North Beach - Reason for Being?

[Paul D]

As the beach seems to evoke peoples` many opinions, I thought i`d ask the question - Why do people feel the need for disrobing completely??
What motivates them to do so?   For us, it`s the complete freedom of enjoying the surroundings; let the sun bake down on us turning us (eventually) a golden brown.   I know some will say you can do this on a regular beach.  But it always makes us laugh when we see women wearing the tiniest g-string you`ve ever seen and no top- how close to being fully naked is that?

Is it about body confidence?  Just asking.

   Paul. 

[Eggy]

Paul

I try not to get too involved in these discussions as, you know, they can get out of hand sometimes.

But this is a good point and one that continues to puzzle me.

A lady, or man, that wears the skimpiest of swimwear wouldn't walk down a UK High Street in that atire and I remember once bumping into a female pal, on a sunbed, who immediatley threw a towel around her top.

(So,it's OK with strangers then?-Equally does she feel uncomfortable with me?)

Wegg has been known to visit the North Beach and do her own thing.

Not a problem to me, but the only freedom I can associate with no clothes is the feeling of walking around without footwear.
So.... Is it a question of "Don't Knock it - Till you try it!?"

It is an interesting point to raise and, I am sure it will be answered in good faith.

Me? - I'm embarrassed just wearing shorts and the first Arillas member to see me in them, will have a weeks beer with my compliments.

Don't hold yer breath though!
Negg

[Janis]

Well.... this topic has been read 85 times and I'm surprised no-one else has commented (unless of course there's another thread that I've missed!)

Here's my reply... we've always worn "proper" swimwear, in fact I always hated to see women going topless on the beach - and CERTAINLY around the pool, BUT

Last year we tried the beach at the south end (too tricky to access the north) and absolutely LOVED swimming in the warm sea totally as God intended.  However, we don't parade up and down like that, preferring to be mainly in the sea or occasionally laying down to sunbathe. But the feeling of the complete freedom in the sea is fantastic.

We certainly wouldn't do it anywhere near the main areas of the beach - only those to which you have to walk forever and negotiate rocks, etc., and I still don't like to see women topless where there are children/young people about.  OK if you're lying face down and undo a strap or two, but not walking around flaunting it.

I'm sure I'll upset a few people by saying this, but please remember - I'm expressing MY views only - not saying that I am right or I am wrong, purely trying to express how I feel.

Janis x

[justphil]

A very considered and honest debate is recorded on Terry's thread Janis. None of the vitriol, just honest opinions.

Paul, we concur. I find the sight of naked people on a naturist beach quite ordinary and barely notice them. But being male, I find the sight of women on general beaches in nothing but a skimpy bikini bottom quite "disturbing." And topless at pools seems the same to me. Perhaps they are exhibitionists too. Nakedness isn't always sexual, though some seem to confuse the two.

This is never going to be resolved completely. There will always be differences. I think the secret is in the Greek approach - live and let live within limits. I adore swimming in the sea at North end. And when on my own (usual these days 'cause Jen can't get there with me) I sunbathe at the far end behind the big rock.

Phil

[Atalanta]

LOL At least I know where to find you now Phil!

[Jo Wissett]

Well a few years ago I would admit to thinking that nudists were just weird and totally didn't get it. One morning after much debating I decided to dash naked into the sea just to see what all the fuss was about! Well my god, simply fab swimming without any constraints and was equally thrilled by the feeling of the sun beating down on you. I still couldn't stroll up and down the beach in all my glory and still question the motives of those who do but that is just my thoughts. As others have said, don't knock it until you have tried it. Muy hubby is now a convert something I thought I would never see! We don't take the kids though and only have an hour of this guilty pleasure every day!

[NicandJohn]

I'd be surprised if any british nudist wasn't a convert rather than a natural- we're british after all.
Time and place is everything I think which is why I'd disagree with the nudist section stretching any further. I saw an ex colleague at arillas a few years ago, and there was no way I was getting my winkle out if she was on the beach!

[Jo Wissett]

Haha John, I totally agree! its one thing for me and my beloved to enjoy our nakedness but I would die if anyone I vaguely knew suddenly appeared!!

[vivian]

Swimming as nature intended seems to be the main reason for most of you, but for me it's the getting out and not feeling wet and saggy as wet clothes do' I used to get out of the sea put a towel round me and stuggle to get my costume off then thinking "comeon what you doing this for" then went to a nudie beach in England on one of our lovely weekends stripped of and bang I found life had changed for me. lol. Viv.

[NicandJohn]

For me it's all of the above plus being able to walk back to the apartment in nice clean shorts rather than have bits of sand grinding in there!

[justphil]

As a lifelong naturist - and British to boot, though more Irish in truth - I have never had any problem with being or seeing. I must have seen every shape, size and form of human bodies that exist. I think it is the sexual connotation that ruins it for many. Adam and Eve were thrown out of Eden for covering up with fig leaves apparently. Or so I was taught. What happened to innocence?

But John is right - I was converted by a sleazy loan shark in Brighton (I was with Jen though.) Now I am quite sure he wanted to see what I had in my speedos. That is the problem. It will never be solved, and I remember helping a traumatised forum member to handle a situation with an exhibitionist who followed her online. But I am grateful to him because all of my inhibitions just evaporated. I just try not to offend anybody - that is who I am.

For me, naturism is about innocence and freedom. The North end of Arillas beach delivers one little part of that. But without it, I would still be besotted with our place.

Phil
 

[Eggy]

Adam and Eve were thrown out of Eden for covering up with fig leaves apparently. Or so I was taught. What happened to innocence?

Phil
 

Ah Phil , Reminds me of the following:-

Adam and Eve in the garden dwelt
Leading a life so jolly
But, can you imagine how they would have felt
If all the fig leaves were holly?

Negg

[justphil]

omsk...(ask Jill naughton what I mean)

Never did fig leaves, let alone Holly. Jen's and my innocence disappeared on her 16th birthday. We wanted to break the law a week earlier, but her sister came back early when we were babysitting.

Too much information...
See you soon
Phil

[Anne]

PMSL @ t'other Phil - well done you two - love it! xx
Right I feel I must comment on the naturist issue - Phil and I have been on both the north and south beaches - and as Janis says we do not parade up and down - we love to swim au natural - it is such a lovely free feeling - then lay and sunbathe - probably the first time (which was in Fuerteventura) we were embarrassed - but we soon got over this. If we are on a beach or around a swimming pool we do comply and wear swimming attire - but after swimming naked it seems very constricting.
One year we got talking to a lovely couple, actually in the water at the north end - I cant remember how we started talking - I think I heard something in English - so - as I do - I spoke to the lady - such a long time ago I cant remember their names - it was their first time swimming naked and they loved it! We ended up by going for a meal with them that evening and had a really nice evening. We have never seen them again.
This is just my opinion - to which I am entitled - cos Phil said I could have one. Anne xx

[patrickjohn]

What a good thread that Paul has started.  I find I agree with virtually everything that everyone has said so far.
Appropo being afraid of meeting someone you know - it was on a naturist beach that I discovered the lady sunbathing next to my wife and I was the sister of a police colleague.  I had mixed feelings about this for a while but soon decided it didn't matter. However unless asked a direct question when back home we never admit to spending time on the North beach or our favourite beach at Tingaki in Kos wearing nothing but a sunhat.  (by the way does a sunhat disqualify me as a true naturist?)
PJ