Naked Staycation = Staynakation??? (Part 3)

I recently had a weeks vacation and not currently looking to spend a lot of money at the moment, I planned out a rather wonderful Staycation / Nakacation……or a StayNakakation for Tara and I. We visited my “greatest hits” of Naturism in the Toronto area and the only time we were clothed was for the brief travel time between destinations (and even then there was an exception). I originally planned this out at as a single blog post but decided I would split it up once I realized how long it was becoming. 

The conclusion is below and you can find Part 1 - here,  and Part 2 here

Part 3 (This is the conclusion I promise):

Thursday / Day 4:

It would not be a true naturist vacation without at least a day trip to Bare Oaks. We initially planned on camping there however it was not in the cards. We were invited to see a movie with textile friends that evening and were unable to think of an excuse to get out of it.  Textiles are people too, it would be wrong to shun them entirely.  We made the most of our naturism time as best we could. Making an early start to beat some of the traffic on the highway, we headed towards Bare Oaks. Unsure how early the Bare Bistro

My favourite swimming hole

served breakfast on a weekday we decided to play it safe and stopped at a Coras north of Toronto before heading to the park.  I have already blogged about visiting Bare Oaks and the Bare Bistro a couple times so I wont go over it in too much detail again. We spent most of the day swimming in the pond which I still find by far my favorite naturist activity. If all they had at Bare Oaks was that pond,it would be enough.  We did a fair amount of sunbathing, reading, and socializing. And of course we had lunch at the Bare Bistro which has yet to let us down. All good things must end they say, and we were back in clothes for dinner and a movie night out which I admit was a lot of fun even with the dress code.

Day 4 time without clothes: 16 hours, 30 minutes - 69%

Friday, Saturday & Sunday - Day 5/6/7:

When planning trips to Port Burwell from the Toronto area, you generally have to plan for an early start. Even from our home well west of the city it is almost a two hour drive. Not letting another late night get in the way we began with yet another early start at seven o'clock and made the typically Canadian decision to grab Tim Horton's Coffee and breakfast on the way. Another thing you have to plan for with Port Burwell Provincial Park as a naturist is the 15-20 minute walk from the parking lot to the park boundary where you can finally be free of those pesky clothes. You don't want to forget anything in the car (much less at home). Planning is therefore key and I feel like an old pro at this now. We packed a couple large water bottles, frozen the night before to keep them cold as long as you can and they double as ice in our cooler/backpack. In the cooler we had sandwiches for lunch, several beers and hotdogs in case we stay late and decide to have a fire. Food that does not necessarily need to be kept cool is always handy as well. Wanting to stay at least until night fall, we packed plenty of carrots, sliced peppers, and some granola bars to ensure we were not tempted to put clothes on before we had our fill. We have also been investing in ultra lightweight and compact or collapsible beach umbrella, chairs and so on. Sadly these things are way more expensive but we totally feel its been worth the expense with at least two trips to Port Burwell each month during the summer.

It was past 10:30AM before we were actually setup and relaxing at the beach. It was another scorcher with the afternoon high hitting 29C and that is not factoring in the humidity which made it feel almost 40C. We were fortunate enough that Lake Erie was very calm that day as we had every intention of being fish for most of the day.  We spent the day swimming, tanning, reading, walking along the shore and even wandered inland to the forest a little bit.  I am not actually sure if you are allowed to hike inland, and if you are, how far it is safe to go, so we didn't venture too far. Overall another typical day at the beach.  Soon after sunset and the stars began to come out, it was still hot enough that it felt great going for a moonlight swim in the lake. It is hard to find a down side to swimming at night. The lake was still calm so you could easily hear the crickets or an occasional owl over the gentle waves hitting the shore. It was so wonderful we completely lost track of time.  We had been in the lake so long we were clearly now the only ones still on the beach. It was actually almost 11PM by the time we thought to look at a clock. The Provincial park was already very much closed, we were unsure if my car had been ticketed or worse towed. And even if not ticketed or towed, we were unsure if the gate would still be open to let us out. Our original intention was to stay late and do some stargazing but our poor time keeping had very much gone beyond that plan forcing us to make a decision. Do we pack up, hope our car had not been towed, and hope we could still exit the parking lot? Or did we make the best of it, spend the night, and hope the car was still there when the park reopened the next morning? Originally I thought bringing blankets to keep warm while stargazing was excessive given all the other baggage we had for a full day and evening at the beach, however Tara had insisted and I was now very thankful for it. It was this that really helped us decide we could survive the night and hope for the best in the morning. 

