Context: Our trip to Central Florida had been planned for a few months, with the primary purpose of taking my kids (ages 7 and 12) to Disney for a week. We flew out of Atlanta on Delta on Sunday June 15th, and proceeded to "do" disney parks for four of the next five days. On Saturday June 20th my kids and their mom flew home.

Marilee and I anticipated that a week of Disney would wear us out, and sought a vacation from our vacation. After considering the Central Florida nudist resorts, we settled on Caliente Tampa. We booked online through their website (with a 30% discount available from another message board - just google if you are interested). We decided to rent a Condo as we had heard the hotel rooms were pretty basic. We also rented a golf cart.

Accommodations: We rented a one bedroom condo. It was actually a two bedroom condo where the owner had locked off the master. It was relatively new, nicely decorated, and sufficiently equipped. We stayed in A104. Zero complaints. We also rented a golf cart for our stay, which wasn't necessary (as the clubhouse provides a complimentary golf cart shuttle), but very convenient.

Weather: During our Disney week, we had pretty good weather, considering Central Florida in June - highs in the low 90s, scattered afternoon thunderstorms. For the most part we even dodged the afternoon thunderstorms.

However, upon our arrival at Caliente, the weather pattern changed. Saturday and Sunday were pretty much total wash-outs, with rain all day, one storm line followed by another. We did have a few hours of sun on Sunday afternoon which was nice. The weather also kept the crowds down as it generally was not crowded at all on the weekend as we had anticipated. By Monday we had a beautiful day and the half of Tuesday we were there was quite pleasant as well. And frankly, there were still over twenty people around the pool on the weekdays, so I wouldn't describe it as "dead" those days as we had anticipated.

Food: Neither Marilee nor I are afficionados of fine dining (our favorite SXM restaurant is Talk Of The Town), so we never ate at the restaurant (which is closed Monday and Tuesday anyway), but we did eat many of our meals, except breakfast, at (or from) the Sports Bar. Some of the items we tried: Caliente Wrap (very good), Tilipia sandwich (excellent), baby back ribs (very good), seafood corn chowder (good), grilled chicken sandwich (good), pizza (very good), caeser salad (very good), mixed green garden salad (very good), homemade chips and salsa (good); and the sides: homemade potato chips (very good), french fries (very good), fruit cup (good). Prices ranged from $9 to $12, and I would generally consider that about $2 more expensive than I would expect. Given the location though, I considered it reasonable.

Drinks: Marilee was limiting her alcohol as she was fighting a head cold and I'm a beer drinker. I didn't care much for the draft selection (Bud Light, Coors Light, Michelob Ultra, Miller Lite, and Killians). They did have a supply of Caribs, which is what I mainly stuck with, other than a few Coronas. It seemed like the Coronas were around $5 a piece, but the Caribs were like $3. Again, reasonable, in my opinion.

Five bars (nightclub, sports bar, piano bar, beach bar, and the grotto) made it pretty easy to find cold beer. Again, though, it wasn't too crowded. I suppose if the crowds were bigger the staff would expand to accommodate. Ice water was also easily accessible, much to Marilee's pleasure. We also took advantage of the pool table in the sports bar a few times.

Service: Service wasn't top notch, however, most of the servers appeared to be kids (college age, I would guess), and while not seasoned, they were sufficiently professional, friendly, and responsive. While it could have been better, I have no complaints. All the staff was pleasant and friendly, and always tried to keep us satisfied.

Facility: Outstanding. We had heard nice things, seen pretty pictures, and it was even better than we thought. All of the facility seemed to be kept impeccably clean. As I often mentioned to Marilee, "it don't suck"!

Infamous Aahz Party: Saturday night was the theme party and the theme this week was "Arabian Nights". It was a coincidence that we would be there for the Aahz party, and we were determined to make the most of it, since we don't get out to clubs at home much. We both dressed in theme and joined the party at about 10pm. The attire of the crowd was quite contrasted. It was easy to tell the Aahz members from the Caliente members. Most of the Aahz women were dressed in theme, and the balance were dressed in sexy club attire. Most of the Aahz men were dressed in dress shirts and slacks, with only a few in theme. The Aahz folks made up the majority of the crowd. The Caliente men might have worn a shirt, unbuttoned, and nothing more (with rain earlier in the day, it was a bit cool that evening). The women, a sarong.

