Would you like that OWS straight up? or on the rocks?

Yes, those are frozen smiles on our faces...

Now that was refreshing! 
Gae Polisner's earlier Facebook plea for company in a mid-afternoon swim "if it gets sunny" (it did!), was met with a flurry of wistfully regretful declines, but Carole Wickham and I were able to answer the call, and a Polar Tri-Pod entered the "Oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-how-cold-this-is" water at about 2:45 this afternoon.... "How cold was it," you ask? According to my trusty laser thermometer -- employed at mid-thigh depth as it is every time -- and which most recently gave a temperature reading in the low (very low!) 40s -- the water temperature this afternoon was an unbelievable 35-36 degrees!  Just to put things in perspective, the coldest water the West Neck Polar Pod has swum in previously was a bone-chilling 37 degrees -- and that was in January! If it were not for the relatively warm (55 degrees) air temperature today, and a relatively sedate 4 mph wind, we probably would have opted to go out for cheeseburgers instead...But we were there, already half-suited up, and it would have been unthinkable to turn around and leave without even getting wet...So we swam -- with flash-frozen faces, hands and feet  -- not far (back and forth between the dock and the jetty), and not long (20+ minutes) -- but  enough to get our endorphins pumping and make the swim and the effort completely and utterly and unforgettably worthwhile....!

Naturally we'll be doing it again tomorrow!  See you in the Salt!

(By the way, salt water doesn't freeze until the temperature reaches 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit -- so we've still got lots of open-water swimming ahead of us!)