If you take a look at my first list of sixty sexy things to do in San Francisco, you’ll find that I’ve listed the nude beach as one of those things. I also considered including checking out the local nude beach as one of my San Francisco sexy resolutions for the new year although I ultimately decided to leave it off the list. It was kind of in the back of my mind that I eventually wanted to get around to hanging out at one of the nude beaches here but it wasn’t such a pressing desire that I felt the need to include it as a goal. The funny thing is that I can check that off of the mental list now anyway because I accidentally stumbled on one of the area’s clothing-optional beaches this weekend.

I went hiking yesterday over at the Marin Headlands which are just across the Bay Bridge. I had been here a couple of times before and had it marked in my memory as one of my favorite spots to hike in the Bay Area. One of the best trails that I’ve done there is a short trail that starts at the trailhead and works its way to a place called Black Sands Beach. When I came across this trail last year, it was a weekday and there was no one else at the beach. What I recalled of it was that it was stunningly beautiful, not a terribly hard hike and that the sand here glittered with little jellyfish. What I did not know at that time is that it’s a clothing-optional beach.

With the weather being as wonderfully warm as it is in San Francisco lately, I got the urge to get out by the water again and went back to Black Sands Beach. This time, with the sun shining and the day being a Sunday, there were plenty of people here. And most of them were naked. That’s when I realized that this is one of the area’s nude beaches. Truth be told, it wasn’t really a big deal. I noticed naked people, kind of smiled that I’d not realized I was going to a nude beach and then paid more attention to the waves crashing on the rocks and the jellyfish on the sand than to the other people who were there soaking up the sun on their bare skin.

But, having now been to the nude beach, I started wondering in my own mind about whether or not clothing-optional beaches are sexy. For the most part, the people that I know would say that they aren’t sexy. And I wouldn’t say that I found anything particularly sexy about the beach that I was at this weekend. However, I do think that there is something sexy to be found in the nude beach experience. Here are some of the ways that could be looked at:

• Being naked in nature is sexy. This is a personal preference thing that I think is probably true for some people. As for me, I prefer a bit of clothing in between me and the elements but there are some people who find it really natural to be nude in nature and there’s definitely something sexy about being natural. I can definitely appreciate the sexiness of warm sun on bare skin so I get how this could be sexy for some people.
• The nature itself is sexy. There was definitely something sexy/romantic/passionate about the setting itself at the beach that I went to. The waves crashed hard against the rocks here. The pull of the water with each tug back emanated this intense energy. The sunshine sparkled on the sand in a way that pulled you right in to the beauty of that moment. Clothes on or off, there’s something sexy about being amidst the stunning power of nature and just immersing yourself in the enjoyment of it.
• It can be sexy to get naked in front of other people. For some people, clothing-optional beaches are just a place where they can do what’s natural to them - be naked. For others, though, the experience of getting naked in public is a really daring experience that’s not easy to do. To take that chance, to be bold enough to take off your tops or bottoms in front of others, to expose yourself in an appropriate manner to the world around you … well, that experience can be sexy for some people.
• Voyeurism can be sexy. You may discover that there’s something appealing about seeing people’s naked bodies at the beach. As long as you’re not being that creepy person who is ogling others at the nude beach, that’s okay. I’ve frequently heard it said that the people who go to get naked in public are usually not the kind of sexy people you really want to see naked. However, everyone has different tastes and you may find that the people at the beach are sexy in your eyes. There were only a few naked people at the beach that I was at this weekend but there was diversity among them.
• It’s different from your norm. Most people don’t go to the nude beach every day so at least this is something different and doing something different is exciting in and of itself.

So, I don’t know. I don’t necessarily think that the experience of the nude beach is particularly sexy to me but I can see how there are sexy aspects to it. And since the weather is so stunningly beautiful in San Francisco right now, I would definitely say that it’s a good time to get out and see if the clothing-optional beaches here are sexy to you. If you’re interested in finding the ones in and around San Francisco, I’d recommend checking out the annual guide from the San Francisco Bay Guardian which gives you the lowdown on how to get to those beaches and what the legal status of each of them is.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 2:17 pm and is filed under General Info and Random Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.