Swimming in the Nude at Haulover Beach in Bal Harbour, Florida

Haulover Beach in Miami, Florida was the must-visit destination where my good friend brought me to on a Sunday afternoon in February when I took a week-long trip to that state, which coincided with a business trip. Prior to the drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Bal Harbour, we almost didn't go there as we were seeing earlier that the sun wasn't showing up at all. The other option was to eat home cooked Philippine food among other Filipinos who work in cruise ships that were currently docked in the many ports found in the area. We were asking ourselves 'what's the point of swimming in the nude if the sun's not up at all?' Thankfully, the sun showed up by the time we were there, and it was out for at least 4 hours.

During that afternoon, I saw many naked swimmers of various races, sizes, gender, and health statuses. I've been to other nude beaches here in New York and New Jersey but what makes this place special is that it's where you can do nude beach swimming even during winter months up in the North East. I didn't even want to believe that I was swimming as my mind was still set on winter mode because of the season New York was in during that trip. Together with other sunbathers, I also took the time to get myself a well deserved tan, although I now realize such a decision was risky as we're not encouraged to expose ourselves to the sun at noon time up to its setting in late afternoon. With myself enthralled by the wide vistas of the ocean before me, I saw and felt that the beach was clean, beautiful, and was set in deep aquamarine color. I recall seeing the same hues on the bodies of the birds that kept flying all over the beach while people were there. These birds have been learning that they could get fed by these sun worshippers. Delightfully, the wind wasn't blowing strong at all as I meditated on my very tiny existence in this universe while looking at each of the newly-built tall residential buildings a few feet away from the beach.

It's been one very interesting beach adventure; I wasn't really expecting something like it mainly because I didn't even really bother to read about the places that were available for me to explore when I get to this part of Florida. I just made the trip mainly for business reasons (I wasn't even aware that Ft. Lauderdale comes ahead before Miami as I was on the train to and fro my destination during this trip). Just like the others who stayed around for some time when the sun already set, we ended up cruising towards the night with other night-going denizens in this part of Florida state.  I was delighted to have made it with someone who was friendly and hispanic. Soon, I found out that there was more into him that I could manage to handle and face as the light from the tall building basked on our connected bodies. There were many others who were around but, somehow, nothing was happening at the earlier hours of our trip there. Practically everybody's just minding their own business.