While some people sat on benches near the Inner Harbor in downtown Baltimore, practicing social distancing and enjoying the warm Memorial Day weather, one man celebrated the holiday a bit differently.
In a video circulating on Twitter, taken by Baltimore Sun reporter Thalia Juarez, he is seen running toward, then jumping into the Harbor’s water Monday around 6 p.m. as he seemingly shouts in delight. The man disappears off camera for about 20 seconds and then reappears as he hoists himself up a ladder and back onto land.
“Well, I think that went well,” the man is heard saying.
According to tweets, the man told bystanders he was taking the leap “for his grandchildren.”
Swimming in the Inner Harbor is generally not advised because of the sewage pumped into the area. In 2018, record rainfall washed 260 million gallons of sewage contamination into waterways. Experts have also cautioned that there are cancer-causing compounds found in sediment that sit along the harbor floor.
However, a Harbor Heartbeat assessment issued in May 2019 deemed that the harbor was technically safe for swimming during dry weather.
There is an ongoing harbor initiative supported by the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore that has aimed at making the harbor “swimmable and fishable” by 2020 — widely considered an aspirational goal.
This is not the first time someone has jumped into the harbor.
A group of 15 people said to be visiting from Chicago took the plunge in in July 2016.
