What to Know
- Saturday, Dec. 29
- 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Free to plunge, $10 adult admission to the Annenberg Community Beach House pool
Whether you think of yourself as a paper straw being placed in a glass of cold lemonade, or perhaps as a mitten falling upon a snow drift, or maybe as a hot topping pouring onto a scoop of gelato, matters not.
For here's the non-poetic picture of what's going to happen on Saturday, Dec. 29, should you sign up for the Annenberg Community Beach House's annual Polar Bear Swim: You, as a warm human, will be running into the not-as-warm Pacific Ocean, on the second Saturday of winter, which is also the final Saturday of 2018.
You now see where we were going with the whole mitten-on-snow or hot-topping-on-ice-cream bit. In short? Not-very-cold human beings will meet the rather cold ocean water in this yearly rite of seeing the old year out (and, of course, the new year in).
A few things to know about this dash into the ocean?
It's free to join the barreling-into-the-Pacific part, but if you'd like to retreat to the Annenberg Community Beach House for a dip in heated pool following the foamy and frosty fun, that'll be $10.
That's ten bucks for an adult, $5 seniors, $4 youth 1-17 (yep, this is an all-ages event).
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After the laughing/skipping/brrr-inducing scene at the ocean's edge, you can seek out a hot shower at the beach house, or find a s'more to celebrate the fact that you're officially a Polar Swimmer, or play a game near the pool, or, yes, pose for a pic with a polar bear.
Okay, yeah, it's not really a polar bear, but a polar bear mascot. Let's leave the actual polar bears to their beloved tundra, where they won't get sandy paws.
The hours for the second annual Polar Bear Swim are 9 a.m. to 1 o'clock, and there's a 300-yard buoy swim, if that appeals.
Of course, you can just come out to the beach to cheer on the ocean-loving bravehearts, if you prefer to spend the day not clad in a swimsuit but rather something from the scarf and sweater categories.
And yet another thing to consider?
Many a polar-themed ocean plunge happens on New Year's Day, which is tradition, but if you have Rose Parade-watching plans, or a big brunch to eat come the first day of the year, you can still meet your goosebumpily goal on Dec. 29, in Santa Monica.
Are you game? Will you go for it?
Time to welcome 2019 in an impish, memorable, and California-cool kind of way.
