Camping

It was a long weekend full of Martin Luther King celebrations and all that jazz. Most three- and four-day weekends mean extra time off for common folk but for any sports writer, that means work.

The weekend was saturated with preseason basketball tourneys, Little League Baseball tilts and action-packed horse racing.

Journalists and bartenders work similar hours. How ironic?

When everyone had to come back to work and I finally caught my breath, it was time to get away. Get away from everything. I'm talking about camping.

I chose Neltjeberg because it's one of the best, most natural beaches on St. Thomas and you need a four-wheel drive to get there.

I've pulled similar stunts there.

Jerry (aka The Wolverine), Julie and Josh came out in the early evening to grill out. Check out that fire...

Their friend, Julia, came later. She didn't have anything else going on that night so she decided to camp out with me. That's her in the picture below. I'm actually pointing to something down the beach and not at her mouth. Some trick photography there...

It was actually the first time I had gone camping on St. Thomas since August and it was freaking awesome. The temperature was perfect, we kept the fire going all night and I slept like a baby.

I had an early appointment the next morning to get my car fixed so the sun provided a perfect alarm clock for me.

I also met two guys that were straight living at the beach. After re-hashing the story for other locals, it appears living at Neltjeberg is not that uncommon. I didn't get to see them but the guys built little wooden huts for themselves and they fish for food.

Julia said their hut placement was not planned out well. Termites roam in their residence and coconuts fall from palm trees hitting them in the head while they sleep.

Neltjeberg Nudity

Unfortunately, there are not too many pictures to go with this post and for good reason.

So I went swimming naked yesterday at a secluded beach. I stumbled upon it in the middle of the afternoon and I'd say it was the highlight of the day.

Not exactly sure why I dropped my bathing suit. It was totally spontaneous and I didn't even put sun block on my unmentionables.

This is me trying to rationalize my actions:

Maybe the thought of those European women sun-bathing topless at the pool in Mexico last week was still in my psyche. The night we got back, a friend of mine told me about his Hedonism adventures in Jamaica and his giggling accounts were still echoing in my ear.

The beach was at Neltjeberg Bay on the north said of St. Thomas and it was as beautiful as I had imagined. Several weeks ago, I was dragged there with friends well after midnight for a bond fire party and I couldn't really see a thing.

It was my day off -- sort of -- so I decided to go for it. After an odd turn off the road (the turn landmark is a blue FEMA tent tarp that was originally used in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina), the only thing between me and this beach was about 1.5 miles of meandering dirt roads that really made me question my motive in the first place.

After I fought through those logical red flags, I emerged near the water and parked literally steps away from the gentle waves.

When I first got there, a group of old-timers were grilling out and sitting on lazy boy chairs someone had dragged to the beach and left. I found a better spot down the beach that had some patio furniture near a rope swing hanging from a palm tree.

The old folks left to catch an early bird special and then I had the entire beach to myself. My bathing suit came off and I started to frolic down the shore with two pretty girls, who also went nude.

With my dogs, Hunter and Sydney, off their leases and liberated of their sexual tensions, I knew I could roam nude until they barked at any newcomers. They were like junkyard guard dogs but they were guarding a different kind of junk -- the junk in the my trunk.

It was the first time I had ever done anything like that and perhaps not my last. It was the middle of the day on a Thursday so I started to ponder the available windows to go skinny-dipping around island. If you think about it like that, it's pretty wide open.

Was I really that wrong? Just a decent, naked American walking around in the water, holding his iPhone and taking pictures of his dogs...no problems on this end.

When I met up with my girlfriend later that night for dinner at Banana Tree, I told her of my exploits and she rolled her eyes. I wasn't sure if she was embarrassed of jealous.

Coincidentally, we made plans for a beach trip Saturday. Which beach, you ask? TBA.