Columbus Day Fun: Jumping from Coney Island Pier into Very Cold Water

Okay, so here's one way to have fun on Columbus Day. We were wandering around Coney Island on Monday enjoying the beautiful weather on our day off and the last day of the season in any form there, when we happened upon the scene pictured above. More than a half dozen males and females were jumping off the fishing pier in Coney into the freezing cold water, swimming back to shore and going back out to the pier and jumping again. We watched the cycle about three times, and they were still on the boardwalk end of the pier when we left around 4:30. Apparently, they do this from time to time, as one of them explained that the water wasn't that cold compared to December and January. (The water temp was about 63 degrees yesterday.)

In any case, we've got a few pics here, plus a vid we put together in a hurry that is lacking in production values, but captures the action, including one young woman doing what was clearly her first jump. Click on this link for the vid or on the video below the photos. (The guy you hear in the background was someone standing behind us, offering his opinion that the jumpers should have been diving, not jumping.)