At first we were a little distressed with the situation. We had been enjoying ourselves so much that we had lost track of time, putting a wet blanket on an otherwise perfect day. Once we decided to stay the night however the stress was lifted and we were back to just enjoying ourselves. As naturism goes, this was about as wonderful a predicament as one could ask for. We spent an entire day at the beach with nothing touching our skin but sun, sand, water and some SPF 35 lotion. Followed by an equally blissful moonlight swim, only to find ourselves completely alone on a beach, naked as the day we were born.  We collected some wood and built a small fire, cuddled together between the blankets and spent the night together under the stars. I will admit that sleeping on a blanket in the sand is not the most comfortable bed I have had in my life, and we both woke up with a few noticeable bug bites.  But it was worth the price of admission when we woke up to the sun rising over Lake Erie and the Port Burwell Lighthouse. We were so relaxed even our granola bar breakfast felt like a 5 star experience.  It was right about then we made another decision. We would not pack up our things and head home. Instead we put some thought into what we needed to do to spend another day.  First we had to put our clothes on for the first time in almost 24 hours, walk back to the parking lot with the hope we still had a car. I am happy to report that not only was my car not towed, it was not ticketed either! I did sadly lose a game of rock paper scissors, which meant while Tara walked back to the nude beach and carried on with our naturist weekend, I remained clothed and drove into town to retrieve supplies for another full day at the beach. 

Our second day was more of the same as the first only this time we were by far the first people on the beach. Another hot day with a brief but welcome sun shower around lunch time. Not risking the same mistake from the night before, when we saw the sun was low, we packed up our things before enjoying another sunset. Only then did we make our way back to the car. Normally we get dressed before heading back towards the park boundary, but after spending the majority of the last two days without clothes, we decided to delay that as long as we could and began our walk with our clothes being carried, not worn. We made it almost the entire way back to the parking lot before we saw in the distance some people at the textile beach who had stayed for the sunset as well. We both put our shorts on to avoid getting in trouble but being as warm and humid as it still was, we were more than a bit sweaty from the hike with all our beach gear, neither I nor Tara put our tops on. This was the second time this week she had gone topless in public though I was less 

I "borrowed" this photo from Google

surprised this time. It was very dark at this point, and we never got close enough to other people that they could possibly notice. We even discussed if we should remain nude right until we got to the car but decided against it for fear a park ranger may be on patrol. As we drove past the park gate I was once again surprised by Tara's boldness.  She had decided she was already uncomfortable even wearing only a pair of shorts, and before I could sputter out the words "you must be joking" off they came.  Not one to be outdone, I pulled the car over and removed mine as well.  I would like to say before going forward that this is not something I recommend, nor can I speak with any authority of its legality in Ontario. I will also say that this had nothing to do with trying to be naturists, or promote naturism, or be any kind of activists if we were to be pulled over by the police. Any naturist will tell you one of the least comfortable times to be clothed is soon after you have been naked for a prolonged period so that definitely factored into our rash decision. To be fully honest though it was for the fun of it more than anything else. A little bit of thirty-something rebelliousness. My car does have tinted windows, and I pretty much drove under the speed limit the entire way home so there was not a lot of risk of being caught.  It was close to midnight when we got back to the house. We waited for the garage door to close fully behind us before we made our way inside, still only wearing our footwear. We shared a well deserved and much needed shower before finally calling it a night.

Sunday was nothing to blog home about. I stayed home until I was due at work that evening. The first day of any work week is never really something people look forward to. Less so for a naturist who not only has to go to work, but has to become a textile again too. Its borderline depressing.  I am ever an optimist though and the memories or our "staynakation", are more than enough to get me through the necessary evil of a textile work world for now. All told we had been without need for clothes privately or publicly, from about 1030AM on the Friday, with a brief intermission for a supply run and the last 5 minutes walk to the car, until I left for work Sunday evening.  Most of it fully in nature. Tara was even more fortunate and was able to continue all the way until Monday morning. An excellent finish to a wonderful Staynakation

Day 5 time without clothes: 18 hours, 35 minutes - 77%

Day 6 time without clothes: 22 hours - 92%

Day 7 time without clothes: 16 hours - 67%

That about wraps up everything I can think of to share from the week. I know there are people who spend days, weeks, and months without even thinking about clothes, that being said, I think as a couple of part time naturists or primarily home nudists, we managed an excellent week of nakedness in nature and new experiences. Next summer I think we will try to take it up level and actually spend a few days at a naturism resort but that stays on the to do list for now.

