Part 2:
Wednesday / Day 3:
As we dragged ourselves from bed at 7 AM, it is just over 36 hours since our staynakation began Monday evening. Days 3 was all Tara's idea and after some initial hesitation I agreed to go along with the plan. Tara never
had any previous interest in visiting Hanlans Point. This is mostly my fault to be
honest, I have not been kind in my reviews.
She decided though that if we were going to truly have a naturist
staycation that even a short visit should be on the “to do” list. Keeping an open mind and having a backup list
of things to do in Toronto (clothed) just in case, we went for it. Being a weekday the trains are
frequent and we joined the morning commute of the unfortunate folks who had to work making our way into the city. The ferry terminal is a short walk from the
train station so it was not even 10 o’clock before we had our feet in the sand. The rest went very close to what I expected.
On
arrival, most people at the clothing optional beach were taking the option and perfecting
their all over tans. As soon as we picked
a spot, Tara and I joined them. A typical morning at the beach, we lay out on our towels, enjoyed the heat of the sun while reading
our books and spent a significant time in the water as the temperature reached 28C. I was happily surprised to see a large mix of people and most of those around us were taking the naturist / nudist option. There was plenty of men on their own of course (that was me not too long ago), but there was a large mix from all walks of life as well, gay couples, straight couples, a few groups of men and/or women. Right next to us was a pair of women sunbathing topless. I am always a little surprised when I see women come to a nude or clothing optional beach and go topless. I am not judging them, but more so our society as it is legal for women to be topless in Ontario anywhere a man can be, and yet (I assume) they felt more comfortable and anticipated less chance of harassment going topless at a
clothing optional beach than a textile one. It actually seems logical but sadly they were mistaken. It didn’t take long for a group of four
young men to choose to setup their cooler and towels between the two ladies and where
Tara and I were. The beach was busy but hardly crowded enough for their chosen location to be so close to three women, two topless and one nude. To no ones surprise the young men did
not go nude. At first they were not bothering anyone, drinking beer, talking loud like you would expect at a beach. However as I was cooling off in the water, which was suspicious timing, one of the young men approached the two ladies and had the audacity to ask for a selfie. At first his friends pulled him away, apologized "he is just drunk and stupid". Their intervention did not last long, he persisted and by the time I arrived on the scene I could overhear them encouraging the situation. "Just take the selfie and we promise to delete from his phone before he can do anything with it". Then one pointed at Tara and said "She's nude, I bet she will join us if it makes you feel better". All three ladies were letting their disapproval very well known and the four young men were now getting attention that had not intended. By the time I, and a very large, very intimidating, also very naked man (he looked like her could be a linebacker in the NFL), could step in, they had already seen the error of there ways, and packing up for the day.
Determined not to let that ruin the day. We moved further south on the beach where the ratio of textiles was far lower. The two ladies joined us for some time. It was nice to get to know them and tell them about what real naturism can be. It turns out that prior to the drunken idiots arrival, they had been debating going fully nude. Not blaming them for being discouraged by the events, we did our best to share with them how happy we were being naturists, just not at Hanlans Point. I would love to tell you we sold them on it. I think it is probably unlikely though they did continue to be topless until they departed. I made sure to direct them to my blog (shameless self promotion), Bare Oaks and Ponderosa's websites. Maybe they are reading about themselves here. (As promised, not even a fake name used). Another hour later though they did move on. Tara and I were not far behind them as the atmosphere became less peaceful and increasingly club like with competing groups with louder music. I think I may be getting to0 old for that scene? As we made our way back to the ferry, Tara remained topless and only put her bikini top on once we got close to the terminal where it was more crowded. Along the way she did get a couple stares, a few smiles, and one noticeable frown from a disapproving women. This was well outside her comfort zone and not something I expect her to repeat often, but she felt like making a point after our experience with the drunken idiots.
Sadly the rest of our day was very textile. A few hours at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and in a a very ironic twist, went clothes shopping at the Eaton Centre. We had dinner at a trendy place in Toronto, and back home for another naked night watching movies. In the end it was not a terrible day. I did focus on the drunken idiots but who has not been to the beach and had similar issues. Tara has suggested she may even like to go back and give Hanlans another try. Winter is on the way so I hope she changes her mind before the spring, I much prefer Port Burwell for my naturist beach experiences.
Note to self: I tend to type out my blog posts, leave it for a day or two, read it again to make sure I am happy with it and then publish. Lets me find grammar mistakes, of which I am sure I still miss plenty, and ensures I captured everything as best as I can. This time however in the few days between finishing my first draft and publishing I discovered something else. Everything above is an accurate portrayal of the events. I always change or omit a few things here or there for privacy, both personally and those I may mention, but otherwise I lay out my experiences as I saw them. I would like to make a minor amendment, but not in the usual way. I came across a post by one of my favourite Naturist bloggers (Naked Wanderings - check them out here) and after reading this I wished I could amend my actions slightly, or my reaction actually. Our issues with the drunken idiots motivated us to move further down the beach to be in an area with a better naturist to textile ratio. Even though the idiots had left, and we were well within the boundaries of the clothing optional area, we moved as it seemed less of a hassle than the potential to be bothered further by other still undeclared idiots. I wish we had just stayed. No one else was bothering us. There is no reason naturists and textiles cannot share a clothing optional beach, its the whole point of the "optional". Naturism will always been seen as taboo by those who don't understand it and it wont help if naturists are huddled away in corners, at least that is how I see it.
Will take this opportunity to pause again. I want to let the day at Hanlans Point be a post of its own. Being a first visit there for Tara, and the events that transpired I felt it deserved it. I will mash the keyboard some more this weekend and wrap this up finally, we spent a day at Bare Oaks and then the remainder of our "staynakation"TM was spent at Port Burwell which was just amazing.
Determined not to let that ruin the day. We moved further south on the beach where the ratio of textiles was far lower. The two ladies joined us for some time. It was nice to get to know them and tell them about what real naturism can be. It turns out that prior to the drunken idiots arrival, they had been debating going fully nude. Not blaming them for being discouraged by the events, we did our best to share with them how happy we were being naturists, just not at Hanlans Point. I would love to tell you we sold them on it. I think it is probably unlikely though they did continue to be topless until they departed. I made sure to direct them to my blog (shameless self promotion), Bare Oaks and Ponderosa's websites. Maybe they are reading about themselves here. (As promised, not even a fake name used). Another hour later though they did move on. Tara and I were not far behind them as the atmosphere became less peaceful and increasingly club like with competing groups with louder music. I think I may be getting to0 old for that scene? As we made our way back to the ferry, Tara remained topless and only put her bikini top on once we got close to the terminal where it was more crowded. Along the way she did get a couple stares, a few smiles, and one noticeable frown from a disapproving women. This was well outside her comfort zone and not something I expect her to repeat often, but she felt like making a point after our experience with the drunken idiots.
 |
| View from the ferry, it was great weather |
Day 3 time without clothes: 14 hours - 58%
Will take this opportunity to pause again. I want to let the day at Hanlans Point be a post of its own. Being a first visit there for Tara, and the events that transpired I felt it deserved it. I will mash the keyboard some more this weekend and wrap this up finally, we spent a day at Bare Oaks and then the remainder of our "staynakation"TM was spent at Port Burwell which was just amazing.
You can follow me on Twitter here: @NudeInCanada
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You can find out where to be Naked in Canada here
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You can find out where to be Naked in Canada here
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