When Nancy Tiemann reluctantly took her first nude cruise, she figured she could hide in her cabin and read books if her shipmates turned out to be "a bunch of crazy people."
She ended up enjoying it so much that she and her husband opened a travel agency that has sent 15,000 naked people on cruises and claims a hefty 70 percent repeat customer rate.
While much of the tourism industry has struggled through recession, war and terrorist threats, the nudist niche is taking off. Naked recreation and travel is a $US400 million industry worldwide, up from $US120 million in 1992, according to the American Association for Nude Recreation.
Enthusiasts say social nudity is a rapid equalizer that leads to easy camaraderie.
"You don't know a bank president from a bus driver," said Erich Schuttauf, the AANR's executive director. "People just tend to be more personal; they drop some of their guard down."
The AANR, North America's oldest and largest nudist association, has seen its membership rise by 75 percent in the last decade, to about 50,000. Thirty new nudist or clothing-optional clubs have opened in the United States and Canada in the last two years, the association said.
The high-pressure work world is driving some of that growth, especially among affluent professionals.
"You drop your clothes and you say `I'm on vacation now,' and you get into relaxation mode really fast," said Schuttauf, a lawyer who began visiting a nudist club on weekends to escape the stress of a high-profile firm.
"Maybe Americans are taking a little bit more of a European attitude toward nudity. Accepting yourself is very healthy," said Debra Peterson, marketing manager for Florida's Cypress Cove nudist resort.
At the industry's annual open house, Nude Recreation Week, 260 nudist and clothes-optional clubs in the United States and Canada will open their doors and drop their fees to give first-timers a glimpse from July 7 to 13.
Barbecues, limbo contests and golf matches are planned along with orientation tours. Visitors are coached on rules and etiquette -- carry a towel to sit on, look people in the EYES, wear supportive and protective gear as needed.
"If you're using the barbecue grill then obviously you're going to put something on," Schuttauf said.
Nudist resorts run the gamut from modest camping grounds to luxury villas with posh amenities. At the 121-hectare Cypress Cove resort, guests often spend the day strolling nearby Disney World, then drop their duds for a dip in the pool, a pedicure in the spa or a pick-me-up at Cheeks Bar and Grill.
Some devotees live full-time at nudist communities, but for most it's a weekend and holiday pursuit.
The Buff Divers, with 300 club members worldwide, organize three or four naked scuba holidays a year, traveling to warm-water places like Fiji and the Cayman Islands.
"It's exhilarating," said Dave Felton, who runs the non-profit club. "When all you've got to do is strap on a tank and go down, it's a freedom that most divers never experience."
Tiemann took her first nude voyage after she and her husband had to postpone a boat trip and found the vessel mostly filled by a nudist club on the only week they were free.
"I, at first, was totally opposed, but we both needed to get away," she said. "We found some really nice people, far less pretentious and uptight than the people we met on many of our trips."
She and her husband opened Bare Necessities Tour & Travel in Austin, Texas, courting "the well-to-do naturist traveller."
Thirteen years later, they've sent 15,000 naked people on cruises, chartering vessels from mainstream lines. They chartered a ship earlier this year for a 10-day, 2,000-passenger nude cruise from California to Puerto Vallarta and other Mexican ports.
Most nudist groups embrace the motto "nude is not lewd," battling suspicions that nudity equals sexual licentiousness.
Generally, it's the women who have to be reassured they won't be pawed by strangers or ridiculed if their bodies aren't centerfold-perfect, Tiemann said.
"If mama doesn't go, nobody goes," she said. "So you've got to convince her this is a safe thing."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique