New Brunswick’s only semi-official nudist beach
Kellys Beach, located within the boundaries of Kouchibouguac National Park is New Brunswick’s only semi-official nudist beach. Yes, there are other beaches, more about them later.
What do you mean by semi-official?
I mean that there is no official written sanction from Parks Canada authorities to the effect that people can use the beach for nude recreation. However, such use has been customary for at least the last thirty years or so and is more or less tolerated by park officials . . . sometimes more, sometimes less. If you see Parks Canada staff marching down the beach towards you it is better to slip into a pair of shorts before they arrive. Avoid confrontation.How to get there . . .
Start off by going to Kouchibouguac National Park (KNP) on the province’s Northumberland Strait shore. That is in Kent County off NB Hwy 11, about 110 kms north of Moncton or about 50 kms south of Miramichi. There is no means of public transit so you’ll be arriving by car.Once you get to KNP stop at the gate or park office and pay the necessary fee, then head for Kellys. Follow the park’s internal signs. It is about 11.5 kms from the office to the several parking lots at the beach. There is a services centre at the landward end of the boardwalk leading to the dunes. This is the time for that all-important restroom break as there are no facilities on the beach.
Take the boardwalk to the dunes (That's just about ½ km.) and you will arrive at the lifeguard station and the textile beach. Turn RIGHT (south) and start walking. After about half a kilometre, if there is nobody around, you can get naked – but keep walking southward and be prepared to cover up if you see a textile approaching, they have rights too. After another five hundred metres (1200 steps is about 1000 metres) you’re probably good to stay naked but, just to be sure, keep walking until you are about 1500 metres south of the lifeguard station. You are now in the unofficial nudist zone – hereinafter called the “N Zone.”
Are we there yet? If you are unsure where you are on the beach walk up to the height of the dune and look landward. If you can see a big cleared area on the landward shore that is Callander's Beach and you are about 1.5 kms from the boardwalk, "officially" well within the unofficial N Zone.
Caveat . . .
In the early part of the summer, from mid-June until mid-July some of the southerly part of Kellys used for nude recreation may be closed to allow undisturbed nesting by the Piping Plover, an endangered species. It isn't supposed to be closed but sometimes the Parks guys get a little overzealous and erect their signs too far north. Regardless, please obey the closure signs and give the birds their space. If you are intending to visit KNP call ahead to find out if the beach is open and be specific in your questions or you might arrive and find out that only the textile beach is open. (It seems that piping plovers never attempt to nest on the textile beach. Yeah, right!)Kellys Beach . . .
The beach is part of the barrier dune system at Kouchibouguac. There are three main dunes in this system: Kouchibouguac North, Kouchibouguac South and Richibucto North. Kellys is located on Kouchibouguac South dune and is the only dune with access by walking.The dune is a mixture of white and tan sands, both coarse and fine on the seaward side, Marram grass and a varieties of herbs and low-growing shrubs on the landward side. The beach is separated from the heath by a low escarpment. There are nearly eight kilometres of beach at Kellys, six of them within the N Zone, so you don’t have to just lay in the sun and broil – go for a walk.
The water off Kellys is shallow with a sandy bottom. Of course it is warmer later in the year but it is tolerable in late June so long as the weather has been warm and sunny so the water can warm up somewhat.
Within the N Zone you will likely see a succession of sangars or low stockades built from driftwood, lost fishing floats and other flotsam. These have been built by other naturists for windbreaks or just for something to do. Feel free to occupy any that are vacant.
Within the N Zone you may get some textiles walking by to see the sights, both natural and naturist. Some of them are genuinely curious about naturism and want to talk about it, but can’t work up the courage to get naked. If you are truly a naturist it shouldn’t bother you to be seen naked, right? But if they are hauling along a troupe of kiddies it would be best to cover up, just in case. Act naturally, and please be a good ambassador for naturism.
A friend and I are planning some naked outings this summer and Kellys Beach is on our list. We like to camp so are wondering if either of Kouchibouguac's main campgrounds is suitable for some discreet nudity. Côte-à-Fabien, with fewer facilities, looks as if it would attract more tolerant neighbours (young, outdoorsy adults) than would South Kouchibouguac, which appears more appealing to families. Do you have any experience with these sites?
