Nude Beach and Naked Fun in the Florida Sun

Last weekend we all just wanted to get away. Out of town. No kids, no pets, no housework, no yardwork, no responsibilities. But where could we go and what could we do that would feel like, at least a little bit, of a “naughty” mini-vacation? A challenge for four lifestyle adults who are still very Covid conscious and aren’t playing with other people yet outside of our bubble. The answer? A nude beach!!

Nude beaches in Florida

A few months ago we researched nude beaches in Florida. There are four official nude beaches, or clothing-optional beaches, all on the east coast.

Two out of the four beaches that allow nudity, Apollo Beach – Lot #5 and Playalinda Beach – Lot #13 are located in the Canaveral National Seashore (I couldn’t find any official information about the nude areas on the National Park Service website). The park is located north of Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center and south of Daytona in New Smyrna Beach; about a 3 hour drive from Tampa. Both beaches have “clothing optional” areas (lot #5 at Apollo and lot #13 at Playalinda) meaning there may or may not be nude people there. According to the information we read, Apollo Beach seems to be less crowded than its southern counterpart, Playalinda. After we reviewed our choices, we decided to rent a condo in New Smyrna Beach and visit Apollo Beach in Canaveral National Seashore.

Our Review

Canaveral National Seashore

Canaveral National Seashore spans both Volusia and Brevard counties on the east coast of Florida. Apollo Beach is the northern section of Canaveral National Seashore, in Volusia County, and is only accessible via A1A through New Smyrna Beach. A1A “dead ends” here and continues in the southern portion of the park, Playalinda. Admission is $20 per vehicle or $40 for an annual pass. (Your $20 admission grants you access to the park for 7 days.) The park here is about 6 miles long and includes five parking areas about a mile apart. (Currently Lot #4 is under repair and is not being used.)

Playlinda is accessible only through Titusville and the clothing optional area is located in the northernmost parking area – lot 13.

We didn’t stop at the Welcome Center or visit any of the other parking areas/boardwalks – we had places to go and sun to seek! Therefore, I cannot offer a good review of the entire park, but this webpage has a very nice review of the Apollo Beach area of the park.

Things to Know About Lot #5

Lot #5 is the southern most parking lot in this section of the park and is the only clothing optional area (nude beach) in the park. We had read that parking is tight and on weekends it is mandatory to arrive early if you want a space. We arrived on Friday afternoon at 1:30 and had to wait, “in line” (behind 2 other cars), for about 25 minutes before someone left and we could park.

The first thing we noticed, while waiting for a parking space, was the number of fisherman there. Apparently this is a great place to be naked and fish! (Although, we also realized that most of the fishermen were not naked … probably a pretty smart idea!)

A few other things to mention …

• Even though it is a clothing optional beach, I read you are not to be naked near or on the boardwalk or in the parking lot. We also noticed that, while no one went to the bathroom naked, some ladies went topless or with a see-through cover up on.
• This place is REMOTE! Bring everything you need or think you will want.
• Needful Things Bait Shop & General Store is the closest store. It is out of the park, about 10-12 miles from Lot #5, and carries bait, tackle, beer, some grocery items and general sundries. Our recollection is that they also served some food but don’t quote us on that!
• Speaking of beer … you CAN drink on the beach!! You can have open containers as long as they cans or cups.
• NOT ALLOWED: glass containers (no glass beer bottles), No pets.
• There are “bathrooms” (one ladies, one mens room). I say “bathrooms” because they are little more than glorified port-o-potties. No flushing, no sinks, no great air circulation (yes, they smell like port-o-potties too). But there seemed to be plenty of toilet paper!! (Yay??)
• There is no running water here AT ALL! No showers, no place to rinse off or get a drink, and no way to flush that port-o-potty toilet!!
• The sand is “deep” and can be difficult to walk in if you are lugging a lot of stuff. We had a wagon but it did not have the big fat beach tires and it was not easy to pull. (We ended up pretty close to the boardwalk for this reason!)
• The water was rough and there were definitely rip currents and a steep drop off. Of course, it is October and winter months bring rougher beach waters so I don’t know how this would be in the spring or summer – just FYI

Getting Nekkid!

Once we got down to the beach, we stripped it all off! Tristan and I have never been to a nude beach before; at first it was weird, then liberating, invigorating and downright AWESOME!

However, we also noticed that very few of the other beach-goers were nude! (Seriously??)

Due to the very limited parking not only in Lot 5 but apparently throughout the park, the beach was not crowded at all. At the height of a Friday afternoon, with all the parking spaces full, we guessed there were only maybe 50 – 60 people in that particular stretch of beach; of those, we counted maybe 20 people (including the four of us) that were nude! There were 5 or so couples, 2 single ladies and the rest single men – mostly older.

Everyone else kept their suits on. There were fishermen, shell seekers and regular beach-goers. A mom brought a group of teenage girls – who when we passed them on the boardwalk were giggling like teenage girls do and it sounded like “mom” was giving them the “don’t stare and act normal” speech – LOL. We even saw families with little kids.

BOTTOM LINE (get it?) … we LOVED IT!! Such a beautiful and unpopulated area was the perfect answer to our desire to escape our adulting, pandemic lives! So much so, we’ve decided another long weekend is a necessity next month as well! Where should we go and what should we do …. hmmmmm, we’ll keep you posted!

Stay sexy, get nekkid, but stay safe! ~ Myrina

A few more resources

• Index of Florida Naturist Organizations and Links to Newsletters
• Review of Lot #5 Nude Section on TripAdvisor (maybe I should leave one too??)
• Haulover Beach Website, Miami Beach – this is a private-run (not government-run) website with lots of great info about this nude beach
• Blind Creek Beach – Hutchinson Island – another “private” website about our fourth clothing optional beach