When I first visited the Sunsport Gardens nudist resort in Loxahatchee, Florida back in 2001, the club had an air I could only describe as “Dukes of Hazzard”. The place was overgrown with weeds, there were abandoned vehicles strewn about, the “lake” was a swamp, the trails had turned to jungle, etc. Later that year, Morley Schloss, a self-confessed flower child who first discovered social nudity at Woodstock, bought the place and set it on a new course, guided by his spiritual, ecological and naturist principles.

Last week Nudist Day revisited the resort and found enormous improvements. At the entrance were brand new offices, where visitors check-in and are given a sense that this is a really a resort. The grounds are well tended and all the facilities have been renovated. The notable exception is the clubhouse, which still maintains too much of the rundown, dirty look of the original club. Schloss would love to knock down the building and construct a better one, but budget constraints don’t permit it at this time. The nature trails were in good shape with the addition of signs pointing-out the different species of plants and trees. There is a wide variety of fruit trees on the grounds, some of them quite exotic, which provide the resort’s health-conscious restaurant with all the fresh fruit it needs.

Schloss, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, made efforts to keep his club environmentally-friendly. For instance, the swimming pool’s water is kept warm thanks to solar water heaters that cover the roof of one building. Schloss also espouses strong nudist values: A sign at the entrance stresses the fact that visitors are expected to be nude. He also demands that resort staff be nude, or at least top-free in the case of female employees. As if to illustrate this policy, Schloss ordered a neophyte employee who was nervous about getting nude to get out of the view of my camera as I snapped photos of the reception area.

Schloss almost seemed angry when I asked him what he thought of the mainstream media’s recent contention that nudists are getting old and aren’t succeeding in attracting the younger generations. According to him, there’s no shortage of young people visiting Sunsport, the draw being it’s safe family-oriented atmosphere. Although Woodstock was as renown for its drugs as for its music, Schloss does not allow drugs to be consumed on his grounds, and doesn’t sell any alcohol, although visitors can bring in their own. Otherwise, Sunsport generally has very progressive policies, welcoming all singles and treating gay couples as such.
Schloss is also the resort’s father figure, as I witnessed firsthand as a female patron sought his advice on legal matters. Coincidentally, he’s actively involved in the Naturist Action Committee, defending nudist interests in Florida. Finally, Schloss is a spiritual person: He’s the organizer of the Northeast Naturist Festival, which will take place August 7-12, 2007, at the Empire Haven nudist club in central New York State. The event includes a large number of spiritual activities.
The resort has all the requisite amenities, including economically priced rental units. Among the latter, I elected to spend the night in one of the pop-up campers on offer. At 45 dollars, it was a steal, until I discovered that I would be donating about a half-gallon of blood to the hordes of mosquitoes. The other defect of this type of accommodation is that they have no bathrooms. Using the common showers and bathrooms is usually fine in a nudist resort, but not when you have to trudge 1000 feet down a dark road full of little vampires! Luckily, there are two nice fully-equipped cabins available as well. Schloss told me that within days he was going to have free wireless internet for patrons, which should please those of us who have to stay connected.

Sunsport Gardens is the nudist club nearest to the Miami and West Palm Beach areas, thus making it a good place to stop along Interstate 95 or the Florida Turnpike. It’s located several miles west along Okeechobee Boulevard in Palm county, and then north a few miles via unpaved roads (D road, then North Road). It’s not so easy to find, however, as there are no signs pointing the way except at the entrance to the club itself. Perhaps this discretion was necessary in view of the numerous conservative Bible camps in the area.

Related Sites:

• Sunsport Gardens web site