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With its thousand miles of sandy shorelines and warming sunshine year-round, Florida has to
have scores of nude beaches. Right?
Well, it depends upon your definition. When I went through a tan-line-free stage I thought
finding a "nude beach" merely meant finding a stretch of sand where I could
discreetly bare it. This usually meant a beach well off the flip-flopped patch.
That's pretty much the case in Florida, with the exception of one sanctioned nude beach
and several private resort clubs. If you want to go nude elsewhere, you have to be plain-out
choosy and careful. Though a number of beaches around the state have earned a reputation
as skinny-dipping beaches, one-by-one they've been, shall we say, redressed by local law.
The compilation below lists our one official public nude beach, a few choices where you can
try at your own risk, and some private nudist or naturist, as some say, clubs and resorts.
For more information, contact the American Association for Nude Recreation AANR in Kissimmee
(www.aanr.com / 1-800-TRY-NUDE) or the Florida Association for Nude Recreation FANR
(comprising of 21 clubs in Florida). www.fanr.com
SOUTHEAST FLORIDA
LEGAL NUDE BEACH
Haulover Beach
10800 Collins Ave., North Miami Beach, (305)947-3525.
Almost a mile of beach north of the northernmost parking lot is sanctioned as a
clothing-optional beach. Patrollers arrest gawkers.
REMOTE BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
South Beach
Ocean Dr., Miami Beach.
The safest non-sanctioned nude beach, its popularity with European models has turned
certain parts into an unofficial clothing-optional beach.
NUDIST RESORTS a.k.a. Landed Clubs
Seminole Health Club
Davie, 954-473-0231.
NORTHEAST FLORIDA
REMOTE BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
Playalinda Beach
Canaveral National Seashore.
Until about four years ago, the north end of this out-of-the-way beach was designated
clothing-optional. That's when county officials began enforcing no-nudity on federal
land. The legality of their actions will be tied up in courts for years. Meanwhile,
arrests have been made. Naturists are hopeful today with the appointment of a new
county parks director. Bare at your own risk.
NUDIST RESORTS a.k.a. Landed Clubs
Sunnier Palms
Fort Pierce, (561) 468-8512.
Sunny Sands Resort
Pierson near Daytona Beach, (904) 749-2233.
RVs & tents, rental units, home sites, restaurant, bar, hot tub, pool, volleyball.
Sunsport Gardens
Loxahatchee, (800) 551-7217 or (561) 793-0423.
Central Florida Naturists
Merritt Island, (407) 381-0637.
Formerly Space Coast Naturists. Dedicated to designation of Playalinda Beach as clothing optional.
Northeast Florida Naturists
Jacksonville, (904) NFN-7900.
More than 100 members.
FLORIDA PANHANDLE
REMOTE BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
The Panhandle boasts many remote stretches where skinny-dipping is largely ignored, when done
with discretion. Naturists are losing some ground due to development, parks and local government.
East end of Gulf Beach Drive, St. George Island
East of the last access, a four-wheel drive road takes getaway-beachers and fishermen to the
expanding sands at the pass. Bare with care.
St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge
(850) 653-8808.
Private boaters will find privacy here most of the year.
Santa Rosa Beach
The farther you roam from parking lots, the better! At all Panhandle beaches you could be
cited for nudity.
Eglin Air Force Base Reserve
East of Navarre Beach.
Another county-level attempt to squelch nudity was made here. Naturists still frequent the
beach, always ready to dress in the presence of patrollers, who do come around, but not on
a sudden, surprise-visit basis.
The Gulf Islands National Seashore
Pensacola Beach, (850) 934-2600.
At Santa Rosa Day Use Area and Fort Pickens National Park, long stretches of deserted beach
look inviting to naturists. Be ecology-kind and resist walking over dunes to find your
private stretch.
Perdido Key Gulf Islands
National Seashore Day Use Area
Route 292/Johnson Beach Road
Perdido Key, Pensacola, 850/492-0912.
You can continue to walk along the beach for 6 miles after the road ends.
NUDIST RESORTS a.k.a. Landed Clubs
Riviera Naturist Resort
Pace, (850) 994-3665.
Sunburst Resort
Milton, (850) 675-6807.
Panhandle Free Beaches
Navarre, (850) 939-8822.
Fights against the county's attempt to close down the beach to nudists. It schedules beach
clean-ups and other civic-minded events.
Tallahassee Bare-Devils
Tallahassee, (850) 847-8537.
More than 100 members who lease a private lake every weekend and plan trips to secluded
wilderness areas.
CENTRAL FLORIDA
NUDIST RESORTS a.k.a. Landed Clubs
Cypress Cove
Kissimmee, (407) 933-5870.
A popular resort that owns an entire lake with beach, motel rooms, apartments, RV and tent
camping, and a bar and grill named "Cheeks".
WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA
REMOTE BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
Unbridged Islands
Your best bets along the Pinellas Suncoast are on remote islands, such
as those near Tarpon Springs and Dunedin.
NUDIST RESORTS a.k.a. Landed Clubs
Caliente Resorts
Land O' Lakes, (800) 326-7731 or (813) 996-3700.
Club Paradise
Land O' Lakes, (800) 237-2226 outside Florida or (813) 949-9327.
Gulf Coast Resort
Hudson, (813) 868-1061.
Rooms, rental trailers, tent & RV camping, pool, hot tub, playground.
The Island Group
Land O'Lakes, (813) 996-3289.
On Lake Dupree. Furnished cottages, pool, Jacuzzi, saunas, playground, workout room.
Lake Como
Lutz, (813) 949-1810.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
REMOTE BEACHES FREQUENTED BY NUDISTS
Sanibel Island.
The north end of Bowman's Beach, at the island's north end, was unofficially clothing-optional
until the 1980s, when local police began arresting even topless toddlers. Sanibel Naturist Aleta
Adam tells me her group uses a stretch of Sanibel Beach "where we're not hassled too
much," but wouldn't pinpoint it. "When you start publishing this information, it brings
out the nut cases," she said.
NUDIST CLUBS a.k.a. Unlanded Clubs
Sanibel Naturists
Fort Myers, (941) 995-6833.
It uses a piece of designated beach on unbridged Upper Captiva Island as well as on Sanibel Island.
Southern Exposure
Naples, (941) 643-3022.
Meet at a member's private home on a lake with beach, sunning deck, hot tub, picnic area, petanque.
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