I visited this place after completing the Samaria Gorge walk. Captain Barefoot identifies a naturist opportunity at the eastern end of this village ( http://www.capnbarefoot.info/crete:south-westcrete ) and I was keen to find out if it still exists.
A few more directions might help in locating the beach in question. From Taverna Rousios follow a trackway eastwards for about 100m up to a gabion wall which runs parallel with the dry river bed. At the wall turn right for about 50m then left onto a wooden footbridge. Just beyond this bridge is a small yellow sign confirming it to be the E4 footpath to Loutro. Take the path uphill to a wire mesh fence with gate. After passing through there is another yellow marker and follow the path downhill to the beach.
The beach itself here is stony with very little sand but the water is clear and blue. However, it is in full view of walkers passing along the E4 route and in the short space of my visit there were three small groups of people. No naturists were present here but turning right along the shoreline and onto the rocky outcrop revealed a sole male naturist well hidden away from view in one of the caves. I'd be wary of entering the water from here due to the rocky nature of the ground and crashing waves.
It should be noted that this section of beach cannot be reached by walking along the shoreline from the ferry terminal due to coastal protection works around the helicopter landing pad.
Whilst at Agia Roumeli I also wanted to determine if the western end of the beach was still used by naturists as reported by Captain Barefoot. The beach itself is over half a kilometre in length and mainly blackish shingle or sand. It is much more pleasant than the stony beach to the east of the village. Whilst the section closest to the ferry terminal was thronged with textiles, the other half, known as Mashali beach I believe, was sparsely populated. Sadly, what few people were on this section of beach were all clothed too.
In the absence of any naturist opportunities here, I had great fun watching a display of massed towel dancing just before the ferry departs. With a little more practice they will all become synchronised!
Look on Google streetview at the western extremity of the beach and there's a single naturist, tastefully blurred 😉
I haven't actually been to Agia Roumeli since 1989, but I remember burning my feet on the black sand, ferry transfer to Hora Sfakion and an 'interesting' coach ride back to Plakias involving many hairpin bends .
Our last two summer holidays have been to Paleochora in the south west corner of Crete where we alternated between Sougia beach and Gialiskari / Anidri , always naked. We don't usually make a point of holidaying the same place more than once , but Paleochora and the surrounding area pretty much sums up my perfect destination for its hot sunny weather, great landscape, naturism and fantastic food.
Have to say Captain Barefoot was a great site in its heyday, but it's not particularly easy to add updates to. This is probably why many reports are so out of date now.
Went there years ago after walking down the Samaria Gorge the catching the ferry back to Chora Sfakion. 🙂
MJ Tacey