#83 Booooorrrrnnn Freeeeee!
The first time I went skinny dipping was in high-school in my best friend’s pool (sorry Mr. and Mrs. Weldon). It was the middle of the night, the moon was full (no pun intended), and we were too innocent to care about getting caught. I’ve been an avid stripper-dipper ever since! There are few things more freeing than water hugging your every curve, moonlight complementing your skin, and…whatever that magical spell is that skinny dipping has on your soul. I’ve skinny dipped at all different times of day, in two large oceans (Pacific and Atlantic), in rivers, lakes, and springs, in public pools, and just about every friend’s pool (again, sorry to those that were blissfully unaware). Luckily, I’ve never been arrested, but I have been high-beamed by four-wheeler headlights on beach patrol. I think there’s less of a risk getting arrested while skinny dipping, because that’s just an awkward time to approach someone. Perhaps, if I’m ever confronted, I’ll claim the waves knocked my clothes off. No?
There’s apparently a show called, Skinny Dip (http://www.travelandescape.ca/shows/showdetails.aspx?sid=9534), where the host travels the world in search of the best places to skinny dip. Costa Rica happens to be one of the highlighted destinations…for good reasons. Reason number 1 - it’s not illegal to dip in the buff in Costa Rica. On the second day of my family’s Costa Rica vacation, we were able to sneak a skinny dip and got swept away by the long tide. We giggled as we fought our way back to shore, were bumped and jarred by jutting rocks that stayed hidden by the gray water (ouch), and then were suddenly pushed back to the beach by the powerful waves before being carried out to sea again. One thing is for certain - clothes would have been a drowning hazard (reason 50 bazillion for shedding your clothes before diving in). There were a few people that were hundreds of yards down the beach. For all they knew, we were wearing flesh-colored swimsuits. We went swimming with a large group a few days later, but we were too focused on the sand building up in the lining of our swimsuits to really enjoy ourselves. Naked is the way to go!
I feel like I can’t do this post justice without posting a picture of the view around me. Enjoy this vision of tropical heaven…
FYI - Baltimore actually attempted a world record for the largest simultaneous skinny dip in June 2009. Too bad I didn’t know about this in advance; I could’ve knocked out #83 (skinny dip) and #16 (Guinness Book of World Records) in one try. Perhaps this year 
Ok, given my fear of water, I would be freaking out about being swept out to sea, clothes or no. When we were in the Mountains this past summer, I jumped in our little resort’s pool and took off my clothes while in and it was the middle of the day-that was far more “freeing” than any skinny dipping I’ve ever done under the cover of darkness.
Comment by Jessica — January 24, 2010 @ 10:51 pm
I just googled and apparently they tried to set a record here in NC this past summer-why do I always hear about these things AFTER!? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,531978,00.html
Comment by Jessica — January 24, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
Woah. When did you go to Coasta Rica?
Comment by Brianne — January 25, 2010 @ 12:16 am
I love love love this post!
Comment by Miranda — January 26, 2010 @ 2:54 am
Just decided to do the things my heart and conscience tell me and not someone else. I am still admiring the persistance, though, with which you are trying to accomplish those 101 tasks and more.
P.S. Still waiting to count you among my friends in the facebook.
Comment by Manos — January 26, 2010 @ 10:10 am
Jessica, it’s funny you mention fear…I was completely panic-stricken when we were first swept out to sea, but I kept my cool and had one of those - “haha, this is about as much fun as jumping off a cliff without a wing suit” nervous laughs. After the tide spit us back on the beach I was like, “Let’s ride it again!” Probably a pretty dangerous idea since undertows are notoriously strong on that side of Costa Rica, but an experience I’ll never trade. If all else failed, I just would’ve coasted out the undertow until I could swim to one of the surrounding islands and accomplish #2, #4, #5, and #37 until I was rescued
Brianne, we went to Costa Rica in August 2008 and actually accomplished #27 (erupting volcano). If you’re ever looking for trip ideas, I blogged about the entire trip. You should go…and skinny dip while you’re there!
Miranda, I love love love your blog!
Manos, I don’t get on Facebook much at all (not sure if you noticed I haven’t updated my status in…a while). Speaking of waiting, when are you going to start your blog so I can follow all of your endeavors??
Comment by Gina — January 28, 2010 @ 8:07 pm
Gina, my answer on your question is: Probably never, since I (as mentioned above) decided to put the things Mr. Horne suggests aside and follow what my heart and conscious tell me to do instead. Those of the 101 I feel in alignment with, I probably will do them when I feel the timing is right and the rest, if they are meant to occur, they will occur, anyway. But I think forcing things to occur instead of letting them happen naturally is the worst way of achieving them, and I want to press things as less as possible. Besides, many things like getting arrested, revenging, getting kicked out of a pub or intoxicating myself with 26 drinks in a day (Monopoly Pub Board Crawl) don’t sound like putting bonus points in my karma to me, and I want to get bonus points in my karma for two reasons, a) in order to have a clean and calm conscience and to be able to sleep at nights and b) in order to be facililated to get to San Francisco and Ifigenia (and not only).
In any case, I love your sunny attitude. It’s a real joy being around you. Keep up the positive spirit!
Comment by Manos — February 2, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
[…] began with a post from Gina. #83 on the list is to go Skinny Dipping (which I have done) and she recounted her experience of […]
Pingback by Thing to Do #16: Get into the Guinness Book of World Records « 101 Things to Do Before You Die — February 24, 2010 @ 7:38 pm
You have a way with writing, but remember by and large, language is a tool for hiding the truth
Sent from my iPad 4G
Comment by VMAX guy — July 14, 2010 @ 11:58 pm