The Story behind the Picture

During our more than 4 years of continuous traveling, we've already visited Zipolite in Mexico 3 times. The first time in the late spring of 2018, the next time in the very beginning of 2020, and the last time only a couple of months later when we got stuck in Mexico during the first wave of the COVID pandemic. This picture was taken during our second visit.

If you know Zipolite, the sight of a naked person on a boat might seem a bit curious. Zipolite is known for its splendid nude beach and for being home to about ten clothing optional resorts, but on the boat trips on the ocean that take people snorkelling and whale watching you are normally not allowed to get naked. Normally, except for 4 days in the year. During the Zipolite Nudist Festival.

This festival is one of the largest nudist gatherings in the world. Other than an important item on our bucket list, this was also the chance for us to meet up with some friends who were coming over from around the world. After spending a day or two on the beach, drinking margaritas, playing volleyball and doing bodypainting, we found a guy who was willing to take us on a nude boat trip if we would rent the whole boat. Basically, this meant that we needed to gather a group of about 15 to 20 naturists.

During our other visits to Zipolite, this would have been difficult and we would have needed to ask around to strangers whether they wanted to join us. But this time we already had a group of so many people. So a number of pesos changed owner, and we boarded the boat. Less than 15 minutes later, we spotted our first whale. Several others would follow, as well as dolphins and turtles. It was an epic journey and a once in a lifetime experience to do in the nude.

By the way, you may also recognise this familiar face that joined our boat trip:

And here you can see one of the whales. It's quite distant, just look towards the direction of the other cameras: