50th Anniversary Trip; Forgotten Tidbits, 19 Dec
I awoke at 5 this morning, thinking of stuff that I should have included in previous posts. They started as long emails to friends and family so some basic background info is missing on the off chance that someone who doesn't know us might read this blog.. And some interesting info has come along by talking to to folks down here so might as well spread some rumors.
Firstly a couple of words on who we are. Chuck and Joni Goodwin, soon to be married 50 years! We married right after the Christmas 1969 snowstorm that shut down the NY Thruway and kept half our wedding guests, bridesmaids, etc away from the wedding in central NJ. I'll skip most of non-relevant life stories after that other than to say that I was a semiconductor engineer and Joni a math teacher, we raised 2 great daughters who in turn are raising a combined total of 6 incredible grandkids. We lived in SE PA most of our lives, and in 2016 we moved to the Ann Arbor, MI area into a small home on a lake to be near family. We love RVing, now own a 20 ft motor-home that we take everywhere including down to our winter home near Kissimmee, FL. We live half the year in a fifth wheel trailer down there in the RV section of the Cypress Cove Resort
Yep, we are nudists or naturists or crazy nekkid people or just ordinary folks who are happier barer, depending on your perspective. At least I am, Joni just goes along for the ride if you ask her. But we both really enjoy the benefits of freedom, healthy open air living and the friendliness and comradarie that are part of this way of life. No it ain't swinging, at least for us and most nudists. We just love not wearing clothes! Anyway, I for one, can't stand to wear a bathing suit and only do that weird practice under protest or with family. I mean come on, we don't wear a suit in the shower so why wear one to go swimming? We've spent many a summer's day at a clothing optional beach in NJ, Gunnison Beach on Sandy Hook and met and hung out with a whole bunch of new friends that we met there. That started more or less on my 50th birthday, although we visited Gunnison a few times before and had also "wet our naturist whistles" in places like Palm Springs (Desert Sun Resort), St. Tropez France, Blacks Beach in San Diego and and an assortment of nudist clubs. including Cypress Cove in Florida, our absolute favorite! Right now in the summer we aren't far from Turtle Lake and Whispering Oaks in MI so we visit there a few times each year.
For anyone curious about the crazy nekkid people like us, here is a good place to start: Link
This is a site written by a young Dutch couple who have their act together about naturism and who are traveling the world researching it.
We discovered Club Orient in French St. Martin in the mid-90s just in time for the first major hurricane, Luis, that tore up the place. Luckily it was rebuilt better that ever and we were lucky enough to be able to go there almost every year thereafter. Sometimes just for a week. Sometimes longer and we stayed in nearby rental homes with friends and family. We stopped going (dumb) in 2012. In 2017 that bitch Irma totally destroyed Club O and most of the other places on the beach as well as decimating most of the French side of the island. This year, 2019, we decided to go back for a 50th anniversary trip, the romantic part. The family part comes later i.e. next week when we meet our family in Turks and Caicos. More on that later.
We did have a couple of minor hiccups leaving Jardin. As we drove away, our brand-new Nissan died! Seems that we ran out of gas 100 fr. from the place! The gauge is a little hard to read. So I walked back and found Lionel who took me to the nearby Comdisco gas station- they were hesitant to sell me a jug of gas as it is not allowed due the strikes, cars burning etc. But Lionel saved the day, talked them into it and we were on our day- after breaking the stupid valve mechanism in the jug spout. Anyone ever able to use those correctly? Then we got checked into Residence Adam and Eve- lovely place by the way- and could not find my wallet. Turns out we left in in our room safe at Jardin. So back we went- only 5 min thankfully.
Finally we got to the beach around 11AM and enjoyed a hot day, less breeze and clear blue sky. The water is so incredibly blue usually but it almost radiated on this day! OK, we are now at Adam and Eve and like it so far, I am typing this by the pool after a short day at the beach- well, short time-wise, maybe 3 hours, but we did manage to score a giant hot dog and 4 drinks at happy hour! Anyone ever had a Nutty Colada? Yum.
While here in SXM we've enjoyed talking to other Orient lovers on the beach. We met one couple who only spent $600 for the week in an apartment in Orient Village. That's like 2 nights at Club Fantastico! They didn't have a car and they walked all the way to the Pinel Island ferry boat, from Orient! They loved Pinel. We had an excellent lunch with them at the Kontiki, as I reported yesterday.
We talked to someone who owns(ed) a studio in Club Orient, asked her if maybe there will be any announcement soon (i.e. reopening plan??), she said that it is still being worked and that her husband was on the phone now with French lawyers in Paris.
We met two couples who just checked into Jardin D'O on Tuesday nght, they got over here by boat after dark- scary much!
