Maspalomas (Lighthouse Beach), Gran Canaria, Spain

The article below is a retrospective on Maspalomas, the sand dunes beach, located on the southern tip of Gran Canaria, one of the Spain's Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco.  
Beside being probably one of the world's largest clothing-optional beaches (especially if you include the large sand dunes area behind it), it is also a naturally scenic desert-type chain of volcanic islands (none are active now).  It's has an arid climate with little rainfall. The sand accumulates over the centuries from what is blown to the islands from Morroco's eastern shores of the Sahara.   Some of the sand dudes are in huge drifts upwards of 30-50 meters high.
  I (Kelly) have traveled there for each March for the past five years. There are great opportunities for some casual CMNM situations, and there is hardly any place like it as far as wild outdoor and even public sex (mostly between men), but also a lot of hetero couple and partner-swapping fantasies are being lived out for real. 

Atitlan wrote:
        On my first visit to Maspalomas in the Canary Islands,off the African coast, this part of the beach was practically deserted. There was one hotel by the lighthouse but almost nothing else. Further along, past what is now the gay beach and around the corner towards Playa de Ingles, I could put my clothes in my backpack and walk naked for ages without seeing a single soul, as people hid in craters with stone walls to protect themselves from the wind.

      Now the whole 3 miles(?) of beach from the lighthouse to Playa del Ingles is crowded. What it does mean is that there are many hundreds of naked men to be seen on the beach and in the dunes. And there's a busy nightlife too in this all-year-round resort area. After Playa started to become a gay destination in the mid 80s, several clothing-optional gay hotels opened up. Few now offer this facility, the result I imagine of overlooking buildings that went up in the property boom. Here's one I've found that still is clothing optional:

http://www.villasblancas.com/
There may be others. Info from readers and other members or visitors will be most welcome.
atitlan

This retrospective on Maspalomas (and Playa del Ingles), along with a current photograph, was forwarded in a group message ---------- From: atitlan in his own [ymna2] Yahoo group.

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Welcome to Fire Island, boys!

These photos remind me so much of the nude/gay beach at Gandia, Spain (about one hour south of Valencia). I was there recently and saw scenes just like the ones in these pics. It was a long walk (about 1.5 miles at least) from the main beach-side resort at Playa de Gandia north up to spot with nothing - no shops or water or restrooms.


I have actually never been to Fire Island (Long Island, NY) so now I know what I have been missing (or not - as the case may be). Like Gandia's gay beach, I wonder if there was a lot of cruising going on in the dunes up behind and beyond the main beach. While there was some cruising, it seems that many men were reluctant to engage in sex out in the open - although I saw at least a couple of hook-ups. Unfortunately, I couldn't get such luck.

The above amateur photographs were forwarded in a group message ----------
From: atitlan on his [ymna2] Yahoo group and [ymna] google groups.

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Live CMNM: Folsom Street Fair 2009 San Francisco, Pics 91-93

I heard the Pumpkin Parade was canceled on Halloween this year, but the Folsom Street Fair in SF went over big.  I would love to attend, but the timing is never good for me. It's got to be hotter than Southern Decadence (New Orleans) - although there's certainly more street 'fair' like ambiance in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Where else (except for Pride and Mardi Gras Carnival) can men get almost naked and/or actually bare assed or erotically costume-less on public streets of the US?  WNBR is one such event. Anyone know of others? Other countries?     Add a comment to inform the readers (and me).

For anybody who will be in Honolulu for Xmas weekend (Dec 25-28), we'll be putting on the CMNM Festa Events on Dec 25 (Nasty Santa and the Naughty Elves Party - meet up at Hula's Bar (Waikiki Grand Hotel) at 7:00pm, then proceed to a private accommodation for the Clothed Male / Naked Male party.  There are outdoors events (Catamaran Excursion and Nude Hiking), and a No Pants Party on Saturday (and Sunday daytime), and a CMNM Role Play Party on Sunday night.    Visit http://crush3r.com/page/wrmdntwgly to RVSP asap.

