Brave souls donned wigs, Santa hats, and, of course, bathing caps as they shrieked and splashed in icy cold waters across the country, keeping up a decades-long New Year's Day tradition: the polar bear dip.

Hundreds of people turned out at English Bay for Vancouver's 90th annual polar bear swim on Friday -- though those on shore might have gotten as wet as those in the water, as heavy rain continued to batter the region.

The air temperature was about 9 degrees celcius, and that was just fine by Wade Westling, who took to the water for the 13th consecutive year, his 11th in an Elvis Presley costume.

In Pictures: Vancouver polar bear dip 2010

"It's actually pretty warm," Westling said of the water. "Not as much shrinkage and not enough shaking going on."

When asked how he chose his particular costume, Westling had an easy answer.

"I love Elvis. Who doesn't?"

While Westling expressed his fondness for the king of rock 'n' roll, Darren Grant showed his for the king of golf, sporting a white shirt with "I slept with Tiger Woods" scrawled on the front.

"25 years of doing this, we look for something that's relevant that we can make fun of and off we go," said Grant, who was also sporting a long blonde wig.

Like Westling, Grant said the water was surprisingly warm.

"This year was balmy," he said.

Added a friend, "This is like Mexico, baby."

Back east in Oakville, Ont., Crystall Shortall was one of several regulars that turned up at Coronation Park Friday for the city's annual dip.

"You always regret doing it after, but for some reason you forget what it's like and you want to do it again," she said, shuffling about inside a giant, decorated cardboard box, which was meant to look like a Christmas present.

Many people dressed up for the event that attracted an eclectic group of 600 swimmers and 5,000 spectators.

Dirk Soeterik wore a spiky wig, and covered himself in balloons. He called himself the "Oakville balloon boy," poking fun at the infamous story that sparked headlines last year.

"I've been spending some nights outside in the back porch trying to get acclimatized," said Soeterik, grinning, as he talked about his strategy for enduring the cold waters.

"I really worked on my mental game."

The Oakville dippers were met with temperatures below -2 C. Snowflakes began to fall while many were still in the water.

The wacky event originated in Oakville, Ont. 25 years ago when Todd Courage and his brother began a tradition that, today, has become a charity event that raises nearly $230,000 for World Vision to support freshwater projects in Rwanda.

Courage said the first dip into the waters always feels like "little needles" all over the body, but once out of the water people tend to feel like "a million bucks."

"It's one of those things that people want to do, like parachuting or skydiving, at least once in your life," said Courage, adding the only way to warm up afterward is to pile on the blankets.

The polar bear dip is also a routine in Nova Scotia, where 102 people jumped or dove into the water off the Herring Cove government wharf, a Halifax-area suburb.

Robert MacLellan, the organizer of the event, said the event raised $1,700 for a local food bank.

Comedian Ron James joined two friends for the leap.

"It began with a 70 year-old for the first jump and we went down to a 10-year-old," said MacLellan.

Following the jump, the polar bear swimmers quickly went inside to a warm church hall.