NUDE CRUISE RAFFLE ENDS Nov. 30! The annual Keep Our Beaches Bare fundraising raffle remains open for ticket orders through November 30. We're giving away two — yes, two! — nude Caribbean cruises, along with several other great, naturist vacation prizes. Get details and order your raffle tickets no later than November 30!

November 2018 Editor's Message by Seth Paronick Keep Our Beaches Bare nude cruise raffle ends November 30!

Dear Charles:

B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute and South Florida Free Beaches (SFFB) / Florida Naturist Association are in the concluding month of our 2018 Keep Our Beaches Bare fundraising raffle. The final day to order raffle tickets is November 30. We're pleased to announce that the third prize, a stay at a naturist resort in Jamaica, has been sweetened with $500 towards airfare!

Make a donation* and enter the drawing for a chance to win one of two deluxe, balcony staterooms for two — yes, we're giving away two cruises! — on Bare Necessities Tour & Travel Co.'s The Big Nude Boat | Best Bare Beaches Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Sunshine, sailing round trip from Port Canaveral, FL (near Titusville), January 25 – February 3, 2019, with calls in The Bahamas, Jamaica, Mexico, and Isla Roatán (Honduras) and four days at sea, or one of four other naturist vacation packages for two persons, including stays at:

• Grand Lido™ Negril Au Naturel All-Suite Resort

(4 days / 3 nights, all-inclusive), Negril, Jamaica.

New: Now including $500 towards airfare, donated by Fox Travel — An American Express Travel Representative

• Cypress Cove Nudist Resort & Spa, Kissimmee, FL (near Orlando, one week, two prizes)

• Lake Como Family Nudist Resort, Lutz, FL ("loots," near Tampa, one week)

Get all the details and order your raffle tickets at: beachesfoundation.org/fundraiser

Again, you may order raffle tickets on line through Friday, November 30, 2018. The drawing is to be held on Sunday, December 2, 2018 at 2 p.m. on Haulover Beach in Miami, FL at the North Chickee (thatch-roofed shade structure) near lifeguard tower 15. Winners need not be present to claim their prize; they will be notified. Give your friends the above link or share this message with them and encourage them to get raffle tickets!

* Donations will be used for naturist education, free beach advocacy, capital improvements to Haulover Beach or other clothing-optional beach sites, disability beach access program, and other purposes as listed in the scope of B.E.A.C.H.E.S.' mission and SFFB's mandate. Update: In the previous issue, an additional beneficiary was mentioned. Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN), the group that mentors Blind Creek Beach on Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce, FL, bowed out of this year's raffle to focus on other needs. (See related article below.)

By the way, if you are not a current sponsor / member of South Florida Free Beaches, please consider becoming one — numbers matter. At $35 per year for your household, it costs just 67¢ per week. Join now and get the rest of 2018 and all of 2019 for the cost of one year. A key benefit is the continued, clothing-optional use of Haulover Beach. How much is that worth to you? Join or renew at sffb.com.



SFFB also has a separate Legal Defense & Political Action Fund that supports its government affairs efforts and assists individuals cited for nude sunbathing. Even if you're not ready to (re)join just yet, please consider donating to this fund (not tax-deductible) to help with current challenges. Donations by bank check should be mailed to the address below (in e-mail version of newsletter). Thanks!

Beach Ambassador training, November 17 and December 1, 2018 Do you spend a lot of time on Miami's nude beach? If so, you have a chance to give back by volunteering as a Beach Ambassador (BA) to help maintain naturist standards on Haulover Beach and keep it safely nude for all to enjoy. Sign up for and attend a training to become part of a wonderful corps of volunteers. BAs serve as beach monitors and greeters, a combination of block watch, welcome wagon, and concierge. For their service, BAs at Haulover Beach get a cool hat, ID badge, and free parking on their duty days. Seasonal residents are welcome to participate. The next trainings, just for those that have never been through BA training, are scheduled for Haulover Beach on Saturday afternoon, November 17 and December 1, 2018. If you have any questions or wish to sign up for training, contact Ken by e-mail or at (594) 599-8420.

