Thread: Feedback After Your vacation

My wife and I are very happy to be going to CSS on 2nd November. We are season A.I. goers and really love the reviews of the Couples resorts in Jamaica. Any of the resorts would have been fine but we chose CSS for its romantic setting and enclosed beaches. We are also looking forward to the AN beach as we have had little chance to experience this in Europe, the far east or other areas of the Carribean. My wife is a beautiful, slim, 40+ year old and I am the complete opposite! However, I agree with many that the shape of those who shop at Walmart is the best estimate of the shapes of people that go AN.

I read the new threads on this website almost every day and in particular the AN section, partly to see what the current subjects are as well as catching up on up-to-date news. What surprises me is the number of threads on the AN section which start with worries and concerns about doing the 'nekkid' thing and which then, after many people have taken their time to try to allay the concerns, fade away into nothingness. Original posters never seem to come back to the website and let us know how their first AN experiences were. Was it everything that the posters had talked about? Did they overcome their nerves and now would never look back to the 'fabric' side? Was it all too much and you didn't do the AN thing and if so, what was it that caused that angst?

To all those who started a thread about their first AN experience and their worries about it (recently) at any of the Couples resorts, let us know how it was for you. There is little point in these threads without feedback. In fact, the feedback from those who had worries before they went will, hopefully, be of the most benefit to those with similar concerns. It is all very well for seasoned Au Naturelle'ers to respond with confidence but those whose worries have been flushed away with their first experience must, surely, be the best advert for the AN thang?

I never really gave that aspect much thought, but my wife and I studied the message board thoroughly for three months to know what to expect before our trip this last February. We were determined to give SSB at CSS a try and agreed that either of us could end the excursion at any point it was uncomfortable...as had been suggested on this board.

We arrived on a Friday and we had talked about waiting a couple of days before heading to SSB. Well, after our orientation all of the chairs were taken on the main beach so we first went to explore around the mineral pool and we enjoyed that for an hour or so. It was so early we decided what the heck, lets go see if it is less crowded at SSB.

When we got to SSB there were two empty loungers...right at the pool. Ok, that was not our plan. We had this worked out so we could tip-toe in unnoticed, slide to the edge of everything and lay in the sun and never see another soul. God has a great sense of humor, and luckily so do we, and we really wanted a lounger, so off came the suits. I will pause here to say that sunglasses give you the illusion that you are somehow less visible...as does a hat.

The sun was awesome as was the pool. We did not join in the socializing next to the pool bar since we were on the opposite end, but we did visit with a few other couples. As the minutes turned into hours we were more and more comfortbale and confident and neither of us ever called "time". We returned several times during our stay, and enjoyed the other beach as well. We intend to spend a good portion of our trip in January at SSB and we will take the day trip to CTI to check out the island.

I will honestly say neither of us was ever completely comfortable going for drinks or food or to the bathroom, but you have to do it! We preferred to corner of the beach to the pool, even though we had a good experience at the pool. There were absolutely zero problems with the people at the pool, everything you read on here about the attitudes and friendliness of the folks at SSB were certainly true in our experience.

To answer some of the questions I regularly see on here, based on our week in February...
....100% groomed to some degree
....60-40 fit to not as fit
....80% 40 and over
....there were a few there without spouses but no issue
....zero inappropriate comments or conduct witnessed
....a few gawkers from adjacent property, but no issue
....did see one fella that was clearly happy to be there, despite reading that it just doesn't happen, no worries though
....only got crowded when the party patrol from CTI arrived, but they seemed to have a very good time and livened it up for a day...so we will return the favor next trip

I hope this helps some. We were apprehensive, but hey, it was on the bucket list and we only have so many vacations without the four young kiddos along so we did it, we loved it, we will do it again in January 2011.

What an excellent response M&M, that is just what I was talking about! If anyone read your post they would have no doubt that your initial worries were (mostly) allayed but even so, there were still some minor reservations.

Jenny and I are looking forward to the AN thing but may not want to party around the bar, much like you. This holiday is for us to relax and enjoy ourselves with each other and if some lovely people cross our paths (naked or not) then that'll be a bonus. If not, we are still going to be with our favourite person in the world. How good is that?!

We had our first AN experience on SSB in August. We didn't post a question thread before going, but we read nearly all the threads here. Without this forum we would NEVER have tried it, but even with the reassurance we were a bit nervous.

We arrived at CSS in the late afternoon on our first day, got unpacked, tried the textile pool, and had dinner. Then, that night, we decided to head down to SSB after dark just to see what its like. It was empty, so we got to try out the pool/hot tub in private. I think that helped a lot.