All for now, looking forward to 2 more lazy days on the beach and around the pool. Will fill in some more info about Adam and Eve tomorrow.
Firstly a couple of words on who we are. Chuck and Joni Goodwin, soon to be married 50 years! We married right after the Christmas 1969 snowstorm that shut down the NY Thruway and kept half our wedding guests, bridesmaids, etc away from the wedding in central NJ. I'll skip most of non-relevant life stories after that other than to say that I was a semiconductor engineer and Joni a math teacher, we raised 2 great daughters who in turn are raising a combined total of 6 incredible grandkids. We lived in SE PA most of our lives, and in 2016 we moved to the Ann Arbor, MI area into a small home on a lake to be near family. We love RVing, now own a 20 ft motor-home that we take everywhere including down to our winter home near Kissimmee, FL. We live half the year in a fifth wheel trailer down there in the RV section of the Cypress Cove Resort
Yep, we are nudists or naturists or crazy nekkid people or just ordinary folks who are happier barer, depending on your perspective. At least I am, Joni just goes along for the ride if you ask her. But we both really enjoy the benefits of freedom, healthy open air living and the friendliness and comradarie that are part of this way of life. No it ain't swinging, at least for us and most nudists. We just love not wearing clothes! Anyway, I for one, can't stand to wear a bathing suit and only do that weird practice under protest or with family. I mean come on, we don't wear a suit in the shower so why wear one to go swimming? We've spent many a summer's day at a clothing optional beach in NJ, Gunnison Beach on Sandy Hook and met and hung out with a whole bunch of new friends that we met there. That started more or less on my 50th birthday, although we visited Gunnison a few times before and had also "wet our naturist whistles" in places like Palm Springs (Desert Sun Resort), St. Tropez France, Blacks Beach in San Diego and and an assortment of nudist clubs. including Cypress Cove in Florida, our absolute favorite! Right now in the summer we aren't far from Turtle Lake and Whispering Oaks in MI so we visit there a few times each year.
For anyone curious about the crazy nekkid people like us, here is a good place to start: Link
This is a site written by a young Dutch couple who have their act together about naturism and who are traveling the world researching it.
We discovered Club Orient in French St. Martin in the mid-90s just in time for the first major hurricane, Luis, that tore up the place. Luckily it was rebuilt better that ever and we were lucky enough to be able to go there almost every year thereafter. Sometimes just for a week. Sometimes longer and we stayed in nearby rental homes with friends and family. We stopped going (dumb) in 2012. In 2017 that bitch Irma totally destroyed Club O and most of the other places on the beach as well as decimating most of the French side of the island. This year, 2019, we decided to go back for a 50th anniversary trip, the romantic part. The family part comes later i.e. next week when we meet our family in Turks and Caicos. More on that later.
We did have a couple of minor hiccups leaving Jardin. As we drove away, our brand-new Nissan died! Seems that we ran out of gas 100 fr. from the place! The gauge is a little hard to read. So I walked back and found Lionel who took me to the nearby Comdisco gas station- they were hesitant to sell me a jug of gas as it is not allowed due the strikes, cars burning etc. But Lionel saved the day, talked them into it and we were on our day- after breaking the stupid valve mechanism in the jug spout. Anyone ever able to use those correctly? Then we got checked into Residence Adam and Eve- lovely place by the way- and could not find my wallet. Turns out we left in in our room safe at Jardin. So back we went- only 5 min thankfully.
Finally we got to the beach around 11AM and enjoyed a hot day, less breeze and clear blue sky. The water is so incredibly blue usually but it almost radiated on this day! OK, we are now at Adam and Eve and like it so far, I am typing this by the pool after a short day at the beach- well, short time-wise, maybe 3 hours, but we did manage to score a giant hot dog and 4 drinks at happy hour! Anyone ever had a Nutty Colada? Yum.
While here in SXM we've enjoyed talking to other Orient lovers on the beach. We met one couple who only spent $600 for the week in an apartment in Orient Village. That's like 2 nights at Club Fantastico! They didn't have a car and they walked all the way to the Pinel Island ferry boat, from Orient! They loved Pinel. We had an excellent lunch with them at the Kontiki, as I reported yesterday.
We talked to someone who owns(ed) a studio in Club Orient, asked her if maybe there will be any announcement soon (i.e. reopening plan??), she said that it is still being worked and that her husband was on the phone now with French lawyers in Paris.
We met two couples who just checked into Jardin D'O on Tuesday nght, they got over here by boat after dark- scary much!
All for now, looking forward to 2 more lazy days on the beach and around the pool. Will fill in some more info about Adam and Eve tomorrow.
From one naturists to another Bravo on the expose of Naturism. Looking forward to your trip report on Adam & Eve. We're 5 years away from 50 and you are an inspiration to us.
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