"Polar Bear Swim" -- Caribbean Style!

The annual "Polar Bear" plunge into icy waters is a New Year's Day tradition that is practiced in various wintry venues throughout the world, including Canada, the northeastern United States, Holland -- and, yes, the Caribbean island of St. Maarten! In a gesture of solidarity with their frigid compatriots in the Old Country, and perhaps nostalgic for the colder climes of their homeland, the Dutch residents of St. Maarten, aided and abetted by the sponsoring Dutch soup manufacturer, Unox Soup Factory, also have a tradition of an annual New Year's plunge into the sea -- albeit the far more temperate Caribbean Sea! Wearing bright orange woolen caps emblazoned with the Unox logo, and warmed by the prospect of a hot, steaming bowl of soup when they emerge, hundreds of game Dutch folk and friends line up on the sun-drenched "Karakter's" beach and then, at the signal, plunge into the surf to celebrate the beginning of the New Year!

While I had the pleasure of joining this deeply quirky frolic on my last trip to St. Maarten two years ago (as these photos and videos show), this year's scheduled Polar Bear plunge conflicted with my flight home and I was unable to join the silliness.

 Still, mindful of my brethren back in the snow-blanketed North, and fraught with the significance of the first open-water swim of the New Year, I was determined to undertake my own solitary "Polar Bear" plunge....As I entered the water at Simpson Bay and took my first strokes, a rainbow hung in the early morning sky, signaling an auspicious beginning to this new swimming year! In the warm Caribbean water I swam easily and effortlessly (buoyed, no doubt, by the higher salt levels, which seemed to help compensate for my week of pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris!).

 

Though my proximity to the equator made my Polar Bear swim less onerous than that of my northern fellows’, it felt no less momentous...In that purposeful “plunge” I had a distinct sense of “washing off” the old year (an exceptionally difficult one for me, as those who know me are aware) – and of immersing myself in the unlimited hope and possibilities of the impending new year. When I finally left the water it was with some regret, as I knew this would likely be my last open-water swim until Spring, but I was also looking forward to returning home -- to my friends and family, to my Pod, to my own West Neck Beach....where I’ll see you all soon, in the Salt! Happy New Year!