Denny invited me to meet him for an extended weekend at a "Clothing Optional" resort that he enjoys in Tampa, FL. Before I really thought about it and what I was getting myself into, I said, "Sure" with excitement....I love to experience new things and new places. Once the plans were set in place, I asked a few simple questions and was shocked with the answers. While I had never been to a nudist resort (I think they use the term ‘clothing optional’ only if you want to look like a dork when everyone else is naked), I knew of the normal ‘rules’ of sitting on a towel, no pictures, etc., but I learned a new rule and the thought of not being able to touch anyone, especially not even my own partner, was something that I had never considered. Now I was concerned. Let me regress a moment, my involvement with this type of place is only with a "lifestyle" background as that is the way my former relationship was set up. I couldn’t imagine being naked with a bunch of people and not touching anyone, again, especially not my own partner. Oh well, I figured, might as well go with it.
My plane arrived over an hour late and well after midnight on Thursday. Denny picked me up, we retrieved my bags and were on our way to Paradise Lakes. The resort was about a 20-25 minute drive from the airport and easy to get to. I forgot about all of Florida’s toll roads, but man do they have nice highways!! Denny had already checked in and secured our condo, we only had to show our passes at the gate. We have a very nice condo. Full kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave, dishwater, coffee maker, toaster and all dishes. It was late, but we decided to head to the pool area at least so he could show me around. I don’t recall whether there were any people at the pool area, so there must not have been. There was a very large pool area, but more interesting was the almost double "S" shaped pool, that Denny said was their "conversation pool". This is a pool that is just a few degrees warmer than body temperature and is very comfortable to sit in for a long period of time. The "S" shape has seating almost completely around the entire pool edges with a couple of breaks for some very powerful jets. We relaxed and I have to admit at this point I was very comfortable (again......no one was out there and it was dark). It was very late and this point, and we decided to turn in as we had a full weekend ahead of us.
When we woke up on Friday it was cloudy, so we didn’t feel the need to get off to an early start. I was able to see much more than I could the night before and right in front of our condo was a very nice small man made lake with a fountain. Across the lake were several sets of tennis courts, and something was funny to me seeing people playing tennis in only tennis shoes and hats. There were other people that I could see out walking, bicycle riding and jogging. Some were clothed, most were not. As there was still no sun, we decided to get dressed and Denny gave me a tour around the resort via car before we went out to lunch. There are many houses in which people live full time, others are rental units. I could not believe how big this place was. There was a large variety of condos, single family homes, mobile/manufactured homes, and a trailer park which also included RV’s. Some of these homes were beautiful and had to have been pretty pricey. Again, as we drove through the resort there were people doing the normal things people do in their neighborhoods, gardening, walking the dog, jogging, driving their golf carts, unloading groceries, and getting their mail......it’s just that most didn’t have any clothes on, and I seemed to be the only one surprised by this. We went to meet Lance from Go Classy Travel at a restaurant just outside of Paradise Lakes. We drove, but actually could have walked it was so close. What a nice guy Lance is. Very dedicated to making sure his clients have the best vacation possible. The food was great, and couldn’t beat the prices either. As we were eating, the sun was starting to shine, so we wrapped it up and headed back to Paradise Lakes.
We went to our room, I changed into a cover-up, and we proceeded to the pool area. The main pool area consisted of a very large pool with an attached "fun" volleyball area, a separate "serious" volleyball pool, another pool with a building around it that is open on the sides and has a roof for bad weather (I never saw anyone in that pool), a hot tub, and the previously described S shaped conversation pool. There were plenty of lounges and we secured two and put our stuff on them. I was scared, but decided ok, off with the cover up and we will hit the pool, I didn’t really care which one at this point. Denny decides that now is the time to show me all the things he couldn’t last night. He points out the bar "Key West" in the middle of the whole complex, the showers, bathrooms (why is he showing me this stuff now, I’m standing in front of a bunch of people and I’m naked??), the ice and water station, the shuffle board section....ok, this is it....."Denny, mind if I ask you what we are doing?" "Just want to show you the miniature golf course", he replies. I don’t care about this stuff.....I need to get in the pool...NOW!! Graciously he accompanies me, and I try to explain how this is so much different than what I am use to. I won’t go into the differences here, but if you ever meet me, feel free to ask, or email me. Not sure I still understand them all, but a real difference from a "lifestyle" experience. We spent the rest of the day either in the pool or on the lounge chairs. The clouds were passing in and out of the sun. The sun was warm against my body, and then it ducked behind the clouds and cooled me off. We stayed outside almost until the sun sets. There is a lingerie theme for the dance tonight, so we decide to go back to our condo. Denny had shopped before my arrival, so we ate in and watched a movie (our particular unit had VCR, not sure if all do or not) that we had rented earlier. We got to the dance around 10pm, and there was no seating left. The music was a DJ, and decent dance music. The outfits were great, some more risqué than others. This was were I first noticed that Vinnies were not exclusive to Hedo. I just had to smile, they do have their endearing qualities, just not sure what they are. We danced a few dances and decided that the conversation pool was calling out names instead. We adjourned outside, and I am very happy to report that the "no touching" rule that I was warned about was not being strictly enforced here. There were many couples, and several Vinnies in the conversation pool. While there was no sex, there was plenty of touching, caressing and even some underwater action going on although no group touching and I witnessed no exchange of partners (other than the one very drunk birthday girl, who was being passed from Vinnie to Vinnie, but that was good, kept them occupied and for the most part away from everyone else).