These amateur photos were forwarded in  a group message from: atitlan on his [ymna2] folsom fair 2009 91-93
Yahoo group and the [ymna] google group.

The Scenic Boys: Gay Men to Idolize or Idealize

[Revised and slightly updated from the Scenic Boys Facebook Fan Page by Kelly Lewis]


Visit the Scenic Boys (blog) at: http://scenicboys.typepad.com/

They are young, cute, gay and Very Eco-Friendly. Dusty and Garet live in Seattle and started making videos a few years ago (posted on Vimeo) to accompany their delightful and very readable blog, which was recently nominated for one of Lonely Planet's Best Travel Blog Awards. Dusty and Garet describe themselves this way:

[We are] boyfriends, naturalists, adventure seekers and photographers. [The blog tells] where they and friends go on outdoor recreation trips. We're two 28 year old boys from the Pacific Northwest. We've been together for 3 years and live in downtown Seattle with our kitty, Tonka.

I have to add, too, that they are consummate naturists (Well ... let's call them - part-time nudists - if they makes sense.) - willing and eager to get down to nothing but the all-together at the drop of a backpack. Grin and bare it must be their unspoken motto! They almost never miss a chance to get bare-assed naked in the Great Outdoors. Yet, they share their passion for exploring the almost sacred natural beauty of these earthly vistas and talk about it from a very wholesome and pragmatic and..essentially a very modern, enlighted sort of way. There is none of that preachy or fiery rhetoric we often hear from fist-raising, whaler-boat ramming eco-activists. It's just cool, relaxed and sane -- and then the clothes come off - almost a moment of transcendental meditation when Dusty or Gareth sheds the burdens and textiles of normal hectic life and gets into his birthday alone (or sometimes together) peeing down at his own naked reflection in a tranquil hidden pond.

Yes, beside being Earth's Lower Angels, Garet and Dusty are nice on the eyes. Boy o' Boy(s) - how scenic does it get -- because they have some nice bubble butts to bare (excuse my lechery & leering grin!), and smooth tight bods and blond hair galore. That's just the old gizer in me speaking his passions -- so forgive that outburst.

What they do for our edification and entertainment is truly something all of would like to do: get naked in the sunshine. But rarely can most people actually put that wish into practice - except of a few hardy nudists and outdoor naturists (sort of like me too). That's an affinity we definitely share, and with a whole lot of people (gay straight, male / female - around the world) share too.

There's not doubt their fame and fans will spread -- creating a kind of treehugger nudist grassroots in hiking boots movement, the likes of which we can only see in events such as World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR).

That is certainly the reason I accidentally discovered them, stumbling upon their blog and videos online in the first place. I have frequently searched the Web for these and similar interests. Just as so might you have been doing in finding this blog post or Facebook Fan page. But search no longer, my friends and naked outdoor recreationalists, the Scenic Boys are on the trail again for Spring - Summer 2009. The Boys are back -- and in all their glory -- so I cannot wait for what's in store this season. (as written back in April 2009, and revised now at the end of Sept 2009.)

Incidentally, their nakedness is never blatant or simply for its own effect. This is NOT the 'cock-in-your-face' gratuitous poofery that the new Internet Web 2.0 so often shoves in our faces. Although guilty of sometimes doing that too am I , and also certainly a die-hard fan of watching nude and aroused guys, (check my other blogs to find out how much). I really really love what the Scenic Boys stand for, and who they are as real people, Garet and Dusty represent a kind of new breed (or species) of the Gay American Male (couple) - perhaps such great nature-loving gay men have existed for eons ( Walt Whitman comes to mind, et al, and likely for longer in Canada and Europe).

Let me be sure to point out that their online nudity is clandestine, totally natural, supremely classic (classy and artistic), and occurs seemingly spontaneously in the most appropriate and unobtrusive contexts that you almost don't even notice one or more of them are naked! It's these CMNM pastoral images that struck my heart and snatched up my visual attention.