ReplyDeleteIf you are going to try nude camping at KNP “discreet” will have to be your watchword. In past years I have had a walk-by look at the more remote campsites and (so far) have never seen anyone set up there. But that is no guarantee of what you might find. After all, your arrival might coincide with a Girl Guide camping weekend . . . not the best time for nude recreation.
ReplyDeleteI have always camped at South Kouchibouguac and always ask if I can have a look
around rather than just accepting an assigned site. Then I choose a site that seems to be out of the zone most likely to be populated. So far that has worked for me.
As for finding nude-tolerant neighbours that is a crap-shoot. You would have to man up and go ask them “do you mind . . .” then be prepared to abide by their answer. Nude tolerant natives is quite another matter – the backflies and mosquitoes will love you. Make sure to take a good bug repellant with you – Deep Woods Off seems to do the trick.
If you are going to KNP to take advantage of Kellys Beach pay attention to the “Caveat” in the posting above. Arriving at KNP when the plover closure is in effect would be a real bummer.
Have a great time!
I was at South Kouchibouguac for a few days in August. Not being sure where the "safe" point was, I didn't get to spend a lot of time nude, but did manage a short swim both at Kelly's Beach and near Middle Kouchibouguac in the river. I'll try for more next year.
ReplyDeleteI was asked to cover up by a life guard and informed that there are no nude beaches in NB today. 8/11/16
ReplyDeleteI will be blunt on this matter.
ReplyDeleteIf there was a lifeguard anywhere near you then you didn't go far enough down the beach, not by a long shot. In well over twenty years of going to Kellys I have never seen a lifeguard on the part of the beach frequented by nudists. However, I have seen nudists (and one exhibitionist) set up far too close to the supervised beach area. In the three cases involving nudists I have advised the people involved that they should go farther south. They, in turn, either thanked me (two cases) or (one case)advised me to perform an impossible anatomical act. And, I was told by this same jackass, if anyone else didn't like seeing him naked, they too could go perform impossible anatomical acts. This is the sort of selfish attitude that causes problems.
There is no officially approved public nudist beach in New Brunswick. Nudist use of Kellys is tolerated on the basis of good behaviour and the exercise of a little common sense.
If you didn't bother to read the directions in this post, or if you didn't bother to go far enough south on the beach, then you are the author of your own problems. Unfortunately you are also creating problems for other nudists and you have no right to put your own laziness above the welfare of others.
First of all Knud, thanks for this helpful blog. We visited 8/10/16, and walked quite far south (1.5-2KM) before disrobing, and spent a pleasant half hour or so splashing about nude for the first time in North Atlantic waters. Unfortunately, we walked back afterward fully clothed because of our uncertainty of the unofficial border, but nevertheless it was a pleasant trip. It's a nice beach with gentle water, and it's great to know we have it so close to home.
ReplyDeleteA couple questions/observations:
Roughly 500m or so south of the beach entrance someone seems to have placed a traffic sign in the middle of the beach indicating "Sharp Right Turn" ahead. Do you think this could be someone's unofficial effort to mark the beginning of the N-zone? Or, in your experience, does this sign have some other purpose? (Although what that purpose would be, I can't imagine.)
Also, and this is coming from a couple who have enjoyed nude bathing in Europe and the Caribbean at similar "unofficial" spots, (and maybe even speaks to your reply to Anon above)...but it seems that us Canadians are rather more prudish, no?
I say this not to criticize those who prefer more modesty, but rather to point out to those who rush to cover up when they see "textiles" approaching (from hundreds of metres away), that covered bodies make it rather difficult for first-time visitors to determine when along the beach it's ok to get your kit off (maybe this was Anon's difficulty as well?).
It was a rather slow weekday afternoon when we visited and perhaps this was why it wasn't more obvious, but I'm certain that we would have stopped sooner (i.e. at some great stone-free/seaweed-free wading-in spots), were the bodies of the folks we passed along the way not in various states of cover-up. After all, one doesn't want to stare, or to encroach on the privacy/enjoyment of others to ask.
Being officially nude on an unofficial beach is a difficult paradox to negotiate I realize. Butt (puns intended) it bares pointing out.