Saturday and Sunday were both pretty much spent the same way. The sun was shining and not a cloud to be seen. There was pool side entertainment today, with a guy singing Karaoke type stuff. He was pretty good. I was a little more comfortable now, and actually walked around sans clothing, even by myself several times. My secret goal after the first day was to be able to walk from the pool complex to our room au natural, but unfortunately, I didn’t ever get that one accomplished.
The age of the crowd dropped some on the weekend, which is understandable, as it appeared that the crowd that lives there full time are mostly retired. I found the crowd to be a little cliquish, but I guess that can only be expected with a large group that all know each other, and us being the outsiders. There were children allowed there, and I saw kids from probably 2 to teenage years. The teens and pre teens usually had bathing suits on, while the 2 to 11 or 12 year olds, didn’t. At first, I was a little uncomfortable with the kids being around, but decided after seeing them, that what a great way that would be to raise them. All were very well behaved, and seemed very comfortable in these surroundings, even more so than I was!! Guess I shouldn’t question it.
Saturday night consisted of another Dance, no particular theme, but pretty much the same as Friday night, again no seating available. Most ladies in lingerie or sexy ‘slut-stuff’ and men in whatever. Again, we hit the conversation pool and should we be surprised that the same birthday girl is still getting passed from Vinnie to Vinnie, and appears only slightly drunker than last night? Sundays entertainment was a hypnotist. We arrived in time (7pm) to secure a seat and when another couple asked to join us, it gave us a good way to sneak out to the pool until the entertainment started at 9 and still keep our table reserved. The hypnotist, Fernandez, was very good. As can be imagined, he was able to do a more risqué show than I’m sure he is able to do normally. One of the pool side cocktail waitresses was in the show, was very far under and would do just about anything. The show was good and lasted about 2 hours. When it was over, we adjourned to the pool (are you getting the idea that this was my favorite spot??), and just relaxed.
We met a very nice couple on Sunday night. They were from England and had arrived for a two week visit. We got to talking to them and they told us that they were both in the teaching profession and like to travel to Paradise Lakes on their holidays. They said they had dropped their two kids off for a weeks visit at Disney World and surrounding areas. I asked the ages of their children, and he replied that they have a 19 year old daughter, and his 81 year old mother. Could have knocked me over, but he continued to explain that his mom walks about 8 to 10 miles a day, every day in England and could very well keep up with the 19 year old. So the next logical question seemed to be....."What are they going to do the second week?" "They will be meeting us here" was his reply. Now I’m really shocked and at the same time in awe. My earlier uncomfortableness with the kids there immediately was gone. If a family can be raised in this type of environment and then raise their own kids in it, who am I to question it. They were obviously more comfortable with the nudity thing that I was, who am I to judge who it is for and who it’s not for, other than myself? It was getting late, and while we wished we had met them earlier, we needed to retire as we both had long trips back on Monday.
I thought I had seen it all, until I woke up on Monday morning, looked out the window and saw people roller blading with nothing on except a helmet, elbow and knee guards and their skates. Ok, the tennis players were one thing, but should someone tumble while roller blading, I think a few things more important than their knees and elbows might have been injured. Fortunately, no one needed the padding from what I saw. We spent a leisurely morning and I even had enough nerve to sit on our outside patio naked and even spoke to people as they passed by.
A couple of other miscellaneous observations: They have a gift boutique, but I would suggest not buying anything there, unless you like to spend $145 on a simple cotton sun dress, the hot tub was a little too warm for my personal tastes, the serious volleyball players were that, very serious, if you want to play for fun, join the "fun" crowd in the main pool, they seemed to be having a better time anyway. The resort also has full spa services, massage, manicures, pedicures, and all hair services. I did not check these out at all, so can’t give an opinion on them other than they are available. They did offer couple massages, which might be fun next trip. Oops, does that mean that I would go again??? Of course, it was fun. All in all, it was a very needed relaxing weekend, spent with the only person I can imagine spending that kind of weekend with. I hope I get invited back next time.
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