As always feedback and conversation is welcome, either in the comments below or on Twitter and Facebook.

You can follow me on Twitter here: @NudeInCanada
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You can find out where to be Naked in Canada here

Naked Staycation = Staynakation??? (Part 2)

I recently had a weeks vacation and not currently looking to spend a lot of money at the moment, I planned out a rather wonderful Staycation / Nakacation……or a StayNakakation for Tara and I. We visited my “greatest hits” of Naturism in the Toronto area and the only time we were clothed was for the brief travel time between destinations (and even then there was an exception). I originally planned this out at as a single blog post but decided I would split it up once I realized how long it was becoming. You can find Part 1 - Here, or part 2 below

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.

View from the ferry, it was great weather

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.

Day 3 time without clothes: 14 hours - 58%

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.

You can follow me on Twitter here: @NudeInCanada
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Naked Staycation = Staynakation??? (Part 1)

I recently had a week of vacation and not currently looking to spend a lot of money, I planned out a rather wonderful Staycation / Nakation……or a Staynakation for Tara and I. We visited my “greatest hits” of Naturism in the Toronto area and the only time we were clothed was for the brief travel time between destinations (and even then there was an exception). I originally planned this out at as a single blog post but decided I would split it up once I realized how long it was becoming.

Part 1:

Monday / Day 1: Naked night in

Our plan was simple, no clothes except when absolutely necessary until Sunday evening when I had to be back at work. My work often keeps me on fluctuating hours/days so my vacation began at 5pm Monday night and there was still the subway and commuter train ride home meaning my nakation did not begin until 6:45pm.  When I arrived home Tara was well ahead of me, having picked up pizza on her way home, and the TV was primed for a mini-movie marathon. Add in a few cold beers, microwave popcorn, and you had the perfect night in to kick off our staycation. This is not really blog-worthy on its own really. Nights spent like this became a common hang out (pun intended) for us as friends who happen to be naturists, be it a movie, hockey game or what even was on TV that night, we would try and do this once a month or so. Since we became a couple and even more so since I moved in with her, it has became a regular thing most nights at home. No different than any couple who have been together for some time only with fewer loads of laundry required. A "normal" couple may slip into their comfortable sleep clothes for a night in, our comfortable sleep clothes just so happen to be no clothes at all.

Day 1 time without clothes (Since 6:45PM): 5 hours, 15 minutes - 100%

  

Tuesday / Day 2: Ponderosa Picnic

The forecast was mainly sunny with periods of rain. Being outside in the rain is actually refreshing and fun for a naturist in my opinion, however does not complement a day at the beach if it rains more than forecast. It made sense to pick a place where there is indoor and outdoor options and we decide to make our way to Ponderosa Nature Resort. “The Pond” has everything you need for a day of without clothes. This is not a sales pitch but they do have a huge outdoor pool, hot tub, lounge pool with “swim up” bar, a restaurant, indoor pool, indoor hot tub, sauna, a fair amount of hiking trails, and the added bonus of being only 25 minutes from where we live. We spent almost the whole day there making use of everything they

Not ours, no photos at the Pond!

had to offer other than the guest rooms really. Normally the large outdoor pool is the highlight of every visit, however this time we decided to pack an elaborate picnic lunch and it just made the whole day something special. Yes I have made use of the Ponds restaurant before and never had a complaint, and we usually pack a lunch when visiting Port Burwell but it’s a bit of a hike so we bring very little with us.  At Ponderosa its just a short walk from the parking lot to many ideal picnic spots so you can pack a full lunch with sandwiches, salads, and other difficult to carry in a backpack items and even make more than one trip if needed without being an inconvenience. I believe it is against the rules (sorry but not really sorry) we did sneak in a bottle of wine to round things out nicely. Picking a spot off on our own so as not to bother anyone, we really enjoyed our naked picnic, drinking our wine in coffee cups so as not to concern anyone who did walk by. We then just lay in the sun for at least another hour while reading. A phenomenal way to decompress, de-stress, and just be happy. When it did start to rain a little we just put our books away and enjoyed that feeling too. This was about as close to a perfect day as we could have asked for.  We didn't want it to end but had to tear ourselves away for more social nude activities planned for the evening. 

