Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park is a very beautiful beach that is just a short drive from Halifax. The white crescents of sand set between the deep blue of the ocean and the deep green of the grass and trees form a very striking setting. The beach consists of three coves. The northern and middle coves are side by side, separated only by a small rocky outcropping, and are each immediately accessible from the two large parking lots. These coves, of course, are textile only.

The southern cove is separated from the other two by an easy and well-defined path of about one kilometer over a marshy headland. This cove is where nudists congregate, and this stretch of less than 200 meters of sand comprises the most popular nude beach in the Maritimes. On sunny and clear summer weekends, upwards of 100 nudists converge here, with little sand to spare. On peak days the crowd may spill over onto the land farther south, which consists of huge slabs of smooth rock. On weekdays, crowds are much smaller. Except for primitive toilets at the parking lots, the beach is undeveloped.

After years of more or less unofficially tolerating nudity at Crystal Crescent, in 2001 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided the beach and made several arrests for mere nudity, to the astonishment of regulars. We are happy to report that the RCMP's efforts to impose morality blew up in their faces. Later that year, the provincial director of public prosecutions dismissed the charges against the nudists as groundless and essentially ordered the police to butt out. In the years since, that order has held and the long-term result of the 2001 raid is that nudity at Crystal Crescent is practiced more freely than ever. Regular beachgoers are fastidious about keeping the beach free of litter. Please do your part to help keep the beach beautiful.

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GPS: 44.4515, -63.6211

city, county, province, country  Sambro (Halifax), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

classification  1 (freely nude)

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