A Tale of Two Beaches

After our hike in Macedonia, we still had a couple weeks left in our vacation, and now that I knew she was at least theoretically open to the idea, there were a few times that I tried suggesting getting Jasmine (partially) nude in public again. Unfortunately for me she didn't seem so keen. I guess she didn't get much of a thrill out of it. There were a couple times she briefly flashed me her boobs (with bra on), but we didn't find another perfect situation like having (seemingly) a whole mountain trail to ourselves. I didn't push (obviously, that could never end well), but was a little disappointed she didn't get into it.

I remembered that not only do I get a thrill from seeing Jasmine nude in public. I also like being nude in public myself. There were a few points on the trip where I considered asking her to take nude photos of me. Once at a mountain lookout I even said as much, but she soon realised that there were people just below the ridge, setting up some hang gliding, and she shut me down.

As our trip continued into Greece and came close to its conclusion, I concocted a plan. She wanted to go to a Michelin restaurant, something we'd never done. I wasn't so excited about the idea - not opposed, but just thought she would enjoy it a lot more than I would. There was one sunny warm day left before we had to leave Athens and head home, and I identified an unofficial nude beach in the suburbs of Athens, accessible by bus. I suggested a deal. If she would go to a nude beach with me, I would go to a Michelin restaurant with her. After some discussion, we agreed.

The big day came around, and things started to go a little wrong. We got delayed heading out. It turned out it would take us about an hour to get there by first subway and then a bus. When we got on the bus there was a rowdy group of young German guys making a lot of noise.

Jasmine was annoyed. "If they're going where we're going, it's off. We're turning around." I spent the next 15 minutes hoping for some luck. The location of this unofficial nude beach is just past a larger regular beach, one bus stop away. Luckily the Germans got off at the regular beach. We had arrived!

It was a gorgeous, bright blue sunny day. The bus stop was on a ridge overlooking a clear little rocky bay, with nothing else around. We scrambled down the rocky path without too much difficulty, passing a middle-aged German couple on the way. They weren't much to look at, but they were totally nude, hanging out on the smooth white rocks. We got down to a nice flat rock area just above the waterline, sat down and started to get comfortable.

Just around the bend we could see a younger pair of darker guys, and a small group with a young good-looking woman and some male friends. All nude and relaxed, enjoying the sun or the gorgeous turquoise water. I started to disrobe, but Jasmine was uncomfortable. First she noticed some men up at the top of the ridge, by the road. Fully clothed, just standing there watching. Then one of them, a gruff guy maybe in his fifties, started down the path towards us. He was alone, and didn't look like he was there to partake in the nudity. Things got really uncomfortable when he sat on a rock just a few metres away from us, fully clothed and staring.

Now, it's one thing to be naked when everyone's naked and nobody's paying you particular attention. But when a fully clothed guy is clearly ogling you from point-blank range, that's a different story. I was not surprised that Jasmine was uncomfortable. Even I was uncomfortable with this guy. I glared at him for a while before he finally walked away.

Then I finished getting out of my clothes. Jasmine decided that she was only getting topless, and not getting in the water. As I made my way down to the water we both noticed a couple other young guys on the other side of the small bay. They weren't together, they were sitting quite far apart. The closer one was sitting fully nude, by himself, looking down at the bay. He was quite muscular, his toned body glistening in the sun. And every now and then, almost as if by accident, he casually moved his hand to his half-hard penis and gave it a short tug. From the distance, it wasn't clear if he was looking at me, at Jasmine, or someone else. But he was clearly having a good time.

The other guy, further away, was a bit stranger. Also sitting by himself, he had removed his pants and underwear but kept his long-sleeved shirt on. He had positioned his backpack strategically in front of him, blocking his penis from view. But from his arm motions it was clear that he was jacking off.

Now I'm not the most innocent guy, but I had never experienced anything like this. I've been nude among other people. I've watched porn. But I had never before seen a person masturbating in public in plain sight. In terms of my own sexuality, I'm about as straight as a razor. But somehow, in some new kinky way, I kind of enjoyed the thought that maybe these guys were getting off on looking at me.

