Revelers dive collectively into the North Sea during the Nieuwjaarsduik, or New Year's dive in English, on New Year's Day in Scheveningen, in the Netherlands,on Jan.1, 2013.

Swimmers in fancy dress take to the water to participate in the New Year's Day Looney Dook swim at South Queensferry in Scotland Jan. 1, 2013.

People take part in a traditional sea bath during the New Year's celebrations on January 1, 2013 at Malo-Les-Bains beach in Dunkirk, northern France.

Revelers hold glasses of champagne while swimming in the chilly water during the annual swim in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, on New Year's day on Jan. 1, 2013.

A swimmer with his face painted as the flag of Scotland, reacts as he sits in the water during the New Year's Day Looney Dook swim at South Queensferry in Scotland Jan. 1, 2013.

A man dressed as a penguin enters the water while taking part in the Coney Island Polar Bear Club's annual New Year's Day Polar Bear Swim in New York's Coney Island Jan. 1, 2013. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is the oldest winter bathing organization in the U.S and every New Years Day holds the winter plunge which attracts thousands of participants.

Swiss Ernst Bromeis pictured in the ice cold Toma Lake, at 2345 meters altitude above the sea level, near Disentis, Switzerland, 02 May. Bromeis started to his project 'The blue wonder - River Rhine 2012', where he plans to swim, wade and use other means for the 1230 kilometers from the source of the Rhine in Switzerland, to the water mouth near Rotterdam.

Diana Nyad, right, gestures as U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents board her support boat in Key West, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 9. The 61-year-old marathon swimmer had to be pulled from the water early Tuesday during a second attempt to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys.

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad begins her challenge of swimming 103 miles between Havana, Cuba and Florida, in a period of three days, without a cage to protect her from sharks, Aug. 7. Nyad, 61, began accompanied by a team of 40 people who will escort her, divided in three vessels in a journey that will last about 60 hours. During the 60 or so hours, from Cuba to Florida, she won't touch land or even a boat. Every hour and a half, she'll stop for some water, an electrolyte drink and maybe a banana with peanut butter. At 29, Nyad set the record for the longest ocean swim at 163 kilometres. That record still stands.

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad swims on her way to Florida from Havana, while flanked by two assistants in kayaks with an assistance boat in front Aug. 7. The 61-year-old plunged into the Straits of Florida at dusk on Sunday to begin what she hopes will be a world record 103-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. The same swim was completed successfully by Australian Susan Maroney in May 1997. But Nyad's claim to a world record will be that unlike Maroney, she is doing it without a shark cage in the strait's warm, shark-infested waters. Nyad will be protected by a surrounding electrical field and by divers who will watch for sharks and drive them away if they get too close.

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad begins her attempt to swim to Florida from Havana Aug. 7.

A man tests the water temperature at a public swimming pool in Essen, Germany, on Tuesday, June 21. Despite the beginning of summer the temperatures remain fairly low.

Marco Fois dives into the Tiber River from the Cavour bridge in Rome, Italy, as part of traditional New Year celebrations Jan. 1, 2011. Five men sprinkled the muddy water of the Tiber with sparkling wine before taking the plunge from the Cavour bridge, continuing an annual tradition which dates back to 1946.

Thousands of people run towards the North Sea during the annual New Years Dive at Scheveningen, the Netherlands, Jan. 1, 2011.

An ice swimmer of 'Seehunde Berlin' (translates to Berlin Seals) takes a dip in the frozen lake Orankesee in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. Traditionally the ice swimmers welcome the New Year by taking a bath in the ice-cold water on New Year's Day.

A member of the U.S. Air Force, assigned to ISAF Regional Command (South), reacts to the water temperature while participating in a "Polar Bear Plunge," in Kandahar on Jan. 1, 2011, held to celebrate the New Year. The event, hosted by the Dutch military contingency, brought together over 200 participants from various international military forces.