While hundreds of people celebrated New Year's Day in Onset by briefly running into the Bay, a dozen people an hour earlier spent their morning swimming underwater.

For the 12th year in a row, the Buzzards Bay Diving Center, located across from the Stonebridge Marina, held its New Year's Day Champagne Dive, where certified divers jump in the water to search for submerged bottles of bubbly.

"Not many people can say they've gone diving in New England on New Year's Day," said Steve Carey, who runs the Diving Center.

Carey said the origins of the event date to the early 1980s when the event was held through the Aquarius Diving Center, located on Route 28.

This year there were 12 registered divers and 18 bottles put in the water, although there were also some leftovers from last year.

Carey said they give out awards for the most interesting pieces of trash pulled out of the marina. He said in the past that has included grills and bicycles.

While floating in the 37 degree water and asked about how to bring in the New Year, he said, "this is the way to do it."