A Nude Wreck on Wreck Beach

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August 10, 2020

I hope you aren’t offended by my photo.

I spent the day, sunbathing in the nude for the first time in my life at the world-famous Wreck Beach in Vancouver, BC.

But I wasn’t alone – there were several hundred sun worshippers of all ages, scattered along the 7.8 km beach.

I’m going to download the photos and videos I took today.

But I need to spend some time with my dog Holly and then have something to eat.

I’ll probably write the rest of my story later tonight or early tomorrow morning.

August 11, 2020 

Something happened that’s never happened before – I got more email comments about this story/blog before I even arrived at Wreck Beach!

It’s because I sent an email notification early yesterday morning to my friends.

I have 182 people from all over the world, on my distribution list.

Here’s an edited version of what I wrote to them:

Hi everyone!

Just a short note to say that my visit with the surgeon last Friday went okay, but the infection is still present, so he prescribed more antibiotics and he explained in detail why he wanted to wait on the surgery. 

He said that in addition to removing part of my jaw and replacing it with a bone from my leg, they would also be putting a tracheal tube in my throat.  But this time, he elaborated on the procedure and said that the stay in hospital would be for weeks.  So, I got the prescription filled and I’m happy that the rest of my summer will be free.

Today, I’m going to be going to Wreck Beach with my buddy from the Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding Show.  We were both actors in that show, which ran every week for fourteen continuous years in Vancouver.  I was with the show for the last eighteen months of its run. 

The day after the May 30, 2009 last show, I was rushed to the hospital with blood pouring out from the inside of my mouth.   Two days later, I learned I had stage 3 thoat cancer and was given only a forty percent chance of surviving.

Anyway, I’m kind of excited about going nude in public for the first time in my life.  I’ll be writing about it later today – and will be including some photos.  

Who knows, maybe my next challenge will be to become a table dancer (Chippendale) at seniors’ residences in the Lower Mainland.

 

Take care.  Be well.  Laugh often.

 

Hugs,

Danny 

And here are some of the replies to my email:

Ruth O. – Hi Danny,  Glad to see you were going “nude” to Wreck Beach. I would love to visit there.  A lot of people don’t understand the difference between nude and naked.  Nude is when you want to be. Naked is when you’re caught.  Enjoy the beach. ~ Ruth

Bill H.  Hi Daniel,  Good to hear of your planned trip to Wreck Beach.  Our son goes there regularly.  He has never shown us any pictures and that is just FINE!  TMI!  Our son will not be there today as he will be working.  Some Fridays he will make it there when he finishes his work early.  All the best on your medical problems.  Good to have the summer to enjoy and then the corrective action when the rains return. ~ Bill

Larry & Cathy C-S.:  Good morning,  Not pleased to hear that surgery is in your future, but if that is what it takes to resolve the issue then it is a must, please keep us updated, secondly, the thought of you on Wreck Beach “nude” does nothing for Poopsie and myself.  Good luck, Larry & Cathy

Cathy & Paul G.:  Ha-ha!  A Chippendale dancer at senior’s residences…that’s a good one!   Have fun today…  Cathy

Sue H.:  Danny!!! How do you keep your sense of humor with everything? I’m in AWE! You have already endured so f***ing much. I hope that hanging out naked and enjoying the sun and that freedom today will fill you with the kind of joy that this life is intended to provide us. Afterall, you have certainly put up with the sadness. More than any man I know. And yet you still joke. You have beat cancer and you are a serious fighter!  Again. I’m in AWE!  Sue xoxoxoxo

Andy F.: Don’t let the address out LOL 

Beth R.:  Hi Danny,  Thanks for the update. What an ordeal lies ahead for you….glad it is delayed for a bit. Not the nicest time to be in the hospital. Lolol….enjoy the nude beach….Chippendales in the seniors home! Love it. Take care Beth

Jane B.:Sending you Love and Hugs Dan ~ Jane

Cher L.:  Sending hugs

Norm C.:  Good for you going to a Nude beach. I hope you don’t have problems tripping over the uncaged monster.  Sounds like your Dr knows what he is doing, the wait is almost as painful as the problem….  glad you are keeping us informed.  Did the LaConner walk on Saturday. Nice cool day.  Did breakfast this morning for our 57th Anniversary, even made Champagne and  bought flowers.  Look forward to seeing some of pictures.  Have seen several Wreck Beach posters.  Be sure to put on sunscreen. ~ Norm 

Cathy T.:  Hi Dan,  I’m sorry to hear about the infection still lingering and the upcoming surgery. However, thank you for the laughter too. I hope you achieved your journey to Wreck beach today. Now, if you become a table dancer, please let me know which senior residence you’ll be at, because I don’t want to miss any of the action.  Big hugs, Cathy. ️

Pamala C.:  Wow, using a piece of your leg bone to repair your jaw?  That’s rather amazing.   Sucks about having to stay in the hospital for that long though.  Seriously?  You went nude or did you throw that in there to see if people read the entire email?  LOL ~ Pamala

Dot D. – Happy for you, too, that you can enjoy the rest of the summer relatively pain-free!  Table dancing??  This I gotta see! 😉  Take care! 

Spanky – Danny, you would never catch me sunbathing in the nude in public!

Yes, Spanky, I know you wouldn’t ever expose yourself but this story is not about ER or any other kind of “shrinkage’ problem.

 

So, please go back to sleep.

I wrote that letter because I knew that once I told everyone, there would be no going back.  In fact, several people had already replied before I had even left the house to drive to Vancouver!

