Paphos’ “Vrysouthkia Kelpetri” winter swimmers’ club took its first dip in the sea of the year at the town’s municipal baths on Wednesday morning.

The occasion was marked with drinking, dancing, and singing, with the January 1 swim having become a ritual for the club’s members, who were rewarded for their efforts with balmy ambient temperatures of 18 degrees Celsius.

The club’s chairman Anthi Charalambous told the Cyprus News Agency said she hopes the new year will bring about “love, health, happiness, success, and more peace, optimism, and positive energy”.

She added that her club now has around 180 members, who hail from Paphos, elsewhere in Cyprus, and further afield.

Akel MP Valentinos Fakontis is one of those 180 members, and said the cutting of the Vasilopita, a New Year’s Day cake which is eaten in Greek and Greek Cypriot communities, is “unique” and “indicates the new start of the 2025 swimming season”.

He added his wishes that “2025 will be the year that will bring peace and reunification to our homeland”.

Former club chairman Matthaios Ierokipiotis also spoke at the event, wishing those present “health, more love and compassion, joy, clean seas, and that the new year brings the freedom to our country which we desire”.

Meanwhile, winter swimmers in Limassol also took to the sea for the first time in 2025, with the city’s mayor Yiannis Armeftis also visiting the seaside to wish them well.

He expressed his wishes for “health and peace for our long-suffering homeland, the region, and the world at large”.