I got into the water and splashed around a bit. It was crystal clear and calm, and slightly warm. Perfect for a nice little swim. I enjoyed the sensations, feeling free and happy. There's nothing quite like swimming in crystal clear warm water in a gorgeous location. And there's nothing quite like swimming nude. If you haven't experienced it, you're missing out. Something about the feeling of the water going everywhere, and moving freely through it. It's just one of the best things.

There was a tiny island, maybe five metres across, in the middle of the bay. I swam over to it, and pulled myself up onto it, making sure I was highly visible to the two masturbators. The water dripped off my hairy, thin, middle-eastern body, as I laid myself out for a bit, turning first this way and then that, so that if they wanted to, they could have a good look. All the while, for me this wasn't really a sexual thing, so much as a feeling of excitement, of freedom, and of being a bit subversive. But it sure was new and enjoyable.

Jasmine, of course, felt very differently. She's not in any way an exhibitionist. So our experience of the beach and our feelings about it afterward could not have been more different.

Luckily, the restaurant that night was superbly enjoyable for both of us. She, as expected, appreciated the exquisite food, the top notch service, and the excellent wine. And I ended up enjoying it too, far more than I expected. Still, afterwards, I worried that she would never want to try a nude beach again. She's not even a fan of regular beaches.

==== PART TWO ====

Several months later, we were visiting Vancouver, where I grew up. Vancouver is famous for many things: its gorgeous nature, its diverse ethnic makeup, its plentiful authentic Asian cuisine, its relaxed attitude, and its insane real estate market. We were in town for a family wedding, and like most gatherings of large families, it got pretty intense. The wedding itself was lots of fun, and we got along great with the couple, but certain other family members made things difficult. It was May, which isn't normally summer in Vancouver, or at least didn't used to be. But this May it was particularly warm and sunny.

One day, when the weather was extraordinarily warm, and when the family was extraordinarily nuts, Jasmine and I decided to go to Wreck Beach. After our experience in Greece, I had explained to Jasmine that not all nude beaches are full of public masturbators and oglers. I had expected it to be more like what I was used to from the handful of times I had been to Wreck Beach when I was younger. Wreck Beach is in fact a clothing-optional beach, not a nude beach. And it's a family-friendly community place. I assured her that it would be very different, and she agreed to give it a shot.

We had acquired a large joint of marijuana, which is legal in Canada now, and one morning we packed a few things and headed out. To get to Wreck Beach, you first take a bus to UBC, the huge sprawling university campus where I did my degree. On the edge of the campus, you cross a road and you're at the top of the stairs. A big sign tells you that at the bottom of those stairs is a clothing-optional beach, and lists a bunch of tips and regulations. This isn't some tiny unregulated cove outside the city. This place is organised.

We started the steep hike down the stairs, through some beautiful trees. For those who don't know Vancouver, it is actually located in the middle of a temperate rain forest. All that rain makes for beautiful lush greenery and a lot of serious trees. The winding path down the hill through the forest is quite long. About 400 stairs. It was now late morning and the sun was shining brightly. It was probably about 22 degrees on a sunny weekday in May. A few people passed us on the stairs in each direction, but not very many. We wondered how many people would be on the beach. I was guessing maybe 10 or 20.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, the hidden beach was finally visible. It was fairly quiet. Maybe 10 or 15 people dotting the 600 metres of sandy shore. We found a spot with a bit of shade to set up camp, and both started to disrobe. This was a vastly different experience. There were no creepy fully-dressed dudes trying to get up close to us. Everybody was keeping a respectful distance, and most people were seemingly either nude or close to it. To calm Jasmine's nerves we decided to light up the joint, but I wasn't sure of the etiquette for such things. I certainly wouldn't want someone smoking tobacco near me on a beach. So, fully nude, I walked over to the closest person, a naked guy who was sitting a few metres away on his own, eyes closed, zoning out the world.

