The Annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge.
Every new years day, Coney Island (which never cease to keep me amuse) hosts the annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge.
On that day, hundreds of people come to Coney Island, in the middle of the winter, at 1:00 PM, the national anthem is sang and MC announces that the plunge is officially on. At that point, hundreds of brave newyorkers jump in the freezing waters of the Atlantic.
There is a lot of excitement, and a lot of screaming and cheering.
My brother and I barely made it on time.
We got to the beach, strip to out swimming suits and run the long beach until we reach the water. We stop at the waters edge and encourage each other:
-“I will follow you brother!” – my little brother said to me.
-“Ok, remember the trick: just keep screaming!” – I replied.
So we ran, full speed, into the water, screaming to the top of our lungs, just like everybody else was doing. People splashes water, tries to swim (unsuccessfully) push and play and make a lot of noise. Odd enough, we did not hear any swear words.
The water is so cold. It feels like thousands of needles poking you from every direction. Full immersion was the goal, and we did it, twice.
It feels great afterwards. The air feels nice, the sun feels so warm, and you cannot feel your toes or fingers. Very invigorating.
The weather was unusually warm (mid 50s) for a winter day, so it was a good year to do it for the first time.
Something more to scratch off my bucket list.
