On Saturday morning, it was still raining and snowing in Estonia's summer capital. By afternoon, however, the coastal city saw brief snatches of sunlight as well, providing the briefest bit of warmth to the swimmers who had gathered at the beach for one last swim together to cap off the winter swimming season.

"This is the first ever Pärnu Winter Swimming Festival," said festival organizer Margus Randmäe. "We organizers were thinking that it's been a very nice winter, but it's also been quite a long one. And it's no secret, we'd like to move on to springtime, summertime already, so to speak."

After some warmups, nearly 100 winter swimmers dove into the sea at the signal. The first to retreat came back out of the water after just a few minutes, while hardier swimmers stayed in for longer – and the stoutest even went back in several times.

"I'd estimate that around a thousand people in Pärnu are definitely involved in winter swimming, maybe even more," Randmäe highlighted. "And it seems in general to be a very popular hobby both in Pärnu and elsewhere in Estonia, and getting increasingly popular in neighboring countries as well."

The crowd at Pärnu Beach on Saturday proved that winter swimming is indeed a hit among the city's residents.

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