Crowds Take a Plunge to Welcome the New Year

More than 500 fearless souls capped off Ocean City's New Year's Day celebration and started the year 2013 with an icy plunge into the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday afternoon.

Ocean City's annual "First Plunge" polar-bear swim has grown in popularity over the years, and Tuesday's overcast skies did nothing to diminish the crowds eager to take the year's first ocean swim on the beach at Ninth Street near the Ocean City Music Pier.

The official meteorological readings at plunge time: 41 degrees in the air and 44 degrees in the ocean (according to the National Weather Service and the NOAA marine station at Steel Pier in Atlantic City).

The First Plunge ended a New Year's lineup that started at 4 p.m. Monday (Dec. 31) with the opening of Ocean City's First Night celebration.

The event included its usual array of costumes, screams and laughter. Check out our photo and video gallery above.