University of Florida

Spring 2007

The Naked Truth

Story by ANGIE DE ANGELIS

Each year hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to Pasco County, just north of the Tampa Bay Area, and the reason has nothing to do with theme parks, wild roller coasters or life-size cartoon characters.

Instead, they come in droves to this quiet, unassuming county in west central Florida to leave everything behind—including their clothes.

Located on the Gulf of Mexico, Pasco County, with an estimated population of 406,898 people, is home to an ever-expanding nudist resort industry with seven of the state’s 30 nudist recreational clubs and resorts residing within its 745 square miles.

“We get people from all over,” says Pat Mulieri, Pasco County Commissioner, “not just the U.S. but from all other countries.”

The idea for these resorts dates back to the 1940s when Dorothy and Avery Weaver Brubaker created the Florida Athletic and Health Association/Lake Como Club. In 1941, the Brubakers purchased land and endeavored to provide a clubhouse, athletic fields and other facilities for the club’s members. They reserved a small portion of land for nudist recreation in 1949 and opened it as a resort, which still exists today.

Since then, the nudist resort industry in Pasco has continued to grow, with resorts catering to a variety of guests ranging from families to retirees to young couples. Many resorts even offer club memberships, vacation stays, camping sites, condominiums and single-family homes.

However, a technicality distinguishes some resorts from others: nudist versus clothing-optional.

For example, Paradise Lakes, a 72-acre resort with 150,000 annual visitors and 4,500 members, is clothing optional, says Pete Williams, the resort’s director of communications.

“Clothing-optional and nudist are sometimes used very interchangeably, and for the most part they are,” Williams says.

Clothing-optional resorts give the visitor the option to be clothed when they feel it is more comfortable to be so and nude in settings like the pool, while nudist resorts expect the visitor to be nude most of the time.

“For a lot of people, the nudist experience is going nude where they would otherwise wear a bathing suit,” Williams adds.

In the resort’s restaurant, sitting at a window-side booth overlooking one of the sun-drenched pools, Williams looks out at the mostly nude people chatting in the water or laid out on the many poolside chaise lounges.

“You can go nude if you want,” Williams says, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, the kind you might wear at any other Florida beach resort, “but for the most part you see the people out by the pool - 98 percent of them will be nude.” He adds that when you come into the nightclub you can wear whatever you please. But most people who come into the restaurant will be dressed.

Williams says this can make the experience less intimidating for first-time visitors with the misconception that you have to drop your clothes at the door. Sometimes, guests don’t even get undressed until their second visit, after they’ve eased themselves into it and feel comfortable enough.

Other places, such as the Gulf Coast Resort located 30 miles north of Tampa in Hudson, emphasize a nudist, and not clothing-optional, philosophy.

The resort’s Web site explains that while visitors are not expected to strip down when they enter the resort, other members who are nude (aside from the small towel required by nude etiquette for sitting) will wonder why they are fully dressed.

Gulf Coast also differs from some of the bigger, more luxurious resorts because it caters to the recreational vehicle crowd, offering 78 RV sites and about a dozen RVs for rental. Accompanying the resort is a 100-home subdivision.

Manager Susan Cowan says the appeal of Gulf Coast is its quiet, laid-back atmosphere.

“There’s no hype,” she says. “We’re just a quiet, rustic little place.”

The Island Group, a 3.5-acre clothing-optional club in Land O’Lakes, also takes pride in its small size, proclaiming itself the “best-kept secret among Florida nudists.”

The family-oriented Island Group, which is the second oldest nudist recreation spot in Pasco, is only a day club and provides no overnight facilities. It has no paid staff and is owned and operated by its 30 or so members. A daily fee between $10 to $15 will get a visitor access to the hot tub area, clubhouse, outdoor BBQs, paddle tennis courts, swimming pool and dining areas.

For some of these older resorts, success lies in specializing. Lake Como, the oldest Pasco nudist resort, and biggest at 300 acres, targets its business to an active, athletic crowd.

“We don’t compete with other resorts,” says general manager Van Bradley. “We all have our own niche. Our niche is sports and recreation.”

The resort, the only pet-friendly one of its kind, offers memberships and day visits to singles, couples or families with children younger than 18. Although they don’t have condos, they do offer hotel rooms, 75 RV sites, tent camping sites and 158 single-family homes.

Nude tourism grew 75 percent during the 1990s and is now a $400 million industry, according to the American Association for Nude Recreation. The AANR, based in Kissimmee, has doubled its membership in the past 10 years to nearly 50,000 individual members.

Florida is one of the AANR’s busiest regions. Because of this, local businesses in Pasco welcome the resorts with a surprising lack of opposition.

“The nudist resorts were here before most of the community, so that’s part of it,” Pete Williams, director of communications at Paradise Lakes says. “In 1981 there wasn’t much around here, and certainly in 1951 when Lake Como opened, there was nothing around here, so they’re used to it.”

Pat Mulieri, who has been a Pasco County commissioner for 12 years and has several of the resorts in her area, says she’s never heard complaints from any of the resorts’ neighbors.

“People come, visit these high-end resorts and spend money in the community,” Mulieri says. “I just think it’s a win-win situation.”

Nude recreation appeals to many of Pasco’s resort visitors because it’s a liberating, unpretentious experience. Bob Erlenmeyer, a member of the Florida Association for Nude Recreation for the past 31 years, admits he was hesitant about going to his first nude beach but soon changed his mind.

“People realize that the person is on the inside, not the outside,” he says. “It’s hard to explain. It’s just the most freeing feeling.”

Most people are much more curious about than they are offended by the concept, says Sabrina Vizzari, marketing director at Paradise Lakes.

“You might get the occasional, ‘Oh no, that’s not for me,’” she says, casually sitting at the resort’s restaurant wearing only an emerald sarong and an even, golden tan. “Sometimes it may take them a while before they finally do visit a resort, but after they do, the one common theme I hear from them is, ‘Wow, that’s not what I was expecting. It was so relaxing.’ The only regret is not having done it sooner.”