade será possivel apanhar um dos oito autocarros em direcção ao Meco. Não te esqueças de perguntar pelo horário dos autocarros para a viagem de regresso.
Text in Portuguese by Fabrício

dance naked!

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

My foot is recovering, and I can’t wait to have some action, and better a naturist one. Of course, during Berlin’s winter it may be somewhat challenging. I’ve mentioned some swimming+sauna options in the post about Berlin, but there is a distinct event which I’ve been always curious to visit – SchlagerNackt-Party. It is a regular event held at different locations and its name is self-explanatory: Schlager is a colloquial name for cheesy pop music in Germany and some other countries, Nackt is naked and rhymes with Nacht, night =)

I’ve been twice to London’s naked disco, enjoyed dancing naked and loved music there, but I’m not sure Schlager is my cup of tea… However, I can’t wait till Ibiza and Mykonos will get their own naked parties, and since even progressive Berlin on the naked night suggests 70-80’s, I don’t have much choice… On the other hand, I anyway wouldn’t be able to dance with full exuberance even to my favorite genres of house or drum’n’bass until my foot recovers completely, so this Schlager-night seems like a good option for starters. And on top of that, it is also a part of German culture. So I think I’ve pretty much convinced myself, just need to convince some of my buddies as well 😉

And when I was sitting in the chair for more than a month, I went through many web sites looking for inspiration for some naturist activities and found an internet live-show project called Fratpad. I bet many naturists will be in uproar, if I call the project naturist, but in any case the guys in this show go through all kinds of tests to become a ‘fraternity’, and they do it naked practically all the time and have loads of uninhibited fun. I’ve seen some videos where they dance naked and have some pretty good moves, which certainly look inspirational. So I’ve made a compilation called ‘A guide to you nude night’.

(don’t forget to switch on full screen mode and turn on the sound!)

Take you clothes off, get naked on the dance floor!

Beaches of Legrena near Athens

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Legrena is located about 2h of bus/car ride from the centre of Athens on the way the cape Sounion, where Aegeus was waiting for his son Theseus after the battle with Minotaur…

Well, you probably know the myth and why the sea is actually called Aegean. Now the cape features ruins of the Temple of Poseidon, another father of Theseus (yes, he had two fathers!), so it is a popular tourist spot, especially during sunset.

And if you want to combine sightseeing with beach fun, you should stop over at Legrena. There are several beaches of different size, with different ground, open and secluded.naturist 0007 Legrena, Attica, Greece

Closer to the bus stop (Athens-Sounio bus) lies a long sandy beach. When we were there in August, it was almost empty, maybe because Athenians left to the islands and tourists do not know about it… It was easy to find a spot with no one else in the nearest 30 meters, but unfortunately it was not easy to find a spot to enter the sea for swimming. Well, it was fine for wading but too shallow for swimming.

naturist 0006 Legrena, Attica, Greece

But further offshore the bottom is full of urchins, so it’s quite risky to walk.
Since it was also windy we couldn’t play frisbee or beach bats. However, we had a jump rope by chance, so skipping was practically the only way to stay active 😉

naturist 0008 Legrena, Attica, Greece

On another day, we were at a smaller sandy beach farther from the station but without urchins at the sea bottom. As we were alone there, we felt free to stay clothes-free. We played beach bats and ring frisbee, which turned out to be a blast, as it is more resistant to the wind blow than a regular disc frisbee and is also super-fast. Too bad I don’t have a video of that. Later there appeared one more naked man at the end of the beach, one clothed family, and one man kept walking forth and back. He pointed at us and said (in Greek) we were crazy to play around naked, although to be honest he himself seemed rather crazy, and why did he return several times if he didn’t like the site of us playing frisbee naked?

On another occasion in mid-October, on a very hot day, I visited the “official” nudist beach of Legrena.

view 0000 Legrena, Attica, Greece

Actually, again even the non-nudist part was almost empty, with one naked man and another clothed in the shade. This beach is pebbly,

naturist 0000 Legrena, Attica, Greece

and some of the rocks are light-pink!

rocks 0000 Legrena, Attica, Greece

As the beach was faced directly to the sun and surrounded by rocks, it got really hot; naturist 0001 Legrena, Attica, Greece

I couldn’t sit anymore and went swimming. I saw several more coves with one or few naked men in each.

At one of the coves there was a partly submerged tunnel with some bright pinkish rocks.

rocks 0003 Legrena, Attica, Greece

Later I walked to the “official” nudist part of the beach. This time the pathway was full beautiful light-green rocks.

rocks 0001 Legrena, Attica, Greece

The entrance to the naturist part is announced by a notification (in Greek) on a huge rock.naturist 0004 Legrena, Attica, Greece

Another announcement is placed in the middle of the beach.

naturist 0002 Legrena, Attica, Greece

And if you still don’t get the point or cannot read greek, there are some smaller international notifications, like this rock with an “FKK” sign.

naturist 0003 Legrena, Attica, Greece

Again, there were some rocks of peculiar shapes and colors, like this dark-green ‘mini-vulcano’.

naturist 0005 Legrena, Attica, Greece

This place must be certainly interesting for a geologist, I bet there are some naturists among them as well.

rocks 0002 Legrena, Attica, Greece

Salle de sport à Paris : faites de la musculation nu !

by αNaturist, posted in gym
English

Dans certain pays européens la nudité est tolérée en public, mais il se pose un grand problème naturel : l’hiver ! De plus, les endroits où l’on peut pratiquer le naturisme à l’intérieur sont peu nombreux, surtout si l’on excepte les saunas. Par contre, Paris a une salle de sport qui est naturiste 5 fois par semaine et une piscine 3 fois par semaine, grâce à l’Association Naturiste de Paris. Des piscines naturistes se trouvent à Berlin, à Madrid et à Londres, mais je ne connais aucune autre salle de gym naturiste, alors que le mot “gym” implique la nudité et vient du mot grec γυμνός [gymnos] – nu.

Voici l’endroit où les naturistes parisiens s’entraînent pour garder leur forme quand il fait -10°C !

naturist 0013 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

A l’intérieur il fait assez chaud pour que l’on puisse se mettre nu 🙂

naturist 0011 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

La salle n’est pas grande mais équipée avec toutes les machines qu’il faut.

naturist 0015 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Et la grande surprise : la première visite est gratuite ! Il suffit de remplir l’invitation.

En plus, l’entrée est gratuite pour les jeunes de moins de 27 ans !

naturist 0014 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Parfait pour les jeunes sportifs 😉

Les adhérents sont très gentils.

naturist 0016 Gym of Association Naturiste de Paris, Paris, France

Merci à Laurent pour les photos !

 

French translation by Laurent