The next morning we headed over right after breakfast (the forum advice is do it early in your trip or you'll regret it so we did). The plan was, if we felt uncomfortable, we would leave. We sat on lounge chairs on the beach and it was fantastic. Then we got "brave" and headed out in the ocean.

Later we got even braver and went to the pool bar for a drink. We ended up chatting with a few people as we waited - our poor beach lounge chairs spent the rest of the day alone.....

From our experience on both sides of the resort (at least the week we were there) the social atmosphere at SSB was more laid back, friendly, and non-judgmental (certainly not awkward or sexual). We spent almost all of our time there. We liked CSS but we loved SSB. That is what will make us Couples repeaters. We plan to go back next summer and book beach front rooms to be as close to SSB as possible.

But, a word of warning, you may develop a strong aversion to the feeling of wet swimming suits .

PS - We did a CTI day trip with some of our new friends from SSB. It was a lot of fun.

Great thread idea!

My girlfriend and I are going to be at CSS from Oct 30 - Nov 6, and we are definitely going to check out SSB. This will be something new for us and I am really looking forward to it!

My husband and I were at CTI 9/11/10 to 9/18/10. This was our first trip to Jamaica, and our first AN experience. I had spent months on the message board reading everything possible about AN. I finally decided, we might as well try it, and if after 30 minutes or so we didn't like it, then we would leave. My husband was a LOT more apprehensive. We went over to the island on our first full day, made our way all the way to the right, got our chairs, took it off, and layed there. The sun felt amazing on my skin. I then started to get really thirsty, and neither one of us wanted to go to the bar alone. SO, we both decided to walk over to the pool, quickly slip in un-noticed, and order a drink. Well, we were noticed, and everyone was super friendly. We met a lot of great people, and had a lot of great laughs. I will say I never left the pool that day as I was still too uncomfortable to walk around. The first day was a little wierd, having never socialized in the nude before! LOL! But, we were hooked. We went out the next day again right after breakfast, and this time there was absolutely no uneasiness. We found loungers by the pool, and stayed until they made us leave for the night!!! We were there every single day of our trip! There is absolutely nothing like sunbathing nude, and once you have experienced it, swimsuits just feel hot and sticky! LOL!
I think a lot of people have the wrong impression of the AN beaches/island, just as I did, thinking it is something sexual. There really is nothing sexual about it. I never once felt like I was being looked at, and there was never anything inappropriate going on. The only way to explain it is to say "Once you go, you KNOW"!!! And that is the honest truth!
My husband feels the same, and we can't wait to book our next trip!! Already arranging childcare with grandma for next fall!!!

Originally Posted by Nick&Nora

...

....there were a few there without spouses but no issue
....zero inappropriate comments or conduct witnessed
....a few gawkers from adjacent property, but no issue
....did see one fella that was clearly happy to be there, despite reading that it just doesn't happen, no worries though

...

Great commentary Thanks!!! We tried the AN at CN on about the third day of our first visit. Never went back to the textile side. Everything is as everyone reports. Repectful, relaxing and enjoyable.

Just curious did you happen to notice if the one fella that was "clearly happy to be there" was in the group of "...a few there without spouses..."

ENJOY!!!

Originally Posted by Roclin

Great commentary Thanks!!! We tried the AN at CN on about the third day of our first visit. Never went back to the textile side. Everything is as everyone reports. Repectful, relaxing and enjoyable.

Just curious did you happen to notice if the one fella that was "clearly happy to be there" was in the group of "...a few there without spouses..."

ENJOY!!!

I suppose it would be good to clear that up.

Those that would come without spouses, and there were only two or three, would find two loungers on the beach area and often would be joined at some point by their spouse, and we saw this with both men and women. Technically, my understanding is you are not supposed to go alone, but when others there have seen you with a spouse before and you have two loungers, you are probably ok since you will be joined at some point.

As far as happy fella...he was with his spouse. Maybe he just woke up from a nap on his lounger. Hey, those things can happen and nobody seemed offended. I wouldn't have noticed had he not been walking to the bar from the beach.

We were at CSS toward the end of August and really enjoyed SSB. We are both in our mid-20s and fit. We had decided ahead of time that we both really wanted to try the AN beach over at SSB. My girl surprised me when we got over there because I assumed that we would do what many people on these forums have suggested for the newbies - Find a spot on the beach away from people, disrobe and sit there for a bit to get used to it. Instead we disrobe and she immediately goes running out in front of the entire beach to feel the water in the ocean.

