Polar Bear Plunge

This was my 3rd Polar Bear Plunge, and the air and water temps were the coldest yet!

This plunge is an activity that began 3 years ago as a service project for my honor society...

... simply because it would be a fun thing to do. Every year, I say I'm going to spend the weekend at the beach, but then I usually just wind up driving down for the day. It's not too bad, a 2 hour drive to the beach, but because it snowed the night before, I left extra early, first stopping to pick up fresh bagels for the many students and supporters who were coming down to cheer us on. So I got to the beach extra early, by 8:30 AM, which was good because after 9 AM parking spaces were gone! I walked around just to take pictures of the snow on the beach and the special olympics organization setting up for the 1 PM event.

As you can see from this polar bear, the temps were chilly! Colder than last year!

I finally decided I needed to get warmed up so I found a little coffee shop...

It wasn't easy finding some place open at this time of the year, and coffee shops are in short supply along the boardwalk.

Then it was back to the Rehoboth site (Wilmington University has a small site on the main street near the boardwalk, and that's where we change and get warmed up) and set up for the rest of our group to arrive...

... and here we are-- grown from the initial group of 4 plungers 3 years ago to 16 registered plungers for this year, with a healthy group of "towel holders" to cheer us on!

The water didn't look too warm, but at 38 degrees, it wouldn't be! I just kept telling myself that this would be like bath water because the air temp was colder than the water. Shortly before the plunge, guards in wet suits patrol the water...

...and as I watched them I could see how this winter's storms had eroded the sloping shoreline and created an immediate "deep" slope in the water...

...and I felt that deep area when I was in the water because the sand was soft and very gravelly, and it was hard to get a good solid grip on the ocean bottom because my feet kept sinking in so deep. Fewer people ran in very far this year, so I was proud of my rib-cage depth attempt! Once were were given the go ahead to plunge, it's all over very quickly!

Another plunge completed!