Tuesday / Evening 2: Naked Dinner

“Sam and Diane” who we celebrated Nude Years Eve with are not exactly naturists in the traditional sense.  We will socialize with them here and there as they share our distaste for clothes but they are unashamed to admit they are often on the lookout for something, more, as it were.  When the four of us get together, which has been more frequent since Tara and I began dating, they make very effort to keep things in line with our interpretation of naturism and nudism with no mention of the more “liberal” lifestyle they, as consenting adults, choose to live.  To help us get the most out of our staynakation they invited us to their home for dinner and drinks. We had a lovely steak dinner with all the fixings, and a few more bottles of wine. We played cards until midnight before a "late for a weeknight" Uber ride home brought the evening to a close. Not unlike a stay in movie night the evening before, this was very much a typical dinner with friends like any other. The only exception being the absence of clothes. We could not have asked for a more perfect evening to close out a perfect day.

Day 2 time without clothes: 22 hours 15 minutes - 93%

I am going to pause here and I will post more about or "Staynakation" as soon as I can find some time to type it out.  As a bit of a teaser I will say that on Day 3 we made Tara's first trip to Hanlans Point Clothing Optional beach on Toronto island and this could be a blog entry of its own.  I will try and post this within a week or so if I can find some time. As always comments and feedback is welcome and may encourage me to blog more frequently.
For now, Keep Calm and StayNakation!

Click here for Where to be naked in nature in Canada

Strange Things Happen When Naturists Put Their Clothes On

I know, it has been a while.  In my defense I don’t actually consider myself a “blogger” and the fact I have not posted since January would stand to support that position. That’s not to say I have not thought about updating recently, I have plenty of new naturist experiences to share, and many more opinions on Naturism to share. Time however has not been my friend. Between work, life, and enjoying Naturism, actually blogging about it was low on the to do list.

This past weekend a fellow naturist (thanks David), shared my blog saying “a blog to inspire” and what do you know, I got inspired. Today also happens to be the first day of a staycation that I plan on using as a full nakation. Aside from driving to/from my standard naturist go to locations (Bare Oaks, Ponderosa, Port Burwell) I don’t intend to wear clothes until I return to work on Sunday. So why not spend some naked time blogging.

Originally this blog was about my life as a single, 30 something guy, who suddenly realized clothes were overrated.  I focused mainly on the experience side of things as a single man in the naturist world as this was the kind of information I was looking for as a type of guidance when I was a newbie nudie but had a hard time finding. Hopefully those who have read my previous posts found them of use. Even if you were not a single 30 something newbie nudie.  While I was not always single during the last few years, however as a naturist I may as well have been. I dated one woman who I successfully introduced to naturism but sadly we were not “compatible” as it were. And then there is my long time platonic friend Tara whom I have mentioned many times however her personal life meant she was……lets say an occasional naturist. So on I went and there I blogged, as a single naturist 90 percent of the time.

Life has a funny way of surprising you though, and this post is more about life than naturism but it all ties together, please bear with me, or should it be bare with me????  Having known Tara since high school and been strictly platonic friends and happy in that status for the better part of two decades, it may shock some, that being a naturist and introducing someone of the opposite sex to naturism and nudism, didn’t have an impact on our friendship. It was never awkward, it never led to any lines crossed, not even at an alcohol fueled “Nude Years Eve”.  I believe it made us even better, closer friends, if that was even possible. I will admit our relationship did take a turn in a new direction this winter but Naturism was not a direct factor other than strengthening the bond we already shared. And while its taken a few paragraphs to get here, this is the main topic for this post.

Tara and I were both guests at destination wedding in the Caribbean this past winter. It was a typical wedding, a close nit group both in terms of the family and friends invited. So

you can imagine when people see the two close friends who both attend single, there are always lots of questions….

Have you ever?

Would you ever?

Why not?

We had been through this a couple of times over the years and it is no big deal. Some were genuinely curious how a man and a woman could be best friends and not a couple (usually the older people), some had their minds in the gutter (usually the younger people). One person asked “Seriously? You’ve never seen each other naked?” and I had to lie to avoid even more complicated questions.  I think we both handled ourselves well, and went on with our lives.