"Excuse me," I said. "I don't mean to bother you. We were thinking of lighting up a joint, but not if the smoke will bug you."

He opened his eyes and smiled. "Oh, no worries. By all means, enjoy. I smoked one myself not too long ago," he said. "You guys have fun!"

"Thanks!" I smiled, and walked back to Jasmine. We struggled against the slight wind to light up the joint, eventually succeeding, and we each took a few puffs. We were both relaxed.

Jasmine noticed another guy, sitting on a log maybe 30 metres away with his legs spread wide. "Whoa, check out that guy!" she said. "He's huge!" On closer inspection I could see why he sat that way. The man's penis (fully flaccid) must have been at least eighteen centimetres long. And his balls were equally large.

I laughed, glad that Jasmine was enjoying herself. "I want to go dip into the water a bit. Can you discreetly take a picture or two of me when I'm out there?" I asked.

"Do you think it's allowed?" she wondered. "Just don't get other people in the photo and it should be fine, I think." I shrugged, and off I went through the soft sand.

Vancouver in May is not like Greece in October. Even in the heart of summer, the water at Vancouver's beaches doesn't get particularly warm. So I didn't expect it would be comfortable for swimming, and indeed it wasn't. Still, I waded out quite a bit, getting wet up to my knees, enjoying the freedom and the open air, the sunshine, and the light breeze on my naked skin. When I came back, I asked Jasmine if I could take a few tasteful photos of her, and she gladly posed for me, sexy but nothing explicit. We tried a few different poses that showed off her beautiful creamy skin, her lush brown hair, her ample breasts and her cute round butt. Then she took some more photos of me, now from close up. In one of them you can kind of tell that my penis is starting to enjoy things, but just barely.

Soon we had a visitor. Giant Penis Guy had walked over to say hi. He seemed quite friendly. "Would you like me to take a picture of the two of you together?" he asked in a way that seemed totally natural. Just one naked guy with a gigantic cock and balls walking over to a naked couple and offering to take some naked pictures of them like it was the most natural thing in the world. So we posed for a couple of shots, again nothing explicit. We chatted with him. Turns out, just like us, he grew up in a conservative culture. Catholic Italian in his case. He had a gigantic cross necklace. But not nearly as gigantic as his penis. It was even larger from up close. And it seemed totally natural to just chat with a stranger in the nude on a lovely day.

After a bit of chatting, Jasmine and I decided it was almost time to head out for lunch, but first I wanted to walk the length of the water together. Jasmine happily agreed. We gave the rest of our joint to Giant Penis Guy (we were flying out the next day and wouldn't be able to take it with us), grabbed our bags and towels, and walked down to the water.

The beach had filled up some in the hour or so since we had arrived. There were now a lot of people there, maybe as many as a hundred. There were all sorts of singles and couples, families and groups of friends. People of all ages from toddlers to the elderly. They weren't all nude. Some wore bathing suits or shorts and bras. But a lot of people were nude or topless. As we walked along the waterfront, we passed people splashing about, playing with frisbees, and building sandcastles. There was a couple maybe in their late twenties with a boy of maybe ten, all three of them fully nude, having a great time throwing a ball around. Jasmine said hello and exchanged pleasantries. I could tell she was relaxed and having a good time. We wrote a bit in the sand. We enjoyed the view and the views. It was just a really good time.

And, being Vancouver, when we were done we found our way to one of the hundreds of authentic Chinese restaurants and had an incredible meal. It was no Michelin star restaurant, but it was excellent and real and super tasty.

"So," I asked. "Did you enjoy that nude beach experience?"

"I did," said Jasmine.

"It's much different than the one in Greece," I laughed.

"Oh yes. Couldn't be more different. Much better."

"If we lived here, in the summer I think I would want to go to Wreck Beach often," I said.

"I might be up for that," she smiled.

==== QUESTION ====

I'm thinking of asking a question or two at the end of stories, to see if that will spark some interesting discussion in the comments. Let's see how it goes. So, if you'd like to play along:

What's a memorable experience you had with public nudity?