Last night was crazy. Not in the Las Vegas sense of over-imbibing and forgetting where your hotel room is kind of crazy, but the kind where you go to a toga foam party and everyone ends up naked in a sea of glorious, sudsy, wild debauchery. And that was only the first night I spent at Jamaica’s Hedonism II, a clothing-optional resort situated against the sparkling blue Caribbean Sea.

My Experience at a Nudist Resort

In the months and weeks leading up to the trip, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was terrified of stripping down in front of strangers whose minds I couldn’t stop from judgement. And yet, despite my fears, my conservative Mennonite upbringing, and my tendency to lean prude, it was a keen desire for exploring the unknown that fueled me both early on and throughout a wild five days.

It fueled me during check in, when everyone eyed me with a knowing smile, saying, “You’re a virgin to the resort, aren’t you?”, and it kept me going upon that first, wide-eyed walk across campus to my room where, in modest street clothes, it finally hit me that I was fully immersed in a nudist community.

Perhaps the most surprising part of taking a “nacation” — a nude vacation — was just how quickly my inhibitions, insecurities and shock melted away. Within three hours of arrival, I tepidly disrobed to experience the ocean like I never had before: completely naked. By day three, I was walking across campus sans-clothing, somehow liberated from a long list of self-perceived body flaws I’ve written about myself over the years.