Below zero temperatures, a brisk wind and cloudy skies greeted polar bear swim onlookers Jan. 1.
There were far more watchers than swimmers, but the mood was cheerful as a brave foursome prepared to take the plunge into the Bay of Fundy under the watchful eye of Canning firefighters.
Carrie and Heather Murray of Annapolis Royal, Brandon Strongman of Caledonia, ON, and Robin Young, Wolfville, looked like pros in matching T-shirts.
Heather and Young were trying out the salty beginning to the new year for the second time – they both participated in the polar bear dip at Herring Cove in 2012.
“I did not learn from my mistake,” Young commented while getting ready to try out Kingsport’s beach.
With the crowd cheering them on, the quartet ran down the ramp and into the water with a splash, quickly turning around and racing back up the snowy slope to get warm shouting “Happy New Year.”
“It was icy,” Carrie Murray said, while toweling off in the fire department’s rescue trailer.
“That was invigorating!” Strongman added, before the group headed off to warm up in a friend’s hot tub.