And I was encouraged by the significant level of support.

When I got into the car, I was both excited and filled with fear.

Fear that I would get there and then chicken out.

But fear is natural when doing something for the first time.

It’s exactly how I felt when I did the Edge Walk at the CN Tower in Toronto a few years ago.

Or the kind of fear you get before meeting your blind date for the first and last time!

You may remember my story about My First Blind Date.

I drove to Gastown to pick up my buddy Pete, who lives there.

I won’t use his last name because he sells refreshments on the beach.

Gastown is one of the places that Vancouver is best known for (the others being Stanley Park and Wreck Beach).

As previously mentioned, Pete and I were actors in Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding Show.  The show’s ensemble consisted of about 30 actors and production staff.

Most of the actors were working part-time jobs so they could be available during the day for auditions.

Pete had several jobs to keep his dream alive and one of those jobs was selling refreshments on Wreck Beach.

I’ve always liked actors because they are among the bravest people I know and they never give up when the going gets tough.

I went to Wreck Beach with Pete in 2008 or 2009, and we both wore clothing.

I was amazed at the number of people who were sunbathing there.

But as much as I felt uncomfortable being there with clothes on, I would never even remotely consider taking my clothes off in public.

I was a lot heavier in those days – from making unwise choices over the years.

I seldom laid on the beach in those days because I resembled a beached whale.

But stage 3 throat cancer was a way of slimming down.

I now weigh the same as I did when I was eighteen years old (170 lbs).

It was great seeing Pete.  He hadn’t changed much since we last met three or four years ago in Toronto.

He was working full-time and had a nice basement apartment in Mimico.

We’ve stayed in touch over the years – and I often marvel how his life has been so similar to mine when I was living on my own and going to high school.

Although I wasn’t chasing a dream about being an actor – it was about staying in my hometown of Oshawa, after my family had moved to Georgetown in 1968.

It was because of the first love that I wanted to stay in Oshawa.

I worked part-time at a shoe store, after school to pay for my room.

Yes, that’s right – I was working my way through grade 12 – because even in those days, you needed to have a high school diploma to get worthwhile employment.

There were days when I went hungry because my basement room didn’t include meals.

And I was only making $0.65/hour.

Fortunately, my girlfriend’s father owned the Colonial Restaurant in Oshawa, and I was able to get a few plates of chips while waiting for her to finish her part-time shift as a waitress.

 After graduation, I began working full-time at Gambles Department Store at the Midtown Mall in Oshawa and put a down payment on an engagement ring.

Two weeks later, she gave the ring back because her father forbade her to marry me.

I never saw her after that but it left me with a broken heart and lots of tears.

*********

Back to the story – sorry, but my mind keeps veering off to other things that I think are pertinent to the story.

On the way to Wreck Beach, Pete brought me up to date with his life.

But I promised Pete that I wouldn’t write anything about his personal life.

We stopped at a refreshment store and he bought a supply of beer, ciders, vodka coolers, etc. and then about thirty minutes later, we arrived at the cliff above Wreck Beach.

Pete showed me a place to park for free, near the University of British Columbia, which is across the street from the beach access.

There are actually three access points to the beach and each access has stairs.

We took the southern access stairs to Wreck Beach.

Wreck Beach has four distinct sections of beach – separated by dense forests, bulrushes, and rocky shoreline.

From memory, the sections are Jurassic, Oasis, Main, and Tower.

It takes about 15 minutes to walk between each section.

At the end of the walk, the climb to the top of the stairs was very tiring – so I’m not in as good a shape as I thought.

But I was happy that I had walked 14, 224 steps in total for the walk on Wreck Beach.

I’m still trying to download the photos and videos to my computer via wifi, but it’s taking a long time.

So, I’ll close for now and then update the story with videos and photos later.

But none of the videos/photos are of other sunbathers – that would have been inappropriate to post.

August 13, 2020

I was finally able to download the videos but most of them were of sand, with just the audio of my conversations with Pete.

The problem wasn’t with my cellphone – it’s because I didn’t have my glasses on and I kept hitting the wrong button.

When I thought I was recording – I wasn’t.  And when it was actually recording – the phone was only filming sand.

But I did manage to salvage the following clips to show you the trails between the four beach areas of Wreck Beach.

I hope you’ll have a different opinion about sunbathing in the nude, after reading my story.

Most nude sunbathers don’t go to Wreck Beach to gawk at other nude people – they are there to enjoy the freedom of being alive.

From the time I took off my clothes and started walking around naked and talking to other sunbathers, I found myself happier than I’ve been in a long time.

And as I explained to Pete:  in one sense, cancer saved my life.  Because in order to survive I had to learn how to live.  Living with cancer is not a death sentence but giving up on living – is!

I plan to return to Wreck Beach often.  If you’d like to experience sunbathing in the nude and want somebody to go with you – give me a shout.

As Hunter S. Thompson once wrote:

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

Dedicated to Tony ‘n Tina Nunzio

I hope my stories are a gift to your head and heart.

Hugs,

Danny

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About Post Author

Daniel (Danny) St. Andrews

An almost famous Film, Television & Stage Actor (as in almost pregnant) living in Vancouver, BC His other passions include cancer patient advocate (he had stage 3 throat cancer), walking with the Vancouver 'Venturers Walking Club, and of course, spoiling his dog, Holly Golightly. If you like the stuff he writes about - please leave a hug (or a comment).

daniel.standrews@gmail.com

http://imdb.me/danielstandrews

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