I guess you would have called me a prude for most of my 50 years. Born in the 50’s my family never showed so much in the house as you would see them wearing outside. I was told from an early age that those parts were to never be seen by anybody with the exception of a doctor and on special occasion a lover or more specifically a spouse. I had been married and rarely even saw my wife naked, never mind doing anything as risque as going outside wearing less than would be called modest.
Over the years of being single I slowly lost my feeling of need for clothing in the house when there was no one around. On occasion I did have a girlfriend who would want to have a clothing free weekend which I found very exciting. That was about how close I got to public nudity as I had ever been.
I was working as a trucking company owner and had a contract where I worked every night doing a switch with another truck coming from a different province and switching trailers in the middle. With the winter weather being terrible in the mountains there were sometimes I didn’t make it back or got stranded in the middle of the shift. I ended up getting very tired and eventually ending the contract. The contract called for a 30 day notice so I finally finished the 30 days and shut everything down in mid February.
Once I had been home for a couple days and somewhat caught up on my sleep I noticed that I felt confined as the sun hadn’t been out for quite a while and it was a steady downpour of rain. As I had been working nights I realized that I hadn’t seen much of the sun in months and it was contributing to my low grade depression. I decided that I needed to get away and go where ever the sun was shining and be pampered and read a book.
I walked over to my travel agents office and told her that I needed a sunny vacation. She asked me if I would go in the water and I told her yes. She asked me to go home, come back in an hour and bring my passport. When I returned she had three possibilities. She looked at my passport and told me that the first destination was Cuba which required my passport to be valid for six months so it was out. The next one was in Mexico but the reviews were less than complimentary. Then there was one in Jamaica where the reviews spoke very highly with many people coming back on a yearly basis.
So it was done, I was going to Jamaica and my plane left in less than 48 hours. I went home and started to pack but then it hit me that I knew nothing about this place. Do they have snorkeling? Do they supply towels? What are the facilities like? I had been to Jamaica once before and liked what I saw but it seemed that each place was different. I went online and looked the place up and started reading the reviews and looking at the amenities. A lot of people were talking about the topless pool and the clothing optional beach. It started me thinking.
Over the next coupe days I started to prepare myself to see what I would see, and the weird part was that I started to think about partaking in the activities that would be available. A quote kept coming to mind, “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” I needed to find out why would anyone want to be naked outside where others could see them and the only way I could find out for sure was to try it myself.
I looked online and found other resorts that offered similar facilities and one stood out because it had a mosaic in the concrete that stated their motto; ” no one knows you and know one gives a sh*t ” I found it fitting.
The first day was a long day of travel from Vancouver to Regina to Montego bay. Roughly 9 hours on the plane and then customs and another hour and a half on a bus and we were there. When I got off the bus two girls got off at the same hotel so we said our hello’s and acknowledged that we all came from the same area of the world. Being a fairly small resort we would get to know each other fairly well over the coming week. That night was all about getting some dinner and sleep.
The next morning I got up early and had breakfast and then grabbed a coffee and went out to a pier that protruded out from the resort. I could see the whole resort from there including the clothing optional beach. An older couple came onto that beach and took off all there clothes, covered each other with sunscreen and then the woman laid out on a lounger and the man put on a snorkel and fins and swam out of the resort and right past me. I had never seen anything like that in my life.
I decided that I would just chill the first day and sat on the regular beach and read my book and watched the other guests play volleyball. I had put on some sunscreen but I had missed a few spots which by dinner time were starting to hurt, a lot. I went to the store and got some stuff to treat it, which they have the best sunburn stuff in Jamaica, but it does take time.
My room faced the pool which was empty most of the time but I didn’t want to go back into the direct sunlight until I had my burns somewhat under control so I sat on my patio and read my book. At times I would go for a walk and see the people on the clothing optional beach and I would think about my goal of trying that before I left. After a couple days of keeping out of the sun I decided to keep my burns covered but that I could try the beach and finally see what all the fuss was about.
I got up and thought to myself, well today is the day that I get naked and everyone will see me! I went into the bathroom and put sunscreen everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. I did a couple spots twice, partly just to be sure and partly just cause it feels good. I grabbed my stuff and headed out. I was almost to the beach and I looked and the beach that usually seemed to have about 6 to 8 people on it now seemed to have around 20. It looked very daunting and I found that I had stopped in my tracks and lost my nerve. I turned around and went back to my patio and tried to read my book but I couldn’t concentrate. I kept thinking what a wuss I was for not going through with it, and berated myself all afternoon, all the time reminding myself that no one knows me and no one cares.
The next morning I awoke with a new resolve, I was going to do this and I don’t care who sees me and I don’t care what they think of it, I’m going to do this. I did like the day before and lathered myself with sunscreen and covered my burned bits with a hat, socks and took a small cloth to cover a burn on my leg. I walked over to the beach but today there was only the older couple who had been there all week. As I walked past them they both looked up and said “good morning” to me which I responded in kind. I had never talked to a naked couple before, it felt kinda weird.
I picked out my lounger and set my stuff down. I laid out my towel and made sure that everything was in place because I didn’t want to be floundering around once my clothes were off. It was now or never, I pulled my t-shirt over my head and placed it beside the table, it was now time for me to summons all my courage. This was going to happen. I grabbed the sides of my shorts and started their decent. The whole time I remember thinking how crazy this was that I was going against everything I had been taught about life and I was showing my bits and pieces in public. Finally they were off and I pounced onto the lounger, I quickly arranged myself so that I was laying with a leg up so the people on the other beach couldn’t see my junk and I put my book up so the other couple couldn’t see me.
I had decided to give myself 15 minutes to find out if I liked it or hated it. I wanted to see why people did this and if it was something I would ever do again in the future. For now I just wanted to get my heart beating again as I was both terrified and invigorated all at the same time. While part of me was trying not to chub up another part was looking around to see if the world had stopped turning and yet another part was feeling a new freedom that I had never experienced before. After what seemed like an eternity, so probably about 10 minutes, my heart got back to it’s regular beat and I started to relax just enough to sense those around me.
At one point I looked down at my book to discover a couple things, one, it was upside down the whole time, and two, I had positioned it on my stomach so it wasn’t blocking anybodies view but mine. After I finally got settled and had regained my composure I started to feel comfortable and enjoy the experience. I felt like I had accomplished something and it would somehow enhance my life. About then the massage lady came by and started talking to me, it felt totally strange talking to someone when your stark naked and they are fully clothed. Then it got weirder, while she was talking she just looked down very nonchalant and checked out my package. Now this wasn’t just a passing glance, she was staring for a good 30 seconds while we carried on a conversation.
At some point I decided that I liked the feeling of being free, not only of my clothes but of some of the teachings of my childhood. I found out that the people on that beach were a lot more friendly than the people on the other beaches, that we were all the same no mater what the background. That they weren’t all perverts and weirdos, I mean some are, but most are great people. I found it was a special feeling of belonging, not to the resort but to the people on that beach. When you would see them at dinner or around the resort they would say hello and smile or wave and I felt like I belonged.
I spent the rest of my vacation on that beach.