About a week later and back in Canada, we were having dinner with a group of friends for a birthday. Tara and I arrived earlier than anyone else and got talking about the wedding, and the silly questions we were asked. Somewhere along the way before others arrived, we came to the conclusion we needed to have a “talk”. I’d like to tell you where in this conversation the light came on, or what it was that steered us to our enlightenment, but I can't. Somewhere in the short conversation we had decided that maybe we were more than friends and were just to dumb to notice.

Later that night we had a brief “talk” and before we knew it, the next evening we went on our first “date”, dinner and a movie, just us. It was hardly a first date in the typical sense as we spent dinner plotting the baby steps we planned to take. It may seem strange to be so methodical but with so many ways this could have gone wrong, and we had a long established friendship on the line, we didn’t want to risk destroying that.  We took intimacy off the table for the first month at least, and we put our naturist activities together on hold until after that, just in case somehow that was confusing the issue (it was not). Being Canadian winter at the time, this was actually fairly easy. 

Fast forward and here we are, many months later, almost September now. I officially moved into Tara’s home recently, still being methodically cautious we agreed in advance to wait for a short time before renting out my house and will wait at least a year before we decide to put it up for sale. It is at this point I will address what I assume is a question anyone reading this may have. Why am I posting this, it has nothing to do with being a Naturist???? The strange thing about relationships is they should be easy, but they never are, and in a textile world so it is with naturism. Add those together and it can get muddy very fast. We have been friends for so long and never saw it as anything more.  For us, naturism was no different than sharing an interest in movies or sports. We are naturists but naturism alone does not define us. And even though I take credit for introducing Naturism to Tara, when we took the relationship plunge we wanted to keep it as uncomplicated as possible. So yes, we stopped being naturists (together) for a time just as we agreed to delay telling friends or family. I won’t tell you it was the right or wrong decision, it is just what made sense for us at the time. Thankfully it all seems to be working out, we had a great naturist summer together with more to come this week.

It may be that Naturism played some part in us eventually deciding to become a couple, but not directly. It was just another activity we found we both enjoyed. If this was not the case I would have thought we would have figured this out a few years ago as there have been plenty of opportunities rather than while reminiscing about a textile destination wedding to push us in this direction. 

When it comes to naturism, I’ll be honest I am not sure where to go with this blog. As mentioned a few times this started as the experiences from the perspective of a 30 something, single, male, who was new to naturism.  Aside from still being in my 30’s (just barely) none of that is true of me anymore.  There are plenty of blogs, Facebook pages, websites, Twitter feeds, and Instagramers covering naturism from a couples perspective, young and old.  “Naked Wanderings”,Felicity's Blog, and Naturist Living Show are great resources. Another blog may not add much to the conversation but I will try and keep at it for now and I will try not to go another 8 months between posts. As I type this I remember how therapeutic I find sharing here. Hopefully there are some out there that get something from reading this, and if not I am OK with it anyway.

Will O’Canada

@NudeInCanada on Twitter

Naturist Canada Map

Nude Adventures

I have been spending a considerable amount of time this winter planning out not only when to get out in the Naturist world, but how to make the most of it.  I have been researching some local Naturist Resorts as well as both official and unofficial nude or clothing optional beaches and happily there are more than I realized.  You will still find me at Port Burwell, Ponderosa and the like, I even think I will give Wasaga Beach another try, but I intend to branch out this summer
In Canada you really have to dig for information in some cases however so I put some of my research to use and created my own map via Google to track some naturist locations I have been to or plan to in the future.  I actually made it public so if you have any interest in checking it out you will find it HERE.  I have focused mostly on areas close to home as well as places near destinations I am heading to this year (Winnipeg, Halifax, Ottawa) but I am only just starting, so please feel free to send my ideas or corrections via Facebook or Twitter or even the comments option below.
I have also found similar maps by the Federation of Canadian Naturists that lists all their member club locations, and NaturistWorld if you are looking more abroad.  I am actually hoping to attend a Conference in the UK this fall and if so fortunate I will be tacking on a few extra days to visit one of their many nude beaches, resorts, and even a nude restaurant in the middle of London, not that you cant eat in the nude at any naturist resort, but still something worth checking out.
That brings me to the "make the most of it" part. Sure I like a simple swim or hike au natural, in fact if I had nothing else to do in the nude that would be enough.  But there is so much more out there and why wouldn't I give some new things a try like a nude restaurant in London if given the opportunity. Once again Facebook has been my friend here as the various naturist groups and their events pages are a wealth of ideas.  So on top of a planned camping trip to Bare Oaks, I also plan to take part in their 5K nude fun run on July 3rd.  I have never done anything like 5K with clothes on so this will be a double bucket list item for me.  Nude Bowling? Why not? Only today I discovered GTA Skinnydippers is having another nude bowling event in April. I have been unlucky with the timing of their events so far this winter but this event is a must try for me. They were even featured on Naked Clubs YouTube Channel last time out.
Everyone should have a little adventure in their life.  And becoming/being a naturist for me has truly been an adventure that is only getting better.

