I have decided not to actively seek out any new activities today, having started a long novel and decided that I could stand to spend more time on the beach. I bought film for my 35mm camera in Tulum and perhaps I will try to photograph some wildlife if the chance comes up. With breakfast I write some e-mails again (even indulging in some g-chat) and work on my Spanish. I spend most of the rest of the day on the beach. At one point I walk to a different beach looking for pelicans, which I find only later, back on my home beach. By this time it is close to sunset and only a few other people are on the beach, so I take out my camera and try to catch the pelicans in mid-dive. This I wouldn’t dare to have done earlier in the day, for reasons I will now explain.
From my first full day here, I have been thinking a bit about the idea of “clothing-optional” beach and my own reaction to it. Presumably most of the beaches around here are clothing-optional. In any case, our home beach at Capanas Coapl is. Many people obviously enjoy this feature. As for myself, I am not used to the concept of a clothing-optional beach, and I opt to wear exactly what I normally would wear at a beach. Immediately I notice a rather attractive young lady frolicking topless in the surf, and at the same time two much older gentlemen walking completely nude nearby. I would not exactly say that I find the scene disconcerting, but I am not as nonchalant about it as I would prefer to be.
First of all, I generally enjoy gazing absent-mindedly at the ocean (as I assume most people do). But the presence of naked people, and in particular attractive women, makes me hesitant to do so. In fact, hesitant is not a strong enough word, as I specifically go out of my way to not look in the direction of naked folks. I realize almost simultaneously that this is foolish and particular to a person who is less than fully comfortable with public nudity. Presumably most folks here are used to this and they gaze wherever they please without concern. By the same token, the naked folks are probably not self-conscious enough to worry about who is looking at them any more than a person in a bikini is. I am reminded that it was only a few generations ago when a bikini on an American beach was considered scandalous.
Next I realize (as a relatively minor aside) that I should not bring my camera out on the beach so as not to run the risk of being misunderstood. I assume at first that using a camera on a clothing-optional beach is poor etiquette. Later, however, I see several young couples taking pictures of each other (not naked) on the beach and I realize the same concept applies in this case as the above. In other words, if everyone’s cool then everyone’s cool. Still, I’m a man here alone, and I’m not going to take my camera out on the beach. I’m not quite cool enough to be cool. Not yet, anyway.
Lastly (and still in my first hour on the beach) I begin to notice more folks walking onto the beach, and it seems that most of them are naked. Now I begin to feel self conscious of the fact that I am clothed (wearing a bathing suit) and wonder what people will think when I go in the ocean with my bathing suit on. (After all, it is a clothing-optional, and not a nude beach, so it’s not as if I’m some sort of free-gazing freeloader or what-have-you. Indeed, as the days go by I realize that just as many people are on the beach in full bathing suits as are nude.) I do not let these thoughts bother me too much, but I give them plenty of consideration before jumping into the ocean and (mostly) forgetting about the whole thing. I am adaptable, and I will adapt. Within a few days I hope to be fully cool.
