Pages

02 January, 2014

Hardy Belize Polar Bears Take the Plunge

Newsflash - Corozal -- Some "tough as snow shovels" Corozaleños braved the winter chill to make history for the third annual Corozal Polar Bear Swim on New Years Day. Brushing aside low water temperatures of around 81° (f), these hardy souls plunged boldly into the depths (OK, it's only four foot deep) and managed to stop shivering long enough for 'Lizbit' to snap a pic or two to document the occurrence.
Belize Polar Bears - Thanks Lizbit
A quick word about the photo - I had planned on using a photo from my camera, which had been duly mounted on a tripod and took advantage of the self-timer so that we could all be in the shot - except I was going to use Dianna to actually hit the button that actuated the self-timer. That part of it all worked fine. The part I screwed up was when it came to saving the shot. I assumed it was simply a matter of clicking the button and it took care of that little detail all by itself. Not quite. Apparently, you have to then save the shot. Minor detail that, but it meant that I didn't get any shots. Major bummer. It's an easy mistake to make when the only time I use the self-timer is for this event. Maybe next January I'll read the instructions beforehand.

That's where Elizabeth Wright - 'Lizbit', came in. I had noticed while I plunged into the pool for the photo, that she was also taking photos with her camera. She was kind enough to let me use the shot above so we could document this momentous occasion .

Not only did we do the dip here, but we have some friends who are also Polar Bears who happen to be up in Canada, up near Edmonton, Alberta, in a place called Tofield. They too, took part in the festivities and provided documentation of their experience. My God, talk about willing to go to extremes to get a Tshirt that they had to pay for... just goes to show, some folks will do anything for a Tshirt.
Denis - A True Polar Bear
Vivien - Even More So
Thanks for providing the shots Vivien. We shiveringly appreciate the suffering you had to endure. A truly monumental effort.

Here's a copy of the image Belize Tee Shirts, right here in Corozal, printed up for us. As usual, they did a bang-up job.
The TShirt
Now, as long as we're on the topic of photos... we are, aren't we? Anyway. Remember I had said something about the photos not showing up? Well, just a couple of minutes ago, when I downloaded the photo above, guess what showed up? The missing shots still on the SD card in the camera. So, it wasn't such a screwup afterall. Here's one of them:
The Suffering We Endure...
Well, that's it. I hope you all had a nice and peaceful Christmas.

In the words of Francis, the first Pope to be named after Frank Sinatra, and a pretty cool sounding dude in his own right, "I ask everyone to share in this song [the song of the angels]: it is a song for every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty." That sentence, from his Christmas message, just really spoke to me.

Have a good new year too, while you're at it.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Dave - David deserves the credit for the photo that was taken with our camera. I just cropped and emailed it to you. Great fun yesterday!
"Lizbit"

Dave Rider said...

Hi Lizbit,

I stand corrected. I had a good time too, and killed a Dr. Fly barehanded to boot. A win all around!

Cheers,
Dave