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LUTZ — About 95 miles southwest of Orlando, Jack McElhinney stares out his back windows, soaking up the view of a sun-kissed, 35-acre lake.
He’s smiling, relaxed and — save for a pair of flip-flops — stark naked.
“I wouldn’t give this up for anyplace in the world,” says the 72-year-old retired real-estate broker. “This is an oasis.”
McElhinney is a happy — and uniformly tan — resident of the nudist capital of the United States. He lives in Pasco County, which, according to folks who track these things, boasts the largest concentration of nudist resorts in the nation.
Six properties are in Pasco, from McElhinney’s beloved Lake Como Family Nudist Resort — a laid-back camplike community with a 60-year history — to the upscale Caliente Resort & Spa, a newcomer that bills itself as the “hottest nudist resort in the country.”
The collection of resorts, and the welcoming nature of most local officials, has earned Pasco an international reputation among those who dare to go bare.
“People come from all over the world to go to Pasco,” said Carolyn Hawkins, public-relations coordinator for the Kissimmee-based American Association of Nude Recreation. “There’s something for everybody over there.”
Including tax money.
No one has an exact figure, but the resorts generate a big share of the $807,000 that Pasco collects each year in tourist taxes. Property owned by just two of the best-known resorts is estimated to have a taxable value of at least $82 million. So county officials embrace their nudist neighbors, at least figuratively. They’ve even reserved a spot on the local tourist-development council for a nudist.
County Commissioner Pat Mulieri has lived in the area since 1978, and during that time, she said, she has heard few complaints about the resorts.
“They’re great for our tax base, and they don’t require a lot of services,” Mulieri said. “Basically, it’s been live and let live.”
Several of the resorts sit within six or seven miles of one another along U.S. Highway 41 in south Pasco County.
‘Being natural’
One of those, Lake Como, is among the oldest nudist resorts in the country. The 200-acre property features a pool, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, a 35-acre lake and what McElhinney calls “the finest Jacuzzi I’ve ever been in.”
“It’s like getting a $60 massage,” he said, “for free.”
There’s a restaurant, a lakeside bar called “The Butt Hut” and a community center where dances are held each weekend.
About 350 people live at Lake Como, most of them in manufactured homes that encircle Big Moss Lake. There are spaces for 75 recreational vehicles and about 20 motel rooms for guests who want to stay just a few days.
McElhinney — who looks like Santa Claus, minus the boots, hat and everything else — said the desire to shed clothes is hard to explain to people who live in what nudists call the “textile world.”
“It’s so freeing,” said McElhinney, who has been at Lake Como for two decades. “It’s just the feeling of being natural.”
Other nudists describe an almost-mystical change in their perception of time. Once the clothes are off, they say, the clock slows. Their relaxation is deeper and more rejuvenating.
“A weekend at a nudist resort seems like a week at a regular resort,” Hawkins said.
Virtually all nudists insist there is nothing sexual about taking their clothes off and hanging out with the neighbors. Quite the opposite, McElhinney said.
“Trust me, there’s nothing sexy about a bunch of old people running around naked,” he said. “Nude is not lewd.”
But it can be expensive.
The Caliente Resort & Spa charges more than $300 a night to stay in one of its Mediterranean-style villas and offers laser hair-removal treatments costing as much as $1,000. Located a few miles north of Lake Como, Caliente has staked out the high end of the nude-tourism market.
Its 8,400-square-foot pool features a waterfall and grotto surrounded by palm trees. The resort’s main club has five bars, a restaurant, an 85-seat dining room, a spa, a fitness center and an aerobics room.
“We wanted this to be the best,” Vice President Chuck Foster said. “There’s nothing else like it in nudism.”
Caliente features 58 lots for single-family homes, with some houses going for as much as $1 million. It has 48 villas that sell for as much as $500,000. Touring the place in a golf cart, Foster points out where doctors, lawyers and retired military officers live. He estimates Caliente has about 700 full-time residents.
One day, Tampa resident Dawn Burr may join them.
Burr, 42, has been a nudist for 13 years and comes to Caliente a couple of times a week. She absorbs the sun, swims in the pools and enjoys the clubs.
Sitting on the clubhouse veranda, Burr said being naked is “second nature” to her. Her father’s not thrilled, but Burr is unfazed. “I’m a big girl,” she said. “I can make my own decisions.”
Selling a lifestyle, not sex
Caliente officials, like others in the industry, say they’re selling the nude lifestyle, not sex. But the resort has a distinct, if subtle, sexual vibe that is absent from Lake Como.
The club, for example, offers $600 “intimacy retreats” for couples looking to “explore and enhance their love relationship.” It hosts “Naughty Nighty Fridays” and, according to the resort’s Web site, includes mirrors on the ceilings of its hotel rooms.
That said, it expects guests to follows its rules.
No “sexual conduct” is permitted in public, and the club has a detailed list of what types of body piercings are acceptable.
“People who are doing that [extensive piercing] are trying to draw attention to themselves,” said Caliente spokeswoman Deb Bowen. “We’re not about that.”
Bowen, like Foster, came to Caliente from Paradise Lakes, a 25-year-old nudist resort less than 10 minutes away. Paradise was one of the early full-service nudist resorts, modeling itself after clothing-optional properties in the Caribbean.
Today, Paradise Lakes has about 6,000 members and attracts 80,000 visitors a year. About 500 people live at the resort in homes, condos and apartments.
Owner Joe Lettelleir said the average age of members is about 50. They tend to have a college educations and incomes exceeding $80,000 a year, demographics typical within the industry.
Lettelleir says he has no problem with the competition posed by places such as Caliente. He said there will be enough business to go around as empty nesters look to try something different.
According to the American Association for Nude Recreation, nude tourism grew by 75 percent during the 1990s and is now a $400 million industry. The association has more than 50,000 members and nearly 270 clubs, resorts, campgrounds and other facilities.
“The thing we hear over and over is people want the freedom and the relaxation,” Lettelleir said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, Marge, the kids are gone, the dog’s dead, this looks like a hoot.’ “
Originally Published: July 3, 2006 at 12:00 a.m.
