Blind Creek Beach

Blind Creek Beach is located on Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County along Florida’s Treasure Coast, which is named for the treasures lost in the Spanish shipwrecks discovered just offshore. Equidistant between Miami Beach and Disney, the drive along A1A to Blind Creek Beach is beautiful and traffic free, whether from Ft. Pierce Beach to the North or Jensen Beach to the South. Absent a state statute or local ordinance prohibiting mere innocent nudity, St. Lucie County has a long clothing-optional history. Publications of the 1500s illustrated the innocent nudity of Florida’s indigenous people. The first “World Guide to Nude Beaches” published in 1980 listed “Middle Cove Access” (under “Fort Pierce South Beach”) as a clothing-optional beach in St. Lucie County. County residents voted to preserve more than two dozen public access beaches.

In recent years, local skinny-dippers recognized that Blind Creek Beach offered the best location for a nude beach. Throughout St. Lucie County’s long naturist history, innocent skinny-dippers were occasionally wrongfully arrested. In 1992, Sunnier Palms located a naturist community in rural St. Lucie County. Sunnier briefed local attorneys about state law and skillfully used the law in defense of improperly charged, innocent nude beachgoers. This successful defense is based on Florida’s Supreme Court distinction between mere innocent nudity and indecent and/or lewd behavior. Although the success of those cases eliminated most wrongful charges, occasionally misinformed deputies continued to threaten or ban innocent skinny-dippers. All of this changed in 2014.

A core group of local skinny-dippers, armed with a wealth of advice, economic data, and Florida’s statutes, met with St. Lucie County officials to review the long clothing-optional history and present the facts regarding the law. St. Lucie County law enforcement agreed and since that time, deputies have become a supportive presence on the beach. Skinny-dippers no longer avoid deputies, and have built a great working relationship that continues to make Blind Creek Beach friendly and safe. A core group of naturist activists have organized a Florida nonprofit corporation called the Treasure Coast Naturists, Inc. This entity deals with various government agencies which administer St. Lucie County’s many public beaches. Until the amenities plan for Blind Creek Park is realized, Treasure Coast Naturists raises donations for two portable toilets in the Blind Creek Beach parking lot. Treasure Coast Naturists hosts three annual events: “Skinny-dip Day” held on National Nude Weekend in July, “International Beach Clean-Up Day” in September, and a beach outing for the mid-winter Naturist Festival convention held at Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort in Palm Beach County. ​For more information, visit www.treasurecoastnaturists.org​.