Epiphany sea swim at Carnon beach — how it went

How the idea came about

The announcement landed in the chat on 11 January at 17:48: “🌊 A group Epiphany swim — who’s with us?” The date: 19 January, the feast of Epiphany. The time: 2 pm. The place: Carnon beach. The packing list was short — a towel, tea, a blanket “and courage :))”. A potluck picnic was bolted onto the swim straight away: “Everyone brings something to treat the person next to them — and that’s how we build the shared table :)))”. The organisers promised “summer vibes ☀️, music 🎶 and a good mood”, and after the water — karaoke, or just sitting and looking at the sea. The announcement ended with the line that explains the whole idea: “It’ll be warm. Even if it’s cold 😉”.

There was no formal sign-up — people were simply asked to speak up in the chat: “If you’re in, give us a shout 💙”. Someone immediately tried to expand the programme: “We could go for a run before the swim 😊. Brilliant idea 🔥🔥🔥”. But the Epiphany run was called off: the member who had proposed it couldn’t make it. The swim stayed.

After that, the chat did what chats do in January and talked about the weather. A week out the forecast gave just +10 °C and overcast skies, which the organiser took in stride: “so I reckon none of us will be there long :)) — a quick dip, some tea, and off home ;)”. Someone put it in perspective: “+10 is us getting lucky) some people will be going in at -20, -30 😁”. And someone honestly claimed their role on the shore: “I’ll be whistling from the beach so you swim faster 🤣”.

The spot, and what actually mattered

The meeting point was chosen so nobody would spend the afternoon hunting along the coastline: Carnon beach (commune of Mauguio, half an hour from Montpellier), with the Feu de la jetée Est lighthouse as the landmark. In a second announcement on 14 January the organiser re-sent the map pin and refined the time: “2:00 / 2:30 pm”.

The key feature of the place was explained in the chat by a member with cold-water experience — who also spelled out how a Mediterranean swim differs from the ice hole people grew up with: “The key word is diving. Or rather, climbing down the ladder and dipping in. Our problem here is getting out to any depth — your feet get so cold they cramp. A wetsuit would help.” So: at the lighthouse you go in down a ladder, and the hard part isn’t the swim, it’s the first few metres along the bottom.

One domestic detail: the community had no table. “One more thing, folks — we still don’t have a table :)) so if anyone has one, please bring it along :)”. Two days before the date came a roll call: “Who’s decided to take the plunge on the 19th, and who just wants to come and cheer? 😜” — turning up “just to cheer”, with a thermos and a blanket, counted as taking part.

How it went

On the afternoon of 19 January, at 15:38 and 15:50, photos from the water arrived in the chat with the organiser’s caption: “Happy Epiphany, everyone :)))”.

The sea was rough that day. Plenty of people lost their nerve in the end — but those who came went in properly, and the waves added to the experience. Afterwards they warmed up with hot tea and biscuits right there on the shore. It wasn’t quite the Epiphany dip they grew up with back home, but they found out what they were made of, and the day turned out beautiful. Nobody counted how many people actually got in.

The chat reacted the way a chat reacts to people standing in a January sea: “Good on you 👍👌”, “🔥🔥🔥”, “Happy feast day 🔥”. Some of those who wanted to come were kept away by the most ordinary reason of all — 19 January fell on a Monday: “Afternoon, today just isn’t possible, we’re working till 20h 😬 … enjoy the swim 😘”.

If you fancy doing it too

The format is free and commitment-free: turn up at the agreed time, bring something for the shared table, and then decide for yourself whether you swim or whistle from the beach. Worth knowing in advance: at Carnon you enter down the lighthouse ladder, the first metres along the bottom are the worst, so the wetsuit remark in that chat thread was practical advice rather than a joke. A towel, a blanket and hot tea in a thermos are the minimum, because you’ll be warming up right there on the sand.

Outings like this are born in the chat about a week before the date and rest on one person typing “who’s with us”. How that works here is described in the community section; the next big gathering after the sea was Maslenitsa in Le Crès park on 22 February, and by spring the group had made it to the hills too — the hike to Montferrand castle.