Today brings more news from the Bare Necessities Nude Cruise, a ship carrying over 1,200 nudists for a February 3 to 13 Caribbean tour.

Thanks to a wireless Internet connection aboard the ship, nudist traveler Mike has been able to share news about the vacation of a lifetime. Yesterday Mike told us about the first day on the cruise as hundreds of nudists watched the Superbowl together.

Mike and fellow nudists continue to have a great time. Mike bestows upon us insights as to what the atmosphere is like, how friendships are made, how nudists come in all shapes and sizes (the requirement of having a perfect body is a myth about nudism), and how the day's activities are going.

Read on:

"Aboard The M/S Holland America Maasdam - in the Caribbean Sea 180nm south of Haiti (February 5, 2007) -- An hour of Sunday morning was spent waiting in line with dozens of our shipmates on the M/S Maasdam queuing to book our cabins for the next large-ship mid-winter cruise chartered by Bare Necessities. The M/S Carnival Legend will sail February 8-15, 2009, from and to Tampa, FL, with ports of call at Key West, FL, Montego Bay, Jamaica and our favorite, Cozumel, Mexico. Legend was the largest nude ship charter ever when BNT&T took her out in February, 2005, and the 2009 cruise has been dubbed the Homecoming Cruise--BNT&T hoping to attract as many former clients for that 16th annual mid-winter cruise as possible.

During the wait in line, it was easy to strike up conversations with our future fellow Legend shipmates. The Maasdam is our tenth nude cruise in the past 13 years, and so we have actually spent many weeks aboard various ships with many of our Maasdam shipmates -- more time together, indeed, than we've spent with our own relatives! And as is usual among nudists, names and hometowns are quickly exchanged, faces recognized from past vacations together, and friendships made and recalled from all our shared weeks afloat.

Claiming a repeat passenger rate of 70%-plus on this cruise like many other nude charters, Bare Necessities owners Tom and Nancy have certainly made millions by catering to an under-served and upscale clientele. The attraction of nude cruising is obvious for anyone who has tried it: carefree days at sea without the bother of clammy bathing costumes; warm sun by day and plenty of indoor activities by night among hundreds or thousands of other like-minded, easy-going folks aboard a floating, mobile city of comfort and entertainment.

Nudity without shame or pretension, with people from all walks of life, all shapes and sizes, all stages of fitness and infirmity, all sharing their mutual love of freedom and body acceptance.

It's equally easy to meet and make friends with a physicist, a firefighter, a schoolteacher or a SCUBA instructor on a nude cruise. That is one of the most pleasant attributes we have found within nudism: it is the great leveler of background, income, education and other usually stratifying markers of social life, all of which fall off with the clothes. You meet and enjoy people for their person- hood, not their wealth or social standing.

We make our push to Bonaire today and tonight at a steady 19 knots, arriving in Kralendijk early on Tuesday morning for a day at port on this tropical desert island. Bonaire boasts some of the finest SCUBA diving sites in the hemisphere, and we are part of a "buff diving" group of 14 Maasdam passengers who have chartered a one-tank afternoon nude SCUBA dive on Klein Bonaire, the small deserted out-island a short boat ride from the downtown pier.

Before then, we are enjoying another glorious day at sea with warm temperatures, sunny skies and a fabulous ship to enjoy. Dinner for us tonight is in the fancy Pinnacle restaurant, a birthday gift to us from friends who are sailing along with us from Dallas. We shall dress for dinner, the first time we have not been nude since after our first dinner aboard Saturday night just after leaving Florida. A few changes of clothes go a long way on a nude cruise!"

Wow! Sounds like a great time! The 70% repeat visitor rate boasts well for the future of nudist cruises. I hope this is a growing trend.

Packing a suitcase for a vacation like this must be different. I can picture the headlines now: "Nudist suitcase full of sunscreen causes airport security delay."

Speaking of Bonaire... For those nudist travelers who are unable to do a nudist cruise, in a bay on the eastern side of Bonaire is Sorobon Beach Naturist Resort. This charming place is perfect for people happy to have a lot of quiet time while on vacation in the warm Caribbean.

