‘A lot warmer than last year’: Swimmers take the Christmas Day plunge in Dublin Bay

Swimmers took to the water in their droves in traditional Christmas Day swims across the country, closing out a year that brought unseasonably high sea temperatures to Irish coastal waters.

“[It was] warmer than last year, a lot warmer. Last year was freezing,” Ivan Tiernan, from Stillorgan, said on Monday afternoon, drying off after his swim at Seapoint beach in south Dublin.

At nearby Sandycove the temperature was recorded at 10.1 degrees, significantly warmer than the typical eight degrees on Christmas Day at that location.

The summer brought exceptional sea temperatures to Irish waters: a marine heatwave that developed in the North Atlantic, coupled with terrestrial heatwaves and generally high sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic saw Irish waters – in some areas – jump in temperature by five degrees above average. Experts believe marine heatwaves will become commonplace in years to come, on account of a warming world.

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Laithaam Hudson was at the Forty Foot in Sandycove, south Dublin, at high tide with his friend Seán Quinn on Christmas morning. The Tallaght natives use the annual Christmas Day swim as a way to catch up.

“[We] spend the whole year chasing time, and this is the one time we get to stop, and we make sure we go and see each other and go out and swim,” Mr Hudson, who has just returned to Ireland from travelling in Thailand, said.

Miguel Gonzales, originally from Burgos, Spain, and living in Sandymount, has been coming to the Forty Foot on Christmas Day for about a decade.

“My family in Spain, they all kind of say, ‘You’re crazy, you’re mad, I don’t know how you can do that on Christmas Day’,” he said, having just emerged from the water.

“I only started [swimming] in Covid, I was a new recruit,” Sophie Gonzales, Miguel’s daughter, said. “But I do it every year now, never going stop, it’s the best thing ever. The atmosphere is just incredible.”

Christine Walsh, a visitor to Sandycove from England, was waiting her turn to jump into the water. “We’re feeling it might work wonders for the hangover.”

“I had a swim a couple of days ago, and it was freezing. I’m not looking forward to this now,” said James Bennion, who was accompanying Ms Walsh in her dive.

Sophie Jones, from Rathmichael in south Co Dublin, is a year-round swimmer at the Forty Foot. Christmas Day is always the busiest day at the fabled bathing spot, she said. “In July, it’d be so busy, but today you can’t even move,” she said.

The Forty Foot was bustling on Christmas morning, swimmers in Santa hats sharing flasks of tea or other, stronger, drinks.

At Seapoint, a short distance up the Dublin coast, Ray O’Donnell, from Cabinteely, was wrapped up again after his swim. “[It’s] a bit of a tradition. Just something to do on the day. Clear out the cobwebs. And there’s always a good buzz around.

“There’s a lot of people coming down for the same reason,” he said.

Hundreds of swimmers took to the waters in other traditional swims across the country on Christmas Day, including in Salthill, in Galway, and Lahinch, Co Clare.

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