The party was fun - good dance music, and the lounge was pretty crowded. As a man dressed in theme, I was in the minority, but Marilee fit in fine. Some dirty dancing on the dance floor, but nothing that would shame any urban club. We didn't stay late though, leaving around midnight (our day had started early and we were tired). For the record, we didn't see any overt sexual activity that wouldn't be tolerated at most any nudist resort dance or textiled nightclub for that matter.

Members/Homeowners: We met lots of very friendly people. Many people went out of their way to start a conversation with us, introduce us to others, and make sure we felt welcome there. The back porch of our condo was just off the walking path, and as smokers, and since all the condos are non-smoking, when we were in the condo, we were frequently on the back screened porch. Almost without exception, everyone that walked by waved hello, if not stopped to chat.

Insects: Mosquitos love me, Marilee lessor so, and we really didn't have a problem. However, we weren't out at dusk most evenings. One evening we were, we didn't get numerous bites from some sort of biting gnats. They were irritating bites for an hour or two, but quickly went away. We may have gotten two mosquito bites between us in four days. Quite tolerable.

Conclusion: We enjoyed our visit, loved the facility, and I'm sure we will be back sometime. We would recommend it to any nudist, or for that matter, anyone not offended by nudity and open minded to the experience.

Editorial: Marilee and I don't really consider ourselves nudists, or naturists, or swingers. We are socially liberal, open-minded, and generally tolerant. We enjoy sunbathing without tan lines, and swimming without suits. It wouldn't have bothered us a bit to be required to wear clothes in the upper level of the clubhouse (we are OK that you don't have to, just pointing out how we might differ from some nudists). We have been to swing clubs before, though we have never "played" with others.

That said, this whole hullabaloo between nudists and swingers, Caliente and AANR, is fascinating to watch from the outside.

It is true that during our brief stay, we were propositioned more than once by "those in the lifestyle".

But not by the Aahz folks. Not on Saturday night. In each case, by Caliente members. In fact, I think in each case, by Caliente homeowners. And that, to me, is the great irony.

We were not bothered by it. It is, in some ways, flattering. I might even harbor a tinge of disappointment that we were not even approached by anyone at the Aahz party. It seemed quite clear that the Aahz group was quite familiar with one another (pardon the pun), and quite clique-ish. I suspect they knew who they were going to "hook up" with prior to their arrival. We also didn't see too many around the pool area Saturday or Sunday, although, with the rain, that shouldn't be much surprise.

In my opinion, the homeowners need the resort to be financially successful to maintain their property values, and they need to give them some space to do so. I cannot say whether the loss of AANR affiliation is worth more than the money Aahz and other swingers might bring to the club, but I (personally) would be willing to let them make that call. Provided they enforce their rules of no overt sexual activity, I don't understand why anyone thinks a family friendly nudist resort can't also cater to swingers.

I do understand why AANR has a problem with it. And I respect their right to make those judgements. However, I think they sacrifice the principle they seek to accomplish - tolerance of those that desire to live a non-traditional path in life that does not infringe on others.

Why do the homeowners struggle with making the case to the broader community that many groups, like the Lions Club and this group, find the grounds and facility exceptional for meetings and parties? These swingers are not Caliente members. The come from your textiled community, they are in your grocery stores, your gyms, and even your schools. If they rented a hotel ballroom, you would never hear of them otherwise. In our experience, swingers, as a group, are more open-minded and tolerant than these homeowners appear.

We have no dog in the fight. We are not AANR members. We are not a swingers. We are not Caliente homeowners or members. But I do suspect we are smack dab in the middle of the demographic of those in the prime marketing target for somewhere like Caliente - mid-40s, affluent, with no previous experience of staying at a nudist resort.