Just for fun here are a few of my Naked Adventures "Bucket List" for this coming year.

• Camping at a Naturist Resort
• Get my friend Tara to visit a Naturist Resort
• Bare Oaks 5k Nude Fun Run
• Nude Bowling
• Nudist Abroad - Long shot but Britain is a (cold) possibility in the fall.
• Cap d'Agde (Maybe I will win the lotto???)

As always, comments are welcome, stay naked my friends! 

New Hope for Ontario Nudists and Naturists?

I have a couple things I felt compelled to update from some of my previous posts on this blog as new information has come to light and I have time to share it.  I previously lamented in those blog updates that the naturist / nudist world in Southern Ontario was taking couple steps backwards. But thankfully there may be some hope. It’s amazing how much you can find out while waiting for a very much delayed flight.

The first item I wanted to update was about Hanlans Point, which is the only sanctioned public clothing optional beach in Ontario, one of only two in the whole country sadly.  My last few visits to Hanlans Point were less than enjoyable as I found the clothing optional portion had more "textiles" than naturists or even the clothing mandatory side did for that matter. And of those "textiles" the vast majority were apparently there to gawk rather than show any interest in experiencing the joys of outdoor nudity.  Their loss I say

Previous Blog: Hanlan's Point......Naked no more 

As such, I have essentially written off this as an option for me. For either the cost of a day pass at one of two area naturist resorts, or the drive to Port Burwell (where a short walk from the provincial park gets you to private land where naturists are welcomed) you get all the naturism and none of the gawkers.
I still have hope for Hanlans however more support is needed.  A petition (Click Here) has been started proposing to the local councillor Pam McConnell that the city should partition the beach into three sections: nude mandatory, clothing optional, and clothing mandatory.  There is only 51 signatures on the online petition so far but hopefully some of you will actually read this and it can gain some momentum.   Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.

Next I move a bit North to Wasaga Beach, where there was a small but growing movement to make part of the secluded eastern beach at the Provincial Park that was already being frequently used by naturists, legally a nude beach. 

Previous Blog: Tale of Two "Unofficial" Beaches

I made two separate attempts to find the nude beach area (once on a weekday, again on a weekend in case I had missed something) and found nothing but signs warning that nudity is prohibited.  When I sought help from the Facebook group “Wasagabares” that promoted and supported the naturist use of this beach I found it went dormant around May of 2016. Thus I gave up on Wasaga beach as an option and moved on however perhaps I did so too soon.  A recent article (View Here) was shared by a friend on Facebook that not only gave me hope that the cause was not lost, but also explained the dormant Wasagabares group.
I turns out that in May 2016, John Cropper, who is the force behind Wasaga Bares, was charged with "engaging in a prohibited activity" at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. Now at first glance this could be seen as the end of the dream but if you read the article, John is taking the fight to court in hopes it will set a legal precedent and thus benefit us all. It also explains why the Wasaga Bares page went silent, John may be avoiding it to prevent it impacting his legal battle.  In either case, this gives me some hope and I truly hope he is successful.  

If you live in or visit either Toronto or Southern Ontario as a whole and want more information and possible updates on these two subjects I would suggest you check out the below Facebook groups.  You can also follow my blog or my twitter account @NudeInCanada

Stay naked friends!

Hanlans Nudists/Naturists
Ontario Naturists
Wasagabares

Naked with Friends + Random Thoughts

I don’t exactly have a lot to write about once the colder weather sets in.  I do tend to post on Facebook and Seen Life more frequently where it is easier to post short posts like “Worked naked from home today”.  But I have a few items that I can group together that would not normally warrant individual posts dedicated to the subject.  I really do enjoy sharing my naturist experiences, hopefully it has some value to others to read them as well.

