Despite air and water temperatures only in the high 30s, cloudy skies and wind hitting bare skin, hundreds of women donned bathing suits and went into the chilly ocean Saturday at South Portland’s Willard Beach.

It was the fourth annual Two Maine Mermaids International Women’s Day dip.

The turnout on Saturday was “fantastic,” said one of the organizers, Kelsy Hartley. With a strong storm bearing down for early Sunday, expected to bring heavy rain and winds, the event had to be changed from Sunday to Saturday. “So, we weren’t sure if we’d get a good turnout,” Hartley said. “But the turnout was amazing. There were hundreds of people. It may have doubled from last year. We almost covered the beach this year.”

The dip isn’t about numbers, she said, but when it’s that big and that many women are holding hands, then walking into the frigid water together, “it’s an emotional experience to bring all that energy to the beach.” After going into the water, getting wet up to the waist, to the chest or higher, “it was so joyful on the beach.” Women of every generation came out of the water celebrating, feeling empowered, smiling and high-fiving. “They were so supportive of each other.”

The event was organized by cold-water dippers Caitlin Hopkins, of Portland, and Hartley, of Edgecomb, who call themselves the Two Maine Mermaids, and regularly dip under full moons. The March dip is the largest.

The dip calls attention to International Women’s Day, which was Friday. The event is a “big metaphor” for the way women do hard things every day, Hartley said, and a way to shine a spotlight on that. “They’re reaching out to each other for support. They’re reaching out, taking each other’s hands. They’re laughing and doing it joyfully.”

When women join hands and go into the cold water, it doesn’t matter what the next woman does for her job or what her background is – they share the exact same experience, Hartley said. “There’s a power to that and understanding.”

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