Honeymoon Emergence

Bruce sent along this great story of a wonderful start to a married relationship. We should we all be so lucky!

Back in the late 80’s, while serving in the Navy and stationed in San Diego, I met a wonderful woman named Joann and fell in love. Just before shipping out on a year-long tour of the Pacific that would be the end of my service, I proposed and she said yes.

While I had enjoyed skinny dipping since I was a kid, Joann was very self-conscious about her body (she had always been a little overweight) and would wear a conservative one piece when we went to the beach (no matter how much I tried to convince her to at least wear a bikini).

Soon after I shipped out, Joann tore her ACL playing volleyball. For the next few months, she couldn’t do much activity and ended up gaining about 25-30 pounds. Around that time, I got some shore leave and we spent several days together in Hawaii. As much as I tried to reassure her, she was still self-conscious about about going to the beach. She did tell me, however, that since her knee was getting better, she was going to start rehab and work out some to try and get in shape.

For the next 8-9 months, I got letters from Joann once or twice a week (lifeblood back in the days before email). While she mentioned briefly in a couple of letters that her knee rehab was going well, she didn’t go into a lot of detail and I kind of forgot about it. The rest of her letters were news of friends, family, and the new job she had started. She was also keeping me updated on the plans for our wedding that was happening a week after I was scheduled to return from my tour of duty.

Being busy on a ship, the time went quickly and soon it was time for me to go home and start the next chapter of my life. I was really excited to see Joann so we could begin our lives together as husband and wife.

When she and some of our family and friends met me at the pier upon our return on a chilly (for San Diego) day, I was so excited to see Joann that I didn’t really notice that she was wearing sweats. We didn’t really get much alone time over the next week, as we were busy preparing for the wedding and entertaining friends and family who were coming to town for our nuptials.

When the big day came, I was in for a big surprise. When a I saw her in her form fitting, off the shoulder wedding dress, I realized why she had been wearing baggy clothes all week. During the eight to nine months since I had last seen her in Hawaii, she had been working out a lot and gotten herself into the best shape of her life. As she walked down the aisle, she carried herself with a confidence I had never seen before.

The next day, we flew down to the Caribbean for our honeymoon. A Navy buddy of mine connected me with a friend (WWII vet) who owned a resort there and gave us a dirt cheap rate on a private bungalow at his resort. We got there late at night and didn’t notice much since it was dark and we had other things on our mind when we got there (wink, wink).

The morning after our arrival, we awoke and realized that the owner had set us up really well. Not only did we have a private bungalow, but it had a small splash pool on the fenced in patio. And since we were at the far end of the resort, we had a semi-private stretch of beach to enjoy by ourselves.

After breakfast, we decided to go for a swim at our beach. Instead of her usual conservative tank suit, Joann had brought a little string bikini to splash around in. I was incredibly pleased to say the least. I had been told the beach at the resort was clothing optional, so I got naked to jump in the water. Even though she kept her suit on, we had a great time splashing around in the water that morning.

The next morning, we went for a swim in the splash pool. By this point, I knew that I was going to be naked any time we hit the water. She jumped into the pool with her bikini again; after a little while, I untied the back of her bikini top. Joann blushed but instead of tying it again, she looked around for a minute and took it off. Later that afternoon, she even took off her top in the water while we were swimming at the beach. After we went to dinner at the restaurant that evening, we were walking back to our bungalow along the beach when we saw a couple swimming in the surf. As we got closer, we saw their clothes on the beach and realized they were both fully naked. The couple waved and said hi as we passed by. Joann seemed intrigued by this.

The next day, Joann went completely naked for the first time in the splash pool and actually sunbathed nude on the patio. She wore her bikini bottoms to the beach but went topless even while out on the beach. This was getting more and more fun. The following day, she went naked on the beach and didn’t even bother to cover up in a towel while going to or from the water. Later in the day, after another swim, we started chasing each other around and she took off down the beach to keep me from catching her. About a hundred yards down, we came across another couple (naked as well) and Joann realized she was naked in front of total strangers. We started a conversation with them, and although you could tell she was nervous at first, Joann was really excited at what she had done. I could see her confidence growing bit by bit.

The next couple of days, she didn’t even bother to put on her bikini (or any clothes at all unless we went out to dinner). She was realizing just how fun and natural going naked could be.

Toward the end of the week, the day before we left, Joann said she wanted to go to the main pool and beach to hang out. I agreed before she changed her mind. She put on her bikini and we walked down to the pool. Since the pool was also clothing optional, I took off my swim trunks right away. After checking out the scene, Joann took off her bikini top and, after a little while, removed her bottoms. We had a great time getting to know some of the other guests at the pool and beach that afternoon. After dinner that night, we started walking down the beach and ran into a few couples we had met earlier in the week. They invited us to join them for a sunset skinny dip. It was a wonderful experience for us all. After the sun had set and we got out of the water, we continued to hang out on the beach for a while. Even though everyone else had gotten dressed, Joann was warm and sat naked on the beach as we all talked some more. She ended up walking back to the bungalow without any clothes on.

Of course, we were incredibly sad to have to leave the next day. Of course, we got in another naked swim at the beach before heading to the airport for the flight home.

Joann and I still enjoy skinny dipping together (alone and with others) to this day. While neither of us is in the kind of shape we were in at that time, Joann is even more confident in herself and her body than she was almost 30 years ago on our honeymoon. More important, she has passed along that confidence to our children. Our two daughters have always been confident in their bodies and who they are and that is because of their mother.

That’s great, Bruce! It’s so nice that you’ve built a wonderful life together. Thanks for sharing your story!

-Jen