There were no worries, no problems. After playing in the ocean a bit, we decided to check out the pool which was the best idea. The pool at SSB is amazing. One side (without the swim up bar) is very shallow if you just want to lie down in it and the side with the bar is significantly deeper (a bit above waist high-ish).

Socializing at SSB is very dependent on the people there and was very different each of the 3 days we spent there. Our first day had a lot of people gathered at the pool and almost no one on the beach. Most of us were chatting together and having a good time. But then the next day, all of the beach loungers were taken and people were keeping to themselves with very few people at the pool.

The hot tub at SSB is impressive... but with how hot is was during the day, I can't imagine actually using it. We did try and return one evening when it was dark and cooler to try out the hot tub, but we discovered another couple there by the pool that we didn't want to *ahem* interrupt.

Overall, we really enjoyed SSB and have definitely included AN or Clothing Optional as a must for our future vacations.

Our first experience was actually at another resort that had a "Clothing Optional" section on their private island. That worked great at first as my spouse did not feel comfortable with taking off the suit bottom. On the first several days, that was comfortable as there were a number of other folks that took advantage of clothing optional. However there were a few days that we were the only one taking advantage of clothing optional and that felt very uncomfortable. Then when we went to Couples (CN), she was a little reserved about AN, but was willing to try. We actually felt strongly that it should be "Clothing Optional" in order to allow people a choice on what was comfortable for them. But having experienced the reality, we strongly now prefer AN -- everyone is equal -- you don't have people there to quark.

We are looking forward to our first visit to CSS in about 50 days and can't wait to experience SSB -- and will be there every day except for the day we visit CTI/Island.

We didn't do any posting prior to going to Couples. But we did read reviews on TripAdvisor. I hate to get too caught up in treating every review as gospel. However, trends obviously do emerge after a little reading.

We were looking last year at Mexico and other places. But we ended up booking CN for our vacation mainly because we had a hankering for jerk chicken and curried goat. The cuisine of Jamaica has always been a favorite of ours.

A week or so before the trip - I think it was in the heat of passion one night that we promised each other that we'd try the AN beach. (We say the darnedest things under the sheets sometimes, don't we?) So, anticipation of the cuisine was now joined by anticipation of another unique experience.

Anyway, we enjoyed the first three days on the textile side. No hurries or worries. CN is beautiful no matter where you hang out.

On the forth day we made good on our promise and ventured onto the AN side. It was great!

(I'm not sure what Johnniem means by the comparison between Walmart shoppers and the AN crowd. I generally avoid Walmart. And the AN crowd at Couples seemed much more attractive and refined than the Walmart stereotype Johnniem likely intends.)

I know everyone says the AN beach is non-sexual. And that is true for the most part. Obviously everyone behaves with respect and with common sense. But we found that every day was like having 8 hours of foreplay even though we hardly laid a finger on each other. At night, we never made it all the way through the resort's evening entertainment without having to run back to our room to enjoy our own entertainment involving some form of naked reggae.

That was last winter.

We went to Mexico this summer with our children and some extended family. Everything was very nice. The kids had a blast. We had to behave ourselves of course. But we noticed that bathing suits really are an uncomfortable nuisance. Who's the crackpot that invented those things anyway?

So it's back to Jamaica this April to CSS for more fun on the AN side.

Can hardly wait!

All best,
dsm221b

dsm, thanks for the post and I was so glad to hear that the AN experience was as enjoyable as we expect it to be. Apropos the Walmart comment, I must admit that it is a description made many times on other threads on this site, by your fellow countrymen (and women). We don't have Walmart here in UK but the analogy seemed a good one to me as it does, kind of, describe well the range of shapes and sizes one might find on an Au Naturelle beach, wherever in the world you may be.

Johnniem, thank you for your reply. Your thoughts are understood. I wish you all the best on your November vacation.

The other readers on this thread will no doubt be eager to read your report upon returning.

Regards,
dsm221b

Hi, my husband and I enjoyed our first Jamaican holiday last March at Couples Sans Souci. It was the first time at an au natural beach as well. I was very afraid to go at first as I am over weight and thought everyone would stare. I made my husband a deal that he had to bring me drinks cause no way was I going to walk around there. It was very hard that first day to relax, but I knew my husband really wanted to be there. After a while I realized that the au natural experience was not what I had feared. People were very friendly, not there for sexual reasons and there is nothing like the feel of the hot sun on your skin. By the end of the week I even walked in the ocean with my husband and went to the bar for drinks. This was the most romantic, relaxing holiday we have ever had and we hope to return again this March. My only regret is not signing up for the romance rewards till we got home

Originally Posted by Brenton

We had our first AN experience on SSB in August. We didn't post a question thread before going, but we read nearly all the threads here. Without this forum we would NEVER have tried it, but even with the reassurance we were a bit nervous.

