This beautiful anchorage with protected from everything except a southwesterly swell. The laid moorings make it easy -- no anchoring! And the long, sandy beach is wonderful.

But what makes this spot particularly enticing is the mud baths. About a half kilometer from the beach, along a path, you come across a large pool of water that is muddy and appears to be post-volcanic. There is no sulfur smell, but the water is warm from more than just the sun (I think).

In any case, people flock to the baths to cover themselves in mud and let it dry. Then they run into the sea and wash it all off. I did it twice and it was a neat sensation that left your skin quite smooth. I swear I have lost 20 years in my appearance! :-) But seriously it was quite a lot of fun.

What is interesting is that cuz no one wants to ruin their swimsuits with the mud, the beach is 'swimsuit optional'. I enjoyed this immensely, and not for the reasons you think.

When i was living on a commune up in the Santa Cruz mountains back in the 70s (I'm an ex-hippie!), I had the opportunity to spend an entire summer pretty much naked. The only time I put clothes on was when we needed to leave the land. Initially I was quite self-concious of my 'exposure'. But after a short while I forgot about it and started getting used to walking around with nothing on. It felt quite liberating.

After spending a couple of days at this anchorage, with half the people also naked or half-naked, I have gotten back into being naked at times and it feels great. Americans are all hung up about nudity, so for many of you this will seem particularly wierd. But for Europeans, it is no big deal.

What is also wierd is that the thought of a nude beach conjurs up all sorts of devious thoughts. But for me, seeing a bunch of naked women and men in a natural setting does not trigger any of those hormonal responses. It just seems natural -- not naughty or sexual or anything like it.

Yes, a lot of people still seem self-concious of their nudity -- hesitant to interact. But that may or may not be just the normal cloistered attitude of the 21st century. I really don't know. For me, the mud baths were a neat physical experience as well as a physically and spiritually liberating experience.

And what is really frustrating about this nudity thing is that Congress and Hollywood have decided that it is OK to show gruesome, gory deaths, but it is perverted to show nudity. Maybe if we all made (or saw) a little more love and a little less war we wouldn't be such a murderous society!!

I really didn't expect you to understand!! :-)

Of course, on the second day of mud bathing I discovered one downfall of nudity. Some mud managed to find its way in a -- how shall we say: 'anatomically sensitive area'?!!! So I had to get that all washed up and back to normal. Ouch!!!