Thanks again for maintaining this blog.
First of all, I’m very glad that you had a good visit to Kellys. After reading the previous anonymous comment I had worried somewhat.
ReplyDeleteSecond, you are very welcome. I’m pleased that you have found the blog to be useful. Thank you for your kind words.
And about the right curve sign . . . yes, I know something about that. When I made this year’s first visit to Kellys back in May it had washed ashore about 500m nearer the boardwalk. I dragged it to its current position – which is nearly exactly 1000m from the boardwalk – and erected it as a marker for others to indicate the point where I consider the N-zone begins. To my amazement the sign is still there three months later. I have not blogged about it as one never knows when it might be overthrown by tide or by human hands. However, it is known to the regulars on the NB Naturist Facebook page.
Concerning the tendency of some nudists to cover themselves upon the approach of unknown persons, yes, I’m familiar with that issue. I too am well used to the very different norms on European beaches and find the behaviour unfortunate but understandable. It has its genesis not so much in different levels of personal modesty but in the very different legal environment we face in Canada, and also from different societal expectations. I’m not sure how we can change either of those barriers except by lobbying government for changes to the law and educating the public about the norms of real naturism. I welcome every effort to do either.
Thankfully we were able to return yesterday (08/24) and had a nice bare stroll. The sign was very helpful, as we arrived late in the afternoon and didn't want to spend too much time wandering for fear of getting home too late.
DeleteInterestingly, Parks Canada officials drove past us in a boat along the shore and did not indicate chagrin at all.
(This said, we discovered later that park staff were involved in a search & rescue operation and may have had more pressing concerns).
Sadly, almost certainly our last visit until next summer.
I looked at the Facebook Group. It seems to have only 3 Members, or is this a setting members use to protect their privacy?
Dear Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteI’m glad to read that the sign helped for your latest visit. It was your last visit of the summer perhaps, but often our autumn days are great at Kellys. Watch the weather forecast and give it a try.
About the Parks Canada folks – they are well aware that nudists have been using Kellys for decades now and appear to be unfazed by that fact so long as we behave ourselves. Mind you, they haven’t made nude use either “officially accepted” or “unofficially tolerated,” so we use the beach under an arrangement that one could, I suppose, describe as “benign sufferance.” If that is the best we can get for the moment we’ll have to go with it.
About the FB group having only three members – I suppose that you are referring to “New Brunswick Naturists” rather than the “New Brunswick Naturist (NBN) Club.” The first group is news to me as of 20 minutes ago. It was the second group to which I was referring. Both are closed groups – you have to apply to be included – and the first group (NB Naturists) seems to have rather sparse traffic on it, most of it rather old.
The second FB group, NB Naturist (NBN) Club, has 53 members and is more active but, in my opinion, not nearly active enough. Some of us do try to get together from time to time and sometimes we succeed, in small numbers at least.
If you live within NB-NS-PE and are keen on real naturism feel free to send us a request to join. Maybe you can become one of the more active members.
For anyone else reading this comment please note that the FB group “New Brunswick Naturist (NBN) Club” is intended for people living in NB and the bordering provinces. Requests to join are vetted on that and other criteria, so international applications to join are usually declined.
What are do you have to be to go there
ReplyDeleteI didn't see this question until a few days ago and I puzzled over it for a long time before realizing it really was "What age do you have to be to go there?" Okay, I can deal with that.
DeleteAnswer: There are no age restrictions. Kellys is a public beach and part of a national park. Families (usually textile families, unfortunately) sometimes stroll by with their kiddies. Que sera sera.
I have wanted the past couple of years to go and try this for the first time. Does the beach still het used for this. And when would a good time be to go. I think i would rather it ne a little busy the first time. Then being the only one naked on the beach
ReplyDeleteAnswer: Yes the beach still gets used by naturists. As to when would be a good time to go is anyone's guess. Within my memory there has never been time when the beach could be described as "busy" -- a dozen or so constitutes a good turn-out. Really, the beach is so huge that there could be a hundred people naked there and all of them could be beyond shouting distance of each other.
DeleteOk well thank you for information. I guess just have to go and see what happens.
ReplyDelete