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Scenes from Coney Island's 2024 Polar Bear Plunge: 'It’s a good hangover cure'
By
CS Muncy
Published Jan 2, 2024
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CS Muncy for Gothamist
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By
CS Muncy
Published Jan 2, 2024
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Around 4,000 people dove into the new year — literally — with a dip in the Atlantic Ocean as part of Coney Island's 121st annual Polar Bear Plunge on Monday.
Among the participants was Lavinia Solano.
"For me it's just a great way to start the new year because everybody comes here with such positive energy,” she said. “You just kind of feed off of that and I think that's a nice way to start out 2024 or any other year.”
Long Islander Rob Gioia also took a dip in the ocean.
He said the unseasonably warm temperatures in the low 40s — around 10 degrees higher than is typical for early January — didn’t make the plunge any easier.
“It was freezing cold. Oh my God,” he said. “It's always colder than it looks. But it's very bracing. It wakes you up right away. It's a good hangover cure.
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polar bear plunge
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