- My friends, their band played at the nude resort.
And so I tagged along to be nosy.
When I got there
I was instantly greeted by tons of naked people.
(playful tune)
- Hey, I'm Linda,
and I've been a nudist for 10 years.
This is how I got started.
(playful tone)
I had the invitation to meet with two of my friends
and it was actually a surprise.
They didn't tell me it was gonna be a naked beach.
(laughs)
They said we were gonna be going to an amusement park
and we were gonna be going to the beach.
So I packed all my things,
I stayed overnight with them
and then they surprised me and said
"it's actually a naked beach."
And so I had a moment where I had to decide
if I wanted to do it
and if I could do it
I decided I wanted to,
I was interested in it.
and so I was like, I was gonna go for it.
I remember being afraid, being nervous.
I remember being worried about what my friends would think
of my body
being worried about my hair situations.
So the morning of I made sure I shaved everything,
later I realized that was not necessary.
It was really exciting.
I loved it, but I was also nervous at the same time.
And I actually remember texting my boyfriend
at the time in all caps, like I'm naked right now.
I was very exhilarated by it all.
There was a guy that had clothes on who came up to us
and he said,
"Oh, I'm nervous. This is my first time being here."
Like, how did you do thi..?
Like, how do you do this?
(laughs)
And so eventually he got naked
and we were able to coach him through it.
(laughs)
And then I was hooked.
(playful tone)
- I have been a nudist now for
wow!
Almost six years.
(laughs)
I was always curious about it.
You know, living in South Florida,
it's been at the back of my mind,
you've got the South beach situation.
I had no idea there was an actual nude beach
within 30 to 40 minute drive from me.
So as soon as I found out I had to go and try it.
I had looked online before I went
and I came across a woman
who was visiting from Texas with her husband
and they were looking for someone local
to meet them there at the beach, hang out.
So I met them there, very nervous.
I mean, first of all meeting someone on Craigslist
that I've never met before
and not only that, but at the nude beach
that was kind of weird to me.
(laughing)
They were really nice people,
they'd been nudists for a very long time.
I was very nervous at first
about, you know, getting naked out in public,
other people around.
But you know, once I did it
dropped my pants you look around
no one's looking
everybody's mind in their own business,
everybody's doing their own thing.
Sat out,
enjoyed the sun,
talked to my new friends from Texas
and I had a great time.
I never saw them again.
They went back to Texas after that.
That's actually, when I decided to put that I'm a nudist
in my dating profiles.
So I actually met someone on one of those apps.
She sent me a message.
Hey, fellow nudists I'm one too.
(man laughing)
And then she actually was the one who introduced me
into the group I joined
The Florida Young Naturists,
which really opened it up into so much more
cause we have live music,
there's the food,
we have yoga classes,
there's so much to do,
and I love it.
I really do.
(playful tone)
- Hi, I'm Ebony.
And this is the reason why I became a nudist.
My friends, their band played at the nude resort.
And so I tagged along to be nosy.
When I got there
I was instantly greeted by tons of naked people
(upbeat music)
but they were the most loving people
that I think I'd ever experienced right off the bat.
I ended up hanging out with some people that noticed
that I was almost six foot tall
and they started talking to me about volleyball
and they educated me on volleyball being the dominant sport
and how they travel all the time
and asked me if I'd be interested in coming back
to play ball the next day,
as nervous as I was, I came home,
I talked to my mother just to be sure
I wasn't doing anything that was gonna upset my family
although I wanted to do it.
And I wasn't confident about getting nude
but the volleyball players assured me
they weren't going to make me be naked
so that I could relax enough to play ball.
And before I got out of church the next day
I had missed several calls from volleyball players
asking me if I was still coming back
and that they were paying my day fee
so that I could come back and play ball.
So I went back and played ball.
Now I cried the whole 20 minute drive there
cause I was scared of being naked
but I went back and I went back
and I went back and I cried every drive out there.
But every week I slowly got a little more naked.
And by the end of the summer,
I showed up for a birthday party of someone there
and was trying to hype myself up in the car
the whole drive going, I'm gonna get naked today.
I'm gonna do it today.
And I got in and I parked my car
and I took all my clothes off.
And I put this sarong around my waist
and I put the flip flops on.
And as I walked up to the party
there were about 30 people that saw me coming
and someone screamed, Oh my God, Ebony's finally naked.
And the entire group applauded.
(applauding)
And I cried because I had struggled so hard to get there
and they didn't realize the impact that they had had on me
how beautiful they all were
and how beautiful they wanted me to see that I was.
And it wasn't something that I was ever seeing.
So it was, it was life-changing.
They made me love me.
And prior to that
I couldn't figure out if I couldn't love me,
How could someone else love me?
And now I'm almost 10 years later.
I'm a different person.
I'm I'm content and happier
than I've ever been in my entire life.
(gentle music)