First, I’d like to thank everyone who supported me doing the plunge! I probably should be afraid my friends and family are encouraging me to jump in near freezing water, but thank you nonetheless for your words of support and donations. We raised $275! All together, the the 25,000+ plungers raised a total of almost $3 million.
Unfortunately, they didn’t let non-plungers on the beach, and I don’t have any pictures of me plunging. I’ll do my best to impart the experience.
Melody and I drove down to Annapolis on Saturday morning. This is also when it started snowing:
We parked at the Naval Academy since the plunge had outgrown the beach’s parking lot. It’s hard to see in this picture, but there were several groups tailgaiting in the parking lot:
We were whisked away by the shuttle and at Sandy Point Beach in mere minutes.
I forgot my gloves in Boston, so the low 20’s temperature left me and Melody a bit… cold. Checkin was outside, but didn’t take too long. Melody and I headed into the party tent and quickly found a giant space heater to warm up. Here’s a picture of the madness:
Next, I headed over to the men’s (heated) changing tent, and went from my typical many layers of clothing to bathing trunks and sneakers. Soon enough it was 1 PM and time to rush out of the changing tent. It wasn’t so much of a rush because too many people were trying to leave it once. It took about 5 minutes just to get out, and many people were already back. Here’s a picture of some guys toward the end of the crowd leaving the tent (photo from Flickr):
Meanwhile, Melody took a few photos of the crowd:
As you can see, it was pretty crazy!
Most of the plungers had already gotten into the 35° water by the time I got there, so I had a bit more time to hang around. I was in for about 20-30 seconds and went in to about my waist. Most people jumped in and out, and only got to their shins, so I can consider myself slightly crazier than most other people there. There was a row of police divers in the water, and I didn’t feel like testing them.
To give you an idea for the beachfront chaos, check out these pictures I found on Flickr:
When I got out of the water, my legs were very numb. It was like someone shot my legs full of Novocaine. Unfortunately a huge mob of people were trying to get into the tent, but some people still hadn’t gotten out. And the first people to go in were now changing right in front of the tent entrance. So, I had to wait for about 5 minutes in my wet bathing suit.
Here’s a picture of some guys sneaking into the back of the tent (from Flickr):
I wish I thought of this.
Eventually I got inside the tent, and it was chaos. People had broken into the tent from all different directions, people were stepping on other people’s “dry clothes”, and more than a few women decided they liked the men’s tent better. It was really crowded, but at least I put my clothes in a faraway place, so most of it was sand-free. I got changed quickly and met up with Melody. She took a picture to document that I was alive and well:
You should note that the blue “Plunger bracelet” looks suspiciously like a hospital bracelet…
We had lunch and got in line for the shuttle back to the car. The snow had gotten pretty bad at this point and the buses couldn’t run very quickly. The line to get on a shuttle didn’t look that bad when we first got there, but soon we realized that it doubled-back twice. We ended up waiting in line for at least an hour. Meanwhile, the temperature dropped and they had to cancel the second plunge at 3PM. Mind you, this was much less fun than it sounds due to my lack of gloves. Also, there were a few nutters who missed their plunge and just jumped into the boat landing (which was very icy).
We eventually got on a shuttle. It was nice to get inside and thaw a bit. Unfortunately, two people at the front of the bus didn’t change out of their wet clothes and were suffering from hypothermia. It took a long time for the EMTs to show up, I suspect due to the snow, so we waited on the bus for another hour, at least. It was a motley crew: a girl scout troop, several very talkative millitary guys with exceptionally weak bladders, and an off-duty cop. The wait was entertaining at the very least.
Melody and I finally got to the car around 4:45 and didn’t get back to Baltimore until about 7 PM due snow accumulation on the highway. To celebrate surviving the plunge, I had a beer at a nearby establishment:
So in summary, I am very much alive and thank you for supporting me and the Special Olympics!