English Bay, Vancouver, BC, Canada / January 1st, 2016

As you can see, there’s a lot of brave swimmers who have either dunked themselves or at least run out into the chilly waters of English Bay, in Vancouver’s famed West End community. The water wasn’t much more than 37 degrees fahrenheit.

It’s a Vancouver tradition that commenced back in 1920, (coming up a hundred years soon), thereby becoming the world’s largest and oldest Polar Bear Clubs. Apparently, 10 hardy swimmers took the plunge into English Bay on New Year’s Day and it’s continued ever since. People dress up or dress down and more often than not, they run in and run back out because it’s enough to stop your heart or chill you to the bone. This event has grown to about 2,500 plus participants in 2014 but the crowds that come to watch are five fold. It’s quite the spectacle.

I chose this photo because you can see severe cold expressions of swimmers who took the dip and the truly braver ones actually swimming in the background. Boats traditionally show up and the swim area is cordoned off. It’s also a rare time that I’ve allowed the horizon to be on an angle. Those are West End high rises and Stanley Park in the back ground, along with the North Shore Mountains.

New Year’s Day was fabulous and sunny with hardly any wind, but that doesn’t warm the water! I had to get my feet a bit wet to get my photos, but as always, it was worth it.