What do you get when you put 1,200 nudists on a cruise ship in the Caribbean during the SuperBowl? Simple. The World's biggest nudist SuperBowl party.

Chicago Bears? No. Chicago Bares.

I just received this dispatch from Mike who's aboard the The M/S Holland America Maasdam right now. This M/S Holland America Maasdam cruise is one of the big nude cruises I mentioned during my post about 2007 nude cruises. Here's the scoop:

Aboard The M/S Holland America Maasdam - Somewhere east of Cuba (February 4, 2007) -- Our first day at sea was fine with warm, sunny weather, slight seas and a beautiful ship to call our home for the next ten days. Setting out from Port Everglades on Saturday evening, our ship slid past other giants of the sea, no doubt setting out on their own Caribbean vacation adventures. But ours alone carried a passenger compliment of some 1,200 nudists and naturists from all over the world, on the latest mid-Winter nude cruise chartered by Bare Necessities Tour and Travel of Austin Texas.

This is our tenth nude cruise with BNT&T, and the "smallest large ship" we've been on in a while. Although the Maasdam is considered 'old' by modern cruise ship standards at just 13 years, she is very, very comfortable, fast, and luxuruious. The staff, crew and officers so far have been wonderfully accomodating, both enjoying our charter and adapting to what could be a huge shock for what is normally a ship patronized by the older and definitely more textile-compulsive set.

Being a 10-day cruise, setting out just a month after the Christmas and New Year's holidays, our shipmates are skewing a little older than usual for a BNT&T mid-winter cruise. Many younger people can't get away for nearly two full weeks at a time owing to job and family responsibilities, so we are meeting many older (retired and nearly retired) cruisers enjoying the Maasdam with us. That matters little to our enjoyment of the fun, which is hard not to have when surrounded by so many free-spirited and unpretentious folks.

Tonight is the big SuperBowl Party, with the main show lounge turned into a giant sports bar for the game, and a crowd expected to number in the many hundreds of nude sports fans enjoying the big-screen telecast. Other bars and lounges on the ship will have their TVs set to the game as well, and we expect a very fun and spirited evening of football madness. We'll be wearing our Chicago Bears jerseys (and nothing else!) for the game -- GO BEARS!

This dispatch is courtesy of the very reliable and easy-to-use Wi-Fi network aboard the ship. We expect to have daily e-mail access while on the trip, so if all goes well, our trusty Apple Powerbook G4 and the Maasdam's satellite Intenet link will bring (hopefully) daily reports as the cruise progresses.

Thanks Mike for thinking of the Nudist Travel Guide blog. I wish I was there. Instead, I'm up north in 30 degree weather.

Glen Eden Sun Club (website) is a family-oriented nudist club on 150-acres in Corona, California, a short-drive from Anaheim and Los Angeles. This nudist resort is provides a mixture of recreation and relaxation - whereas Part 1 of this series covered Terra Cotta Inn, a destination focused on relaxation for couples.

For outdoor nudist recreation, the club has a pool outside, a spa, 6 tennis courts, nude volleyball, nice shuffleboard, horseshoe and petanque courts, and more.

The clubhouse also has an indoor pool, a dance floor, 3 billiards tables, ping-pong tables, a café, a sauna and more. A gym has weights, treadmills, and assorted machines. So when the weather is off, there are plenty of nude activities to do indoors.

To keep things fun for guests, the resort has regular nude karaoke nights, DJ dances, and competitive activities. Of course, the weekends are the busiest and organized recreational activities go on throughout the day.

According to Glen Eden's activity calendar, a typical weekend usually includes organized hiking, some water volleyball tournaments, cribbage tournaments, bridge games, pool tournaments, dance lessons, a DJ dance, karaoke, nude tennis and more.

There are many theme weekends throughout the year, whether celebrating a holiday or the annual "Nude Attitude" car show. The club will also be host to the AANR West Summer Festival June 8-10, 2007.

The park has plenty of RV units available for rental at reasonable prices. There are also RV hook-up sites and camping sites.

