Experience Number 1 - Polar Bear Plunge

Before deciding to undertake the writing of a blog, I was asked to support a friend doing the Polar Bear Plunge at Sullivan's Island. If you are unfamiliar with the event, Charlestonians gather at Dunleavy's Pub beginning at 11 to drink and warm up with liquor before jumping into the Atlantic Ocean on January 1st. I agreed to go and asked my sister in law to accompany me. Little did I know how huge of an event it would be! It took us a while to find parking.  As we were walking toward the beach, we noticed how foggy it was outside! You could see 15 feet in front of you. Everything else was FOG FOG FOG! It was really beautiful! At one point we started running  toward an invisible crowd that was getting excited about jumping into the frigid waters. I tried calling my friend who did not answer. I figured she must have turned her phone off. At that point I was pretty disappointed that I would miss her jump into the water.  At two o'clock groups of people ran toward the water, then quickly retreated. It looked like an army attacking the enemy. Then the second set of people ran, the reinforcements.   The best part were the costumes... people were dressed up as Jamaicans, pimps, ballerinas... it was liek Halloween in January.  I did not venture into the water this year mostly due to the fact that I had been sick for the week before, but maybe I will have the courage to jump in next year!