Tag: Fort Tilden

Polar-ish Bare Plunge at Fort Tilden

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

You may have heard about polar bear plunges on New Year’s day that are popular throughout North America, but apparently my favorite local beach at Sandy Hook hosts a special edition, Polar Bare Plunge. I only had heard about this tradition as a rumor, there’s hardly any info online, but then a friend of mine confirmed that it is indeed held on the first Sunday of the year at noon… I really wanted to go, but in the end I couldn’t make it on time and decided to go with another friend, Miguel, to a closer beach, at Fort Tilden, for our personal Polar Bare Plunge.

Well, it was unfortunate that last Sunday was the warmest day in weeks, with the maximum temperature at +13˚C (55˚F), but nevertheless it seems crazy to me to think I went skinny-dipping just 3 days ago, that it’s -13˚C (9˚F) right now…

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It felt nice to undress outdoors for the first time in a while, and it didn’t feel that cold, I [almost] enjoyed the ocean breeze… We were not sure about the water though.

naturist 0000 Polar Bare Plunge, New York, NY, USA

So, we warmed up by running and jumping.

naturist 0001 Polare Bare Plunge, New York, NY, USA

Miguel rightfully noticed that the more we’d wait, the colder we’d get and ran into the ocean…

naturist 0004 Polar Bare Plunge, New York, NY, USA

I couldn’t figure out from his screaming whether he was in pain or in joy,

naturist 0003 Polar Bare Plunge, New York, NY, USA

but as soon as he ran out of the water, I went in.

naturist 0005 Polar Bare Plunge, New York, NY, USA

Believe it or not, it didn’t feel that painfully cold… perhaps because the water was so cold that the body just got numb immediately :O I ran out after a few seconds, and we repeated the whole thing a couple more times.

This was certainly not the coldest time I’ve been skinny-dipping – I plunged into an ice hole in Moscow on a proper Russian winter day… but then I was just few steps away from a sauna! This time, we could only get dry with towels and warm up by running, so I think it was fortunate after all that the day was warm (for January in New York).  I think I have luck with visiting Fort Tilden on those freak-warm days in otherwise typically cold months – I was there once in the end of November and also in the beginning of April. Next year, I’ll try to make it to Polar Bare Plunge at Sandy Hook though. My friend who made it there this year said there were around 30 people testing the water. We have a year (minus one week) to spread the word, so maybe next time there’ll be a lot more – the more the merrier for such an occasion!

 

Sandy Hook is stronger than Sandy!

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

As life in New York metropolitan area slowly returns to normal after the Frankenstorm, some of the city dwellers start thinking beyond the most vital issues. I’ve heard from several people already their concern about whether we’ll have a proper beach season next summer, because of some rumours that beaches got destroyed. So, yours truly got on a plane and went to check it out. Well, luckily I have a friend who is a pilot on a small plane and we planned a flight on the clear morning last Sunday…

When we reached the coastal area of Rockaway, it was obvious that for many people by the waterfront, the most essential question was still… where to live.

A large part of Breezy Point was wiped out by fire that fire department wasn’t able to reach because of the flooding.

These are aerial photographs of one of my favorite beaches, Fort Tilden, before Sandy.

And these are from this Sunday.

The beach itself looks as beautiful, but you can see that the dunes receded… and their sand covers the road now! I have mixed feeling about it being less accessible now. In a way, it is also nice to have some wilderness areas within NYC boundaries.

Jersey Shore suffered from Frankenstorm even more, but we flew only above its northernmost tip, Sandy Hook. Gunnison beach of Sandy Hook, probably my favorite one in the area, appeared totally flooded at first sight.

But it definitely remains to be a wide sandy beach as we know it!

It’s got this interesting sand barrier structure that goes along the shore, but I doubt it will last till next summer.

Parts of the road were still flooded, and I am sure there is a lot of mud and sand.

Another thing that I noticed looking at the beach, was that the parts of sand dunes covered with plants, even just grass or small bushes, seemed to have resisted the surge pretty well.

This made me think that the fence that limits access to the dunes for protection of shorebirds, such as plovers, was actually also necessary to preserve the plant cover. This, in turn, reminded me of a couple of case when I saw rangers patrolling the beach hitting the fence while passing through it and not bothering to put it back! One friend of mine took care of it, and he made it artfully!

In any case, I have no doubt that there will be a beach season next summer. Sandy Hook proved to be stranger than Sandy!

New season at Fort Tilden

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

With this miserable weather in NYC in the last couple of days, I can’t help sharing that we actually opened the beach season two weeks ago at Fort Tilden.

I already mentioned that we went there on an unusually warm day last November, so it was only more pleasant to come there on an unusually warm day in April and enjoy the first rays of sun and awakening nature.

Although it is autumn that is usually acclaimed for diversity of color palette, the spring forest of Fort Tilden looked very multicolored too.

We first hid from the wind behind the dune but then ventured to the beach itself, but didn’t really dare to enter water.

… there wasn’t only awakening nature, though. That dried horseshoe crab found its new identity as mask 😎

Fort Tilden, NYC

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

I’ve written about a beach at Fort Tilden and its abandoned bunkers previously, but I can’t help sharing some more experiences and photos from that place last year.

Fort Tilden is not an official clothing-optional area, although I always wonder how come it isn’t possible to be clothes-free just anywhere in “the land of the free”?! Well, you’ve got to be brave sometimes.

Well, Fort Tilden beach rarely gets crowded, especially off-season, so it’s a great naked escape from the city on those surprisingly warm and sunny days, like we had last November.

It was a a perfect time to wander in the dunes and thickets of trees that were ready for winter sleep.

And yet the sun was quite strong still and made everything bright and alive.

When the clouds came in the afternoon it got pretty chilly, but we couldn’t resist the last possibility for skinny-dipping in the ocean before the winter would take over.

But even in summer you can usually find a spot without too many people, and you can always hide behind the fence that goes along the beach.

And there are some logs that can serve as a perfect naturist lunch table :p

Another time I came there on weekday in July and it was also almost empty, so I felt free and comfortable enough to fool around and practice some simple acrobatics exercises and stretching.

I was definitely into cartwheels and handstands that day,

and the soft and smooth sand was just so perfect for that.

I made some bridges too.

Then we found a coconut. We imagined it was brought by currents all the way from South Florida, where were in May.

It was a fantastic day, very relaxing (in an active naturist way). It is always hard to believe that you are still within New York City borders there, but you if you need a reminder, just go to those abandoned bunkers.

I think I will be coming there again and again!