We arrived at CSS in the late afternoon on our first day, got unpacked, tried the textile pool, and had dinner. Then, that night, we decided to head down to SSB after dark just to see what its like. It was empty, so we got to try out the pool/hot tub in private. I think that helped a lot.

The next morning we headed over right after breakfast (the forum advice is do it early in your trip or you'll regret it so we did). The plan was, if we felt uncomfortable, we would leave. We sat on lounge chairs on the beach and it was fantastic. Then we got "brave" and headed out in the ocean.

Later we got even braver and went to the pool bar for a drink. We ended up chatting with a few people as we waited - our poor beach lounge chairs spent the rest of the day alone.....

From our experience on both sides of the resort (at least the week we were there) the social atmosphere at SSB was more laid back, friendly, and non-judgmental (certainly not awkward or sexual). We spent almost all of our time there. We liked CSS but we loved SSB. That is what will make us Couples repeaters. We plan to go back next summer and book beach front rooms to be as close to SSB as possible.

But, a word of warning, you may develop a strong aversion to the feeling of wet swimming suits .

PS - We did a CTI day trip with some of our new friends from SSB. It was a lot of fun.

Hey Brenton, I see you two are as hooked as we are. Hopefully you two make it back between 8/6 & 8/13/2011 as we are already booked. Last August was a great time with a terrific SSB group.
Hope too run into you again at CSS.
Gerard

Originally Posted by Nick&Nora

I suppose it would be good to clear that up.

As far as happy fella...he was with his spouse. Maybe he just woke up from a nap on his lounger. Hey, those things can happen and nobody seemed offended. I wouldn't have noticed had he not been walking to the bar from the beach.

I think this is my biggest fear. I've gone to a few AN hot springs, and the first few minutes are pretty precarious in terms of happiness. After getting settled in for a few minutes, it's usually no problem.

I guess it's good to know that people don't think it's that big of a deal. I'm certainly not there for sex, but I guess it's a little exciting anyhow, at least until it settles in.

I think that I definitely posted back here about my first AN experience last November at CTI.

My now fiance, then girlfriend and I chose CTI, she had been there before (long story)... anyways, she never tried AN when she was there before, in fact she had never skinny dipped even! I knew I had to get that checked off her list, since I grew up with a pool, I'd sneak out at night and skinny dip a lot! Anyways, I read so much on the forums, even made friends with people who would be there when we were. I told her all about the "go right for privacy", "go left for socializing by the swim up bar" stuff for CTI and she was a bit nervous about it but I assured her that they are not judgmental and nobody would bother us if we wanted to be left alone.. I also assured her that I'd go to the bar for drinks and if she really didn't like it, we could leave and not come back.

Well, we arrived mid-day and headed to the normal beach because we had time to kill before our tour thing... so we swam, got sandy, that day, the next day after our morning activities we decided to try the island and within a few minutes on the right hand side, we were as comfortable as two out of shape 30 somethings can be, being naked for the first time in public view.

We had a blast, we met lots of people who we still email and chat with here on the forums, hopefully, we'll be able to meet up with them again soon!

We returned every afternoon to the island even braving the pool one day.. but really we preferred to be next to the ocean with a book and are partner. Maybe next year I'll get my fiance to join me for a swim behind the island, it was so much fun!

Our experience was very similar to that of Nick&Nora, that is an awesome first reply! I would also like to contribute so others can experience it without worrying so much.

I´m always the one that does all the research for all of our trips so and when I booked SR I told my wife in advance that there was a slight chance that we ended up in a resort that had AN facilities. Her first response was "No way, I´m not doing that!" followed by “ I don’t want to be naked all day” and finally “ I don’t have to be naked all day, right?”. I guess the E! channel Wild on didn’t help at this point since she immediately linked Jamaica to one of those H resorts. I assured her that it was nothing like that and little by little she felt more comfortable about it. Before we got there I sent her responses from these forums about how others 1st experiences had been, I also sent her pictures of the resort and she bought into the idea of going AN little by little.

