By Martha Steger

At Iceland’s Blue Lagoon this past September the geothermal pool’s green-blue, misty warmth enveloped me. Soothed, I looked out over permafrost in the distance and pondered the erupting Bardarbunga volcano far away in central Iceland — venting lava and fumes in earnest for a month.

As neat as the exotic locale was, I decided it didn’t have anything on my homegrown experience last Christmas of a polar-bear dip in the Atlantic Ocean.  You’ve read about the benefits of cold-water showers for improving circulation and strengthening immunity, right?  Well, not to let our 40-year-old daughter get too far ahead of me with her first polar-bear dip in the Hudson River during Christmas 2012, I took up her challenge last year in the shoals of the Atlantic Ocean (she took the attached images as proof). One big difference between us was that she wore her skimpy summer swimsuit for her dip, whereas I requested a full wetsuit from Santa for the family gathering on Chincoteague and Assateague islands.

Santa forgot to bring insulated gear for the feet — no problem, I discovered, because after 30 seconds, I didn’t know I had toes!  The adroit surfer riding the 20-foot waves off the Atlantic continental shelf wondered what my silly screams were all about, I’m sure — especially as he was nonchalantly taking tumbles directly into the waves while I was trying to avoid immersing my head.

That wetsuit is back in the closet, but I hear it scratching to get out. I dreamt that at least several VPC members are looking for a polar-bear dip off Assateague this winter – so let me know (Steger4@Verizon.net) if you’d like to join me!