A time and a place
Not long ago I made a post on our Facebook page about the crew of the catamaran anchored in front of us who were lounging around naked on their boat. My point of the post was that it really wasn’t appropriate given that they were anchored just off the beach in Dominica, an island where public nudity is not only frowned upon but illegal. The post garnered a lot of responses and I was surprised at just how uptight some people were, with certain comments bordering on homophobic. We have no problem shedding our clothes on ZTC but are a bit more selective about when and where we do it. Not so with our neighbors here in Martinique though. No, our friends have been joking that it appears as if we’ve anchored in the middle of the nudist colony.
Amusingly to us, the 3 men on the large catamaran in front of us have no problem running around in the buff. In fact, they’ve been hard at work on their boat, polishing and scrubbing, all sans clothing, save for some rubber gloves or the occasional T-shirt. Yesterday, in fact, one of them was operating some sort of power tool while naked, an act I fail to see the wisdom in!
As if that wasn’t enough, another boat came in and anchored almost on top of us and the skipper was completely naked as he did so. While many cruisers do shed their clothing while sailing, most everyone does put them back on before making their way into an anchorage. Not this guy though. The boat anchored unnecessarily close to us but I decided to let it go, not wishing to have a French to English confrontation with the naked dude. Unfortunately, that would prove to be a mistake as some hours later, the wind shifted and that boat ended up swinging into us. We heard the noise as the hulls bumped but apparently no one on the other boat did. Reaching over and knocking on his hull, I was forced to draw the skipper up on deck anyway, sending him off to go re-anchor elsewhere in the dark. Oh yeah, he was still naked then too. 🙂
Ahoy crew of ZTC! Arrrrr.
It is amazing how quick many people are to judge how other people are living their life… And few people understand the challenges of living full-time on a sailboat.
We are often sans clothes inside the sailboat. Rarely outside, because it isn’t appropriate.
Rob
It helps to have a pair of shorts (or shorts and a top for the ladies) ready when someone comes banging on the hull of your boat.
Naked and Power tools, have to ask, was he sanding or sawing,, Wait, either way, just sounds like and accident waiting to happen.. Enjoy reading your stories everyday!!! Cheers
I’m guessing sanding but I didn’t care to stare. 🙂
Had he been grinding metal, or welding, I think he might have learned rather quickly that nudity is not the best option.
No kidding!
We, too, saw a naked sander in the San Blas over summer . . . youch!
Ouch is right.
Love your site…thanks…
You’re welcome!
Some folks don’t get it.
Freedom is a gift that society gives to one person based on the assumption that the person have the required level responsibility to use it. . .
Ricardo
I think some people fail to take into account the cultural differences when they travel from place to place.
Yep. So true. I’m no prude – but I can’t believe how many tourists wear bikinis or shorts without shirts in communities where it’s not appropriate. Jeesh, look around, willya? If everyone else is wearing clothes in THE AIRPORT, the grocery store, etc follow suit.
I find it interesting that 90% of the local guys wear T-shirts at the beach, at least in Dominica where we recently stayed for a bit.
Mike,
We all got a great laugh at this post. I read it out loud to the family. It mirrors our experiences. Jackie wants to ask a question, were the guys you saw cruisers or charterers? We seemed to see more naked charterers than cruisers.
Eric
These guys are cruisers, definitely cruisers. In fact, our friends said that they saw the same guy(s) on that boat in the same spot the last time they were through here.
I shudder to think about possible rope burn accidents
A bikini or a pair of shorts is unlikely to save you in that regard. Just keep your privates away from the sheets and winches!
I recommend hiking if they suddenly need to go up the mast 😉
🙂
You Posters are absolutely right……if we were ‘ meant to be naked’ we probably would have been born that way………….Woooo…….Did that come out Right?
Good logic. 🙂
Hopefully he was naked and not “up to something!”
PS. Thank you for providing the sanity…
Sanity. 🙂
We just gat back from a wonderful month on the boat in Baja. We were anchored next to a Moorings charter that had a couple onboard that decided that clothing was optional in Mexico. Problem was there was another boat anchored there that had two preteens onboard. Kids were skiing in the bay with the dinghy. At five the next morning we were woken to a loud hail from a nearby boat trying to alert the Moorings boat that they were dragging anchor across the bay.
Maybe being naked can cause your boat to drag? 😉
Amusing! It is not a problem however in cold wet windy Britain!
Mike
hehe… I can imagine.
If more people in the US travelled outside the US, they would be less judgmental. I love the live and let live attitude in the islands and abroad.. Your blog is fantastic, have a great time!
I think you’re right, Linda. Thanks.
I have to pose the obvious conundrum: What if those three guys (or even the newly arrived skipper) were all super-hot females? Hmmm. I bet today’s blog would’ve been about knots or something…
😀
The world will never know.
Having had a few spots of skin removed from my back, which stung enough… no thank you.
And all things considered, I get enough scrapes on-deck as it is. Down below….
If you were sailing in the tropics you might reconsider.
You are right. I guess I’d buy sunscreen in a bucket.
Perhaps. 🙂
Since your in Martinique I think it would be obvious there would be nudity. Do as the locals do?
Well, that is assuming a lot. Nudity is not OK on beaches here although topless is.
Ah yes, “The Naked Europeans”. I remember that slice of cruising well. We traveled throughout most of Cuba with “Naked Fritz”, this really old guy who had climbed most of the tallest mountains in the world and crossed the Atlantic solo several times and just didn’t care when we sweetly suggested that he may want to put clothes on when he checks into Florida after Cuba. He was hilarious!
“Hello Officer. No, I have nothing to declare.”
Always speak your mind and let others know how you feel. People will and should always display or show how they feel and not hold back. Why should ZTC or any one else for that matter hold back or bite their tongue on any subject. Cruisers or People that want Freedom to do this should respect peoples Freedom of Speech and [Space]!!!! Wow since I been reading your blogs over the years it has went from 1 comment to +30 people are really keying off of this blog now.
We definitely do have a lot of people participating in these discussions and for that I am very grateful! I try hard not to discount others opinions simply because they differ from my own.
Some years ago we made an episode of Distant Shores on our first Mediterranean experience with the nude-cruisers… and coincidentally just put it online on Vimeo with Bob Bitchin’s Cruising Outpost…
http://vimeo.com/distantshorestv/cruisingoutpost