Naked With Friends

First, a little update on being nude with friends.  A little while back my friend Tara who accompanied me to the Nude beach at Port Burwell and who much to my surprise actually joined me in being nude (This was unexpected, check out the post here if you did not read it already).  After that day we didn’t get opportunities to try this again as we often see each other in mixed company with textiles or out in public places. Last month we planned to watch the hockey game at my place, she called to say she was on her way and I said “If you don’t mind, let yourself in so I needn’t bother putting clothes on”. Gladly she didn’t mind, and when she did arrive I greeted her with the customary hug which was surprisingly NOT awkward at all given that I was naked and she was clothed.
That changed for the better as soon after she asked if I would feel more comfortable if she also removed her clothes.  For the record, I had no issues with Tara remaining clothed, I even asked if she would be more comfortable if I put something on feeling her question may have implied I had crossed some line in her mind by not getting dressed before she arrived.  Fortunately this was not the case, she got undressed, and two platonic friends watched a hockey game, ate some pizza, drank a couple beers, and then she went home, all in a completely nonsexual nude environment.  We have since agreed when just the two of us at either of our homes, we will go sans clothes and take advantage of the accepting environment when we have it.  So now even a movie night or game night with my closest friend is a truly naked experience.

Single Naked Male
The second thing I want to cover is actually about another blog.  Specifically Felicity’s blog on the YNA website.  I am a big fan of her blog but this one I found really interesting as the topic was about being single and male in a naturist environment. Felicity is neither single nor male and yet she covered this topic incredibly well in my opinion.  It’s not always easy being the single guy at a naturist park.  Parents and single women all seem a little suspicious of single guy and I cannot entirely blame them.  I do think that is ultimately counterproductive to discriminate against allowing single men or even trying to maintain some kind of quota/balance at resorts but I understand the motive to keep a place as safe and comfortable for all as you possibly can.  From my personal perspective it would be amazing to meet a woman who is a naturist who could become a partner as it could be difficult to introduce a potential partner to the naturist world.  Although which would actually be more difficult is probably debatable.  Maybe one day if I am able to become more regular or even a member, but for now I will refrain from pursuing a more personal relationship when I visit Ponderosa or Bare Oaks so as to ensure I don’t make anyone uncomfortable, I’d feel horrible.  

Group Outings

I have yet to take part in any group swims organised by the GTA Skinny Dippers group, I was especially disappointed I could not attend their naked bowling event which sounded like great fun.  One pool they regularly use has an impressive water slide I want to try, I am such a kid at heart sometimes! There is an indoor volleyball tournament in London Ontario each January, the same week sadly I regularly attend an annual industry conference so won’t be able to attend this year either. I hear the Kitchener Museum does a nude art exhibit but cannot seem to find info on an upcoming event as I would take vacation time for that event.  If I find anything I will post it though.  

Social Nudia
And finally, Facebook has been a great asset for finding like minded naturists and expand my network as it were.  There are even specific groups committed to promoting naturism and dispelling the myths that it is just some sexual deviants running around with no clothes on.  But with the good comes the bad.  Daily I get requests from some person asking me to send them naked pictures, or to do a naked video chat.  Sorry but naturism is NOT about sex, I am not interested in showing off my naked self on the internet. I am not an exhibitionist (no judgement if you are though, you be you!), I just personally hate wearing clothes unless required.  I am also not an idiot and know that a fair to high percentage of those requests are actually from people who mean to do harm and either shame or blackmail poor souls who knew no better.  It would be nice if there were better social media platforms for naturists.  So far all the ones I have checked out are either nude dating sites or are borderline pornographic, no thanks.  For now I will stick with Facebook, Twitter (which is a little more relaxed) and I still have hope for Seen Life but with the number of right wing religious nutters who try to get me to support their racist church or attend a Donald Trump rally, I am losing hope for even this non censored site fast. 

If you know of an alternative please comment or message me, would love to hear it.


And as always, if you liked my blog or have feedback, I'd love to hear it!