Check this out. This is an aerial view of Glen Eden Sun Club showing the nice grounds. See the tennis courts, nude swimming pool and all of the RVs.

Glen Eden nudist resort pictures: View.

California provides an eclectic mix of nudist resorts, inns, campgrounds and nude beaches. Through a series of posts, we'll look at some of the nude recreation options.

A good place to start is with a cozy but reputable nudist inn, Terra Cotta Inn in Southern California.

The Terra Cotta Inn Clothing Optional Resort and Spa in Palm Springs, California provides guests a quiet sanctuary with poolside breakfast and spa services. Think of Terra Cotta Inn as a friendly nudist hotel ideal for couples.

The 17 single-story guest rooms form a rectangle around the pool area, hot tub area and landscaped grounds. From within this private area, visitors have a view of the mountains surrounding Palm Springs - a tourist destination in its own right.

The atmosphere is laid-back and visitors go to Terra Cotta Inn with relaxation in mind.

Terra Cotta's coziness makes it an ideal first-time experience. Tom Mulhall, who owns the inn with his wife, says that Terra Cotta Inn is "perfect for couples trying nude sunbathing for the first time" (while commenting on a previous post here). Being clothing optional also helps first timers feel comfortable.

Tom also says "there is no sunnier, warmer location for nude sunbathing in the world than Palm Springs." Who can argue with average daytime highs of 72 degrees in January?

Tom is one of the only resort owners to have an active blog about all kinds of nudist topics. The blog shows his commitment to nude recreation. Check it out at: http://terracottainn.blogspot.com

From reading many forum posts and nudist trip reports (example), it is clear that first-time and experienced nudists have been happy visiting the inn.

The inn has received high ratings from several media outlets as well and is a place to book in advance.

After a brief down period due to a Blogger issue, I'm back and ready to provide more nudist travel info.

I recently posted an nudist travel article about a new South African Nude Safari on my "Nudist Beginnings" intro to nudism blog. I would have put it here, but posting ability was turned off for a few weeks.

2007 offers a good selection of nude cruises and boat ride if you look around. Let's look at some of the choices.

Bare Necessities Tour & Travel has put together many nice nudist cruises in the past and 2007 continues the trend.

Their first cruise is February 3 - 13 aboard Holland America's Maasdam, a ship with a 1,250 person capacity. The ship leaves Ft. Lauderdale and makes stops at Bonaire, Curacao, Dominica, St. Thomas and Bahamas.

Their second cruise ship tours the far east March 10-24 on the Star Flyer. The boat visits Singapore and makes several stops on Thailand and Malaysia.

Their third cruise is named the "Fire & Ice" tour and runs July 20-27. The cruise ship tours Alaska and the inside passage, leaving from Seattle and stopping in Juneau, Glacier Bay, Victoria B.C. and other places.

Besides the "big boat" cruise, there are other options.  If a chartered yacht or sailboat is more your style, a previous post discusses the options.  Here's an updated list with few more:

A Dutch couple (speak english too) offer chartered naturist and clothed sailing on the 45 foot catamaran "Zeevonk". Their 2007 calendar shows many of the "naturistisch" (naturist) cruises offered, such as one going from Martinique to Grenadines to Grenada in the Caribbean.

For something small, try an all inclusive private nude Caribbean sailing cruise on the sailing yacht "Billy Jean".  This is a small charter for up to 5 people and the itinerary appears to be up to you.  "Have it your way" - except this isn't Burger King, this is nudists in a boat...slightly different.

As mentioned in the article about Sorobon's nude resort, there's a 3 hours boat ride every Monday from the resort. The boat takes nudists to good nude snorkeling spots.

If those boats are just too big for you, Lake Como Family Nudist Resort, just north of Tampa, Florida, has its own private lake where nudists can ride paddleboats.

 

As a compliment to this website, a new, more specialized website "blog" has been created called "Nudist Beginnings". The purpose of Nudist Beginnings is to introduce potential nudists to the topic of nudism.

The blog focuses on providing quality resources about nudism for potential first timer nudists.

If you have ever thought of being naked outside of the shower, this is the place for you. Visit the new Nudist Beginnings.