We got to SS on a Monday evening and we spent Tuesday and Wednesday on the regular beach doing absolutely nothing (like you are supposed to) it was until Thursday when we found no lounge chairs available on the main beach that I told her we should check out SSB, she was a little bit hesitant at the beginning but I assured her that everything was going to be alright and that if at any point she felt uncomfortable we would leave. I was serious about it. Since I had done my research, I guided her to the right side of the beach found 2 chairs and started to disrobe, of course the last part was the most difficult but once you do it you will feel liberated! There’s all kinds of feelings about the experience but I never felt anything sexual, it was more liberating. She read a book while I laid in the sun, we could not swim in the ocean since there was a huge red flag right in front of us but we did get to splash our feet. We didn’t go to the pool.

On Friday as we walked the main beach there were no chairs available so we went straight to SSB, we spent most of the day there. During our 2 days I had to get the drinks and the food, she didn’t move much. We didn’t socialize at all since you don’t have to if you don’t want to. We did talk to a few other couples after we left SSB who had also been there, funny thing is the subject never came up.

I will also like to validate the “statistics” above:

100% groomed to some degree
60-40 fit to not as fit
80% 40 and over
zero inappropriate comments or conduct witnessed

I guess that if you want to give AN a try and it´s your 1st time, I would highly recommend SSB! The beach is super private, there’s a “mountain” to the right and a “river” to the left. The only gawkers are those that drive by in a jet-ski or from the resort next door(which I really don’t remember) and they are at least 300 feet away. At SSB you can leave anytime you want to, the resort will bring delicious warm food over to you ( Beef, chicken, fish, vegetables etc, not fast food). There´s a good balance of sun and shade, there’s also a few planned activities like body painting and trivia in case you feel more social and want to participate. You also have a pool and the ocean to enjoy at your desire.

The post experience:
My wife talks more about it than I do (or I wish she did to our friends). I told her about going to Couples TI and hitting the island and she´s cool with it. I look back at it as an awesome experience that I had the chance to do with my wife and will repeat as soon as we can. Honestly you got nothing to lose, give it a try, worst case is you might get addicted to that warm fuzzy feeling above your belly.

Originally Posted by irisbryon

My only regret is not signing up for the romance rewards till we got home

You got nothing to regret, my understanding is that you get the RR benefits from the nights you stayed. You may enjoy those benefits on your next trip.

Originally Posted by gmosback

Hey Brenton, I see you two are as hooked as we are. Hopefully you two make it back between 8/6 & 8/13/2011 as we are already booked. Last August was a great time with a terrific SSB group.
Hope too run into you again at CSS.
Gerard

We are thinking about coming back in early August this summer. It is a great time to visit CSS/SSB . Just have to work out our other plans for the year first.

Hope we see you there!

September 2004, hubby said 'want to try the island?' (it was COR) I thought it was clothing optional, the boat driver enlightened me. We arrived on the dock and went to the 'quiet side', found a spot, got into the proper attire (got undressed), he went to the bar to get drinks, I waited.....and waited. I was hot, thirsty, alone, got up, went to the bar and was promptly introduced to everyone (a little embarrassing but I got over it). We went back to our loungers, gathered up our stuff and went to find a spot near the pool and thus, the action. We have never looked back. We've been to CSS and CN as well. Each resort is different and unique. Of course I'm still self conscious when we first arrive at the AN area, but that feeling is quickly replaced with happiness and contentment.

We were at CSS from Oct 2 to Oct 11, and it was our first AN experience. I had talked my wife into it, and I still wasnt sure she would be up for it once we actually got to SSB. I am 26 and while my body isn't nearly as nice, she is 23 with a fantastic body, and I was more than excited for her to show it off. We went to the secluded beach lounge chairs the first day and eased into it. We saw a couple that we had first arrived at the resort with, and from that day on she was more comfortable with being nude than I was. She had to convince me to go up to the loungers at the pool and we had a great time. Overall a great experience and we can't wait to do it again!

I am so pleased to see some great responses here from so many happy AN'ers. My wife and I did the AN thing for a day whilst in southern spain a few years back but the idea of a two week holiday with the option is a really exciting prospect. We will ease into it so expect us to sidle away 'to the right' (?) as we enter SSB, in order to find our feet (that should'nt take too long!). I expect I shall be waiter for a day or two until we ease into the Jamaican way of life (heasy now!). Just five more sleeps until we take flight from Blighty and arrive in the land of chillin'. Can't wait to make everyone's acquaintance! I will endeavour (british spelling there!) to leave a bit of feedback on our return after 14 glorious days of good food, good sun and hopefully new friends. NO PROBLEM!

My new husband and I just returned from CSA and we had the best time! Everyone was so friendly and our wedding was absolutely perfect. We loved it so much we are booking again next year for our anniversary! Our only complaint was the bees! haha, they were anywhere the drink machines were (understanable) but definitely didnt ruin the trip at all