Naked with Friends

I am a fairly solitary naturist. Not that am not anti-social, I just don't know many naturists well enough that I socialise with them outside of the friendly "hello, how are you" when I see a familiar face at Ponderosa.  I prefer to keep my Naturist and textile worlds apart presently, it keeps things less complicated.  That may disqualify my as a naturist in the eyes of some but its my choice.
I am open about my naturist life with only three textile friends. A single woman I have known since high school who is my closest platonic friend, and a couple who I have been close friends with for some time now and tend to be open and very liberal in most things in life.  Now I have invited the couple (I'll call them John and Amy, not their real names) to join me at the nude beach or a Naturist club and while open to the idea, seemed to have excuses or were otherwise unavailable so I stopped asking.  I never really invited my single friend (will call her Tara, not real either) other than a "you should try it" when I first opened up about naturism with her, I just didn't think she was the type, and as we are VERY platonic, I didn't think anyone she dated would be happy to here about here going to nude beaches with her guy friend. She's my oldest friend, less complication is better
Last week I mentioned I was taking the day off to head down to Port Burwell's nude beach, and to my surprise, Tara asked if it was a mandatory nude beach so that she could join me and keep her suit on. I actually have no idea what the rule is at Port Burwell, the actual park does not permit nudity, you have to walk past the parks boundary to private property where the owners allow the nude beach. I figured if anyone had an issue we'd setup right on the boundary line, I could go nude, and she would sit next to me on the park side in her swimsuit. Problem solved. 
When we arrived at the nude beach, there was only around four other people there so we found a place off on our own in the hopes no one would bother her for being "overdressed" in a skimpy bikini. I got undressed, she as expected kept her bikini on and we setup our towels and umbrella for the day. We decided to go for a swim in the lake but when we stood up to walk to the water she sort of paused, had a sort of confused look on her face, and then after a moment she says "Fuck it", takes her swim suit off, and runs into the lake. I  couldn't help but laugh, I had no idea she was even considering being naked but I suppose the fact that we were virtually alone, and of the sparsely populated beach she was the only one NOT naked, may have given her the final push I didn't even know she was looking for.  
Later as we walked along the beach, Tara even managed to say "good morning" to a naked gentleman as we passed him.  
Sadly it is apparently horse or deer fly season near Port Burwell in September and those suckers bite. After only about an hour and a half, most of which was in the water to avoid the flies, we packed up and went home.
I am very proud of Tara, apparently she even bragged to "Amy" about going even though she claimed to only go "skinny dipping". But maybe that might start the conversation for the group of us to go to the nude beach some day. Sadly we may have to wait for spring based on the weather, this still is Canada after all and Fall is upon us.
Regardless, it was a nice to have a close friend join me and see it become very natural for them.  There was no awkwardness about being naked together, it was just another day at the beach. 

Hanlan's Point......Naked no more

Despite recent media attention about confrontations between Naturists/Nudists and textiles at Hanlan's Point and Wreck Beach, I decided to take advantage of the excellent weather and took the ferry across to Toronto Island. I had planned on spending am entire day on the island with the majority at the clothing optional side of Hanlans Point Beach but it was just not meant to be and this is likely to have been my last visit to Hanlan's Point. I think I may have said this before but for the near future at least, I am done with being part of a tourist attraction.
Things started well enough, I arrived around 10 am and the beach was already fairly busy with all types enjoying the only public place in Ontario you can be naked on a normal day.   By lunch time however things changed for the worse
I was in the central part of the beach, far enough I thought from the clothing mandatory side to avoid gawkers who would wander over, but I soon found two large groups of "textiles" setting up in the middle of several naturists. One group was very obviously there for the show and you could see it bothered many of those there to be naturists, myself included. One couple packed up and left when it became clear the group was having a laugh at their appearance. A core principle of Naturism is body acceptance and this couple were on a naturist clothing optional beach facing a group of bullies body shaming them in a place that by design should be one of openness and acceptance, not shame and embarrassment. And while not a target of their shame, I too had seen enough and packed up to leave

As I got dressed I had a look around and the beach was now 80% textiles compared to earlier when I arrived when it was closer to 80% naturists and most of the other 20% were accompanying the naturists which is OK in my opinion. I decided to have a stroll along the clothing mandatory beach on my way out and I found it almost completely empty. So any idea that overcrowding in the clothing mandatory side was overflowing to the optional beach is unfounded. As I have said in my previous post "Clothing Optional" , if you are wading in and testing the naturist /nudist waters so be it, that's what clothing optional beaches are for. But if you want to see naked people for fun, there are strip clubs and the Internet, leave the beaches for the more open minded.‎ I worry the textile intrusion is irreversible at Hanlan's Point and the clothing optional beach will die a slow death. 
I for one wont be returning anytime soon especially now that I have discovered Port Burwell, which while further away, is a much better experience 

On a much happier note I finally made my way out to Bare Oaks, I'll post about it in the near future. Had such a great time and I am trying to do a write up that won't look I work for their marketing team (Naked Marketing, how do I get that job???!!!)