Being at Haulover was very exciting. Like being on some kind of high... Always with me doing something new, and looking forward to it as this was certainly looked forward to, the anticipation is usually the best part. Not so with Haulover.  The anticipation didn’t do it justice at all. 

We all went in car pools and we just found each other when we got there. There were several separate groups of us on the beach and some were traveling between these beach ‘camps’.   It’s a big beach.., and we had a lot of friends on it that day. It was like being at a place you normally hung out at and were very familiar with, but this was so much better. It was life as life should be. Carefree and nothing but enjoyable. We had about eight people in our camp. That being a place on the sand large enough to claim and lay down all the towels, etc. 

Between us and the water, there was another group of men and women in their 30’s and 40’s who seemed to be European.  At least very ‘continental’ looking.  They had about 20 feet of windscreens set up their back, in a slight curve, protecting against the breeze off the sea.  They were sitting facing inland, toward us and the sun. They were complete with chaise lounges and coolers, umbrellas, and holding tall cool ones...  They were looking very much like long time good friends and very, very, comfortable. To me, they were the epitome of what a nude beach is all about.  In fact any beach.  :-)   They seemed to notice us too, in the same way I noticed them.  That we were also a large group of friends and more over that we knew so many other people as they walked by.   I thought myself that we must have seemed somewhat of an anomaly to them...  That they must wonder how we had all come to know each other so well. Maybe just my mind wandering but I tend to think of nude beaches as places where couples and perhaps small family groups might go to, but usually ‘by themselves’ and not knowing others.    I didn’t make any effort to talk with that group but I should have. I think we were all the same kind of people. :-)

This beach was surprisingly nude.  From the time we walked in and went straight to the SFFB stand where they were selling SFFB tee-shirts and lots of other nudist things.  That’s what people were there for.  That’s what everyone was doing and accepting in others. There were maybe two people I saw all day that could have been considered ‘tourists’ from the ‘textile’ world.   One guy fully dressed was strolling along through the crowd. He even had regular shoes on.  This kind of thing being nearly non existent, almost certainly results from the fact that Haulover has been there for some time now and that everyone is just so used to it around Miami that it has no effect any more.  No voyeurs and no ‘droolers’...  Ha!   They’re probably bored with it.  They are more likely going to the ‘textile’ beaches, where they can get to use their imagination a little.  That, of course, is as it could be all over the country, if people would just get a brain in their heads. 

The beach is beautiful with deep white sand.   Very long and I would guess it goes back about 200 ft from the water.  I didn’t count them but it seems there are at least 4 lifeguard towers spaced along the beach. There was at least one vendor selling hot dogs, pop, ice cream and such. Pretty much at the mid point of the beach, he works out of a small squarish mobile home type structure with a walk up counter built into the side of it.   I was glad to see him, for sure.  It’s just impossible to go to the local store once you’re situated on the beach, you know. 

Lot’s of sun, talking, feeding the sea gulls, group shots, fooling around, eating hot dogs, and even shooting some glamor shots  (not of me <g>) for N magazine or wherever they might go, taken by David the official Haulover photographer.   Super guy btw. That’s him with Julia in the picture up above.

There are showers of course, if anyone should wonder.  The parking is well covered with at least two major sized parking areas. Remember that 7000 person per day figure?  They don’t all walk here. :-)  It’s an ‘official’ nude beach so the State of Florida takes care of the life guarding, cleaning, and all other maintenance of the beach. They also man the parking booths for a nominal charge..; which probably goes for the upkeep of the beach.   

We had to leave... but we’ll be back!