This was deeply informative per usual. 😊 Appreciate it!
Could active members of the nudist community over in Hawaii start getting engaged and involved in community volunteer efforts in some of the state parks or with organizations who have a camaraderie with the DLNR in order to start growing relationships and personalizing connections more deeply in their community as a strategy to improve their social standing and also because it may be very rewarding to do so? Just some ideas percolating from reading these sorts of stories recently. Thanks for all the informational shares. 🥰
Article with complete details so that one can be there to understand the issue. Lovely beach pics. The beach is scenic & awesome. It's very unfortunate that the authorities are not allowing the naturists to explore the naked beach activities. If it happens in US, then what can be said about other parts of the world, except Europe, UK.
This struggle will remain there forever between naturists & the local laws driven by rigid society & religion.
Thank you for this article. I was at Little Beach in January 2022 visiting for a short vacation from California. I believe I met and chatted to some of the local folks you mentioned. They were all very friendly, as you would expect: they are naturists after all.
I was absolutely blown away by the sheer beauty of the beach. It has got to be one of the top nude beach in the world. Swimming nude in the comfortably cool ocean water catching the waves and looking for Green Turtles and other wildlife was just incredible.
This beach must attract millions of dollars of local business as many people come to Maui specifically with the intention of enjoying Little Beach. I know that's why I chose Maui to celebrate my retirement.
One thing that was disappointing was that the beach was fairly inaccessible for folks with disabilities: my wife had a bad hip at the time and really struggled to get up and over the rocky outcrop. There are no handrails, it has loose rock all the way up (it is not paved), and it is very steep. My wife almost didn't make it but with a lot of patience and assistance from me and others she did get over and was very glad to have succeeeded. I wondered why, as it is a state park, the authorities hadn't made it at least somewhat ADA accessible as one day someone will fall and injure themselves and there could be legal consequences for the Park Authority.
When I mentioned this to the locals on Little Beach and on their Facebook group, they said they preferred the beach to be fairly inaccessible so as to deter textiles from venturing over. This to me seemed to me to be completely wrong-headed but then I realized that this attitude illustrated the extent to which there is generally shame and prudishness around simple nudity in Hawaii. In an ideal world, say if this beach were in Spain or France, there would be a sign at the base saying that nude people may be encountered, and there would be steps with a handrail to get over. Alas, this is America, and the country still needs to get over its puritanical past.
Full disclosure: If you got this post in your inbox last night, it was honestly an accident! It was planned for Monday morning. I was still editing it and accidentally published it instead of saving and backing out. It was surprisingly only the first time that has happened in my time editing this newsletter. I try to be careful. Alas, it's live. My apologies for any confusion caused.
I have continued making minor copyedits, so the online version is the most recent, not the one in your inbox. I encourage you to read the full article.
Little Beach is one of my favorite places on the planet. I was there in 2006 and 2009 before any of this ridiculousness started. An issue that surprises me here, given the decades of nude use, is that the harassment by officials was initiated toward nudists and not toward the Sunday sunset activities. We were there and a whole different group shows up. It was awkward and felt like an invasion as the nude folks were pushed out and the revelers moved in. We were trying to remain in the reverie of the day and hoped to keep enjoying ourselves, but being repeatedly asked if we wanted to buy drugs made us think we should probably get out of there. It left a bad taste and made us wonder if there would be trouble there.
Still, for nude use, you really have to want to be there to even get to the beach. It’s not an easy walk. So the parks department is intentionally harassing folks who otherwise are well out of sight unless you purposely make an effort to see them.
Exercise your fifth amendment rights ANY time a police officer questions you. Do not explain, do not discuss, do not argue. "I have nothing to say. You are harassing me." And that is the end of the discussion. If they push it, demand a lawyer.
Agree with Kane! Very well written and explained in amazing detail. Awesome job Evan. I also signed the petition and hope the numbers explode due to your wonderful post. Keep up the great Work!!
Big Beach is clothed, bigger, and completely separate from Little Beach. It’s what is directly accessed from the parking area. If folks want a clothed beach, they don’t have to scale a craggy lava flow with all their stuff like the Little Beach goers do. So if they don’t want to see nudity they literally have to do nothing out of the norm.
There were some gawkers but overall when I was there it was a peaceful coexistence where we didn’t have to be turned off by their insistence on covering in cloth while swimming and they didn’t have to see us unless they really really tried to.
This was deeply informative per usual. 😊 Appreciate it!