Florida free beach roundup Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN) is revamping its website to provide online ordering of branded gear. Click or tap on the preceding link to check for updates and additions. The club continues to grow its membership, for which dues are $20 per year per household. Download an application form from the club's membership page or, if you have a PayPal account, submit the dues via paypal.me/tcnaturists and enter "MEMBERSHIP" where prompted to add a note. Feel free to add something extra (and make a notation) to help pay for the portable toilets in the parking lot, which TCN provides and maintains (not St. Lucie County). TCN is actively recruiting Beach Ambassadors for Blind Creek Beach. See the club's Beach Ambassador Program page for details. For additional information or to volunteer, send e-mail or call (772) 800-5841. Nelson, TCN President, has extended the schedule for his naked yoga classes on Blind Creek Beach through late February 2019. They take place on Saturdays at 9 a.m., weather permitting. Donations are accepted, and a portion of them are turned over to Treasure Coast Naturists. Sign petitions for clothing-optional

beaches in Florida: Tampa Bay Area Palm Beach County Palm Beach Naturists (PBN) continues working on obtaining at least one clothing-optional beach in Palm Beach County. PBN's next Board meeting is on Monday, November 12, 2018 at 7 p.m. at Panera Bread in Sunshine Square in Boynton Beach, FL. Much of the meeting will be about developing a Beach Ambassador program to have in place for an eventual clothing-optional beach. Potential volunteers are encouraged to attend. Buy your own dinner and bring it to the tables where the Board is meeting. Red tide update: We reported in the last issue on the spread of red tide (a toxic algae bloom) into waters on Florida's Atlantic Coast. As of this writing, it has cleared on the East Coast, with levels in water samples testing mostly as not present / background, with just a few locations showing very low levels of Karenia brevis, the organism that causes red tide. Unfortunately, Florida's Central West Coast (Gulf of Mexico) is still showing mostly medium and, in several locations, high levels between St. Petersburg and Sanibel Island. Even at medium levels, it can cause eye and skin irritation in humans. You can check for the latest test results on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's interactive red tide map.

Six days of fun, growth, and community in the nude 31st Annual Mid-Winter Naturist Festival

Thursday – Tuesday, February 14-19, 2019

Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort

14125 North Rd, Loxahatchee Groves, FL

(14 miles west of West Palm Beach) Join other naturist women and men and their families from Florida and the rest of North America for the continent's first regional naturist gathering in 2019. Come for any or all of the days — it's up to you! This nude gathering is expected to feature nearly 250 scheduled activities, including a broad array of seminars, workshops, sports, music and dance (with nightly drum circle around a huge bonfire), and social activities. (See the previous Festival's schedule for an idea of what to expect. Place your cursor over the document to open page controls. The 2019 schedule is expected to be posted soon.) There are also a couple of off-site events, which are excursions to Haulover Beach in Miami and Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, FL. Click or tap above for a video tour (13:41) of Sunsport Gardens

Family Naturist Resort. The Mid-Winter Naturist Festival is one of a series of Naturist Society-sanctioned nude events each year. Diversity is valued, and all are welcome. Pre-registration is encouraged for planning purposes, but not required. (It makes check-in quick and easy.) Proceeds of the Festival benefit The Naturist Society, South Florida Free Beaches, and Treasure Coast Naturists. (See related article above.) Get pricing and/or register. Be sure to visit the SFFB / B.E.A.C.H.E.S. booth in the vendor area. Volunteers are needed to help staff the booth each day of the Festival. If you can spare some time to cover one or more shifts, please . Meanwhile, try Sunsport Gardens' naked drum circle, first Friday of every month from 9 p.m. to midnight. Entry is from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. with a ground fee of $5; visitors must depart by 2 a.m. Includes access to amenities such as the café, showers, pool, spa, sauna, volleyball and tennis courts, nature trail, etc. You must present your government-issued photo ID for admission. Get directions.

Forward this newsletter to a friend