By Kathleen O'Brien/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
MIDDLETOWN — The regulars at Gunnison Beach claim to know the telltale signs of a photographer in their midst:
It’s usually a man who arrives with no book, no cooler, and most tellingly, no sunscreen. Clearly he intends to stay just long enough to snap some nude photos at New Jersey’s only "clothing-optional" public beach.
For years, nude beach etiquette advised visitors to leave their cameras at home.
Now, however, every beachgoer has a cell phone, and every cell phone has a camera. It’s easier than ever to take a surreptitious photograph of the nude sunbather three towels away. Once an image is captured, it might be privately enjoyed later, or even uploaded to a commercial website specializing in such shots.
"There’s always going to be some jerk out there with a camera. But cell phones make it more convenient for people who are going to do something like this," said Dale Distasio of Atlantic Highlands, who runs Friends of Gunnison, a group for beach regulars.
In Gateway National Park at Sandy Hook, photographers have the law on their side.
A couple in the distance arrives for a beach day at Gunnison Beach, a clothing-optional area of Gateway National Recreation Area on Sandy Hook.
"As sad as it is, there’s nothing we can do to control this behavior," she said. "If someone wants to point a zoom lens at me and look up my ZIP code, well, I have decided to be naked on a piece of federal property, so that’s that. You have no expectation of privacy."
While commercial porn websites showcase only young, fit beachgoers, nudists with less-than-perfect physiques face a different threat: finding themselves mocked online. Distasio tells of three large ladies who frequent Gunnison whose group photo was posted online with the caption "Manatees."
Gunnison regulars, who are fiercely protective of their little bit of heaven, use everything from public shame to technology to fight back. They want to keep attendance robust at a beach they boast is the cleanest, the quietest and the friendliest in the park.
When the National Park Service took control of this barrier peninsula after the Army deactivated Fort Hancock in 1974, the beach tradition of skinny-dipping — begun by the all-male soldiers stationed there — was permitted to continue.
In Gunnison’s early days as a public beach, a photographer who ignored polite requests to stop could find his camera grabbed and his film canister unspooled and exposed to the sun.
"We’d pull the film out and everyone would cheer," said Lois Flicek, a longtime Gunnison naturist. ("We’re naturists," she tells visitors." ‘Naturalist’ is a birdwatcher.")
A lone sunbather on a not-so-nice beach day at Gunnison Beach, a clothing-optional area of Gateway National Recreation Area on Sandy Hook.
Once the Park Service assumed a greater role in supervising the beach, rangers advised against such confrontations. "They don’t want us to take the law in our own hands," says Distasio.
Sometimes it’s enough to hand an amateur photographer a business card that lists beach etiquette, including the admonition to "ALWAYS get permission before taking photographs."
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Stan's note: Years ago guys used to pitch tents there at Gunnison Beach (real tents). If you met a hot guy and wanted to hook up with him you would go in the tent where you sucked cock and fucked like crazy. One time there was a gang bang in one tent and the guys were fucking so hard the tent collapsed on them! The Park Rangers caught on to this scheme and put a stop to it. They didn't mind little 2 man pup tents but some guys went crazy and would pitch these 10 man tents to have more room to fuck around in groups. No more tents on the beach! But it was fun while it lasted. I was there almost every day in the summer when I had the chance and even in the fall after labor day when you could get in Sandy Hook for free. Those were the days my friends.