Could active members of the nudist community over in Hawaii start getting engaged and involved in community volunteer efforts in some of the state parks or with organizations who have a camaraderie with the DLNR in order to start growing relationships and personalizing connections more deeply in their community as a strategy to improve their social standing and also because it may be very rewarding to do so? Just some ideas percolating from reading these sorts of stories recently. Thanks for all the informational shares. 🥰
Article with complete details so that one can be there to understand the issue. Lovely beach pics. The beach is scenic & awesome. It's very unfortunate that the authorities are not allowing the naturists to explore the naked beach activities. If it happens in US, then what can be said about other parts of the world, except Europe, UK.
This struggle will remain there forever between naturists & the local laws driven by rigid society & religion.
Thank you for this article. I was at Little Beach in January 2022 visiting for a short vacation from California. I believe I met and chatted to some of the local folks you mentioned. They were all very friendly, as you would expect: they are naturists after all.
I was absolutely blown away by the sheer beauty of the beach. It has got to be one of the top nude beach in the world. Swimming nude in the comfortably cool ocean water catching the waves and looking for Green Turtles and other wildlife was just incredible.
This beach must attract millions of dollars of local business as many people come to Maui specifically with the intention of enjoying Little Beach. I know that's why I chose Maui to celebrate my retirement.
One thing that was disappointing was that the beach was fairly inaccessible for folks with disabilities: my wife had a bad hip at the time and really struggled to get up and over the rocky outcrop. There are no handrails, it has loose rock all the way up (it is not paved), and it is very steep. My wife almost didn't make it but with a lot of patience and assistance from me and others she did get over and was very glad to have succeeeded. I wondered why, as it is a state park, the authorities hadn't made it at least somewhat ADA accessible as one day someone will fall and injure themselves and there could be legal consequences for the Park Authority.
When I mentioned this to the locals on Little Beach and on their Facebook group, they said they preferred the beach to be fairly inaccessible so as to deter textiles from venturing over. This to me seemed to me to be completely wrong-headed but then I realized that this attitude illustrated the extent to which there is generally shame and prudishness around simple nudity in Hawaii. In an ideal world, say if this beach were in Spain or France, there would be a sign at the base saying that nude people may be encountered, and there would be steps with a handrail to get over. Alas, this is America, and the country still needs to get over its puritanical past.
Full disclosure: If you got this post in your inbox last night, it was honestly an accident! It was planned for Monday morning. I was still editing it and accidentally published it instead of saving and backing out. It was surprisingly only the first time that has happened in my time editing this newsletter. I try to be careful. Alas, it's live. My apologies for any confusion caused.
I have continued making minor copyedits, so the online version is the most recent, not the one in your inbox. I encourage you to read the full article.
Little Beach is one of my favorite places on the planet. I was there in 2006 and 2009 before any of this ridiculousness started. An issue that surprises me here, given the decades of nude use, is that the harassment by officials was initiated toward nudists and not toward the Sunday sunset activities. We were there and a whole different group shows up. It was awkward and felt like an invasion as the nude folks were pushed out and the revelers moved in. We were trying to remain in the reverie of the day and hoped to keep enjoying ourselves, but being repeatedly asked if we wanted to buy drugs made us think we should probably get out of there. It left a bad taste and made us wonder if there would be trouble there.
Still, for nude use, you really have to want to be there to even get to the beach. It’s not an easy walk. So the parks department is intentionally harassing folks who otherwise are well out of sight unless you purposely make an effort to see them.
Exercise your fifth amendment rights ANY time a police officer questions you. Do not explain, do not discuss, do not argue. "I have nothing to say. You are harassing me." And that is the end of the discussion. If they push it, demand a lawyer.
Signed the petition and signed up to be a Friend. Thanks for this detailed information and update on Little Beach- a true paradise on Earth
Agree with Kane! Very well written and explained in amazing detail. Awesome job Evan. I also signed the petition and hope the numbers explode due to your wonderful post. Keep up the great Work!!
🙏 thank you
Big Beach is clothed, bigger, and completely separate from Little Beach. It’s what is directly accessed from the parking area. If folks want a clothed beach, they don’t have to scale a craggy lava flow with all their stuff like the Little Beach goers do. So if they don’t want to see nudity they literally have to do nothing out of the norm.
There were some gawkers but overall when I was there it was a peaceful coexistence where we didn’t have to be turned off by their insistence on covering in cloth while swimming and they didn’t have to see us unless they really really tried to.