The excursions are immersed among some truly glorious natural landscapes which balance - even overshadow the masculine physical beauty of their bare subjects - mostly each other, but occasionally a naked friend or two, who is accompanying them. The nudity isn't even highlighted in either their blogs or videos - so they make it a non-issue. The two scenic lover boys habitually go to places where the spatial perspective, remote or interesting geography, varied terrain, splendid timing, and often gorgeous weather invite all human visitors, who would be blessed to pass among such pristine natural splendor, who could not resist the unbridled desire to remove all clothing and be exposed to the audacious beauty of Mother Earth and Father Sky. It is going natural (au naturel) in the ultimate sense of the word: naturist, naturalist, and Earth-protecting, and respecting eco-nudist, seen in his finest form and his own element.

It helps (terrifically - LOL) that the Scenic Boys are both rather nice looking or 'scenic' themselves. No slouchy couch potatoes with too much Seattle Java under their belts here, and Ugly Fuzzy and Dust_monkee - in their alternate persona on Flickr - are very easy on the old eye-balls, not to put too crass of a spin on admiring their earthly delights and heavenly treasured trails and tails.

Dusty and Garet (known to me as Gareath -(as if from an ancient Gaelic myth), leaving modesty or the lack of it aside for a moment, don't mind sharing their love for each other, and the simple joys of friendship and life's little pleasures, or their equally brilliant admiration for the bountiful riches that Mother Nature offers to all who will partake of it through hiking, camping, boating trips not very far from home. They lead us on short weekend visit - how to just enjoy living and breathing deeply outdoors - in mainly the North West of the US.

Don't get me wrong or get me righteous.... these are not porn stars or blatant exhibitionists... not that I have anything against those two categories of men either. But they are just two very sweet, emotionally mature (although they might not admit it), really-down-to-earth, thoughtful and sexy guy-next-door dudes that you can't help but fall in love with (OK.. I admit it). I am smitten - it's true. But I will love getting over that because I know they have a greater love that supercedes any other desire or attraction: The Love of Mother Earth.

What more could modern, queer or straight, Republican or Democrat America ask for? These are the true American idols -- emblem boys for a Post-Modern Greening of American Consciousness, and shining very human examples for today's Obama-generation which includes 8 - 88 year-olds, crossing all former social lines of separation: age, race, gender, sexuality, and politics.) They don't comment much on religion - so I won't either.

If you haven't met them or 'scene' the down-home, earthy, yet well-made, videos posted on the Scenic Boys blog, then you don't know what you've been missing. Take a gander and you'll be back regularly for more outdoor adventures with the two handsome trekkers and the consort of friends in local and faraway places.

Their photographic and videographic work is very nice done. You can get a close-up view at their Scenic Boys blog. More importantly, it depicts their wonderful pastoral romps through America's and (a few) other nation's natural vistas , bathing in warm hot spring pools or relaxing at a pitched tent camping spot in the rugged terrains on their many weekend and vacation journeys around state and national parks. Remarkably they often do in te bare naked 'state' as well in which they arrived the our beloved Earth.

I cannot wait for them to visit Hawaii. Hopefully it will be at a time when a few of their fans (and friends) can join them. I'm going to suggest some ideas for a Big Island Naked Hiking Adventure, which will originate from Kalani Honau Oceanside Resort, a gay-friendly retreat spot on the shores of the Puna Coast. For further info, visit Kalani.com on the web.

Garet and Dusty are the Scenic Boys; they show us all - the good, the great, the naked male and the woodland creatures ( flora and fauna, too - animals with fur or feathered birds among the clothed and unclothed humans frolicking in mountain springs or strolling grassy knolls). They do so with a grace and flair that perhaps only a couple of strongly purposed, good-natured gay men who love each other almost as much they do our sacred but scarred and endangered Mother Planet, Earth.

Written by Kelly Lewis (also a Scenic Boys Fan page member)

Garet and Dusty : the Scenic Boys