AMSTERDAM (AP) — While Parisians have recently rediscovered the pleasure of swimming in the Seine, Amsterdammers have been enjoying a cooling dip in the Dutch capital's Ij waterway for years.
In a country dominated by waterways, canals, rivers and below-sea-level pastures, wild swimming is on the rise in the Netherlands as climate change increases temperatures and extends the summer season.
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People cool down by the water during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People swim near the Maritime Museum during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People swim to cool down during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People cool down in the water during hot weather near the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A smoker swims near the Maritime Museum during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Amsterdam had just one official open-water swimming location in 2023. This summer, the city has 13 legal options for taking the plunge in a canal, pond or river, though residents frequently avail themselves of dozens of unofficial spots.
Tucked off of the Ij, a short walk from Amsterdam’s central train station, the Marineterrein, a former base used by the navy since the 1600s, is one of the newest official spots.
On a hot afternoon, the jetties and nearby parks are crammed with locals swimming, sunbathing and relaxing in the shade with a full-size replica of an 18th-century Dutch East India Company cargo ship moored nearby.
“I saw a video on Instagram showing some different places you can go swimming and this was nearby so I was like, ‘perfect, let’s go,’” Noortje Mol, who had just gotten out of the water, told The Associated Press.
In famously egalitarian Amsterdam, there are neither showers nor lifeguards and the area is free for everyone to use. The former base was only designated a legal swimming area earlier this year. Before that, locals risked a 170-euro ($200) fine.
The city tests water quality regularly and the results are published on a national website.
"People think it’s dirty, but it’s not dirty at all,” said Argentinian Mike von Hütter, as he sat on a towel on the jetty.
The early-morning crowd skews older and sportier than the afternoon revelers. A woman on a run stripped off her workout clothing and dove in, swimming a few laps before redressing and continuing her jog.
“Every morning is a light show,” said Myra de Rooy, 68, who started swimming at the naval base during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many Dutch swimming areas allow skinny dipping and some so-called “naked beaches” even require nudity. While bathing suits are supposed to be worn at the naval base, some among the morning crowd flout the rules.
There is a changing area but, de Rooy explained, in the morning no one uses it.
Despite the expansion of official swimming locations, many locals still jump into the nearest water when they want to cool off.
On the other side of the city, Hans, who declined to give his last name because he was swimming in an unofficial location, does his morning laps in a canal alongside passing boats.
“I swim every day, I’ve never had a problem,” he said.
People cool down by the water during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People swim near the Maritime Museum during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People swim to cool down during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People cool down in the water during hot weather near the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A smoker swims near the Maritime Museum during hot weather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
ST. MATTHEWS, S.C. (AP) — The former court clerk in South Carolina who helped out with the murder trial of attorney Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges for showing sealed court exhibits to a photographer and lying about it in court.
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill pleaded guilty in Colleton County Circuit Court to four charges — obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed court exhibits and then lying about it — as well as two counts of misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting through her public office a book she wrote on the trial.
Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Hill to three years of probation. The judge told Hill her sentence would have been much harsher if prosecutors had found that she had tampered with the Murdaugh jury.
Hill read a short statement where she asked the judge for a chance to do better.
"There is no excuse for the mistakes I made. I’m ashamed of them and will carry that shame the rest of my life,” she said.
Hill was in charge of taking care of the jury, overseeing exhibits and helping the judge during Murdaugh's six-week trial that ended with murder convictions for killing his wife and son. The case involved power, danger, money and privilege and an attorney whose family had lorded over his small South Carolina county for nearly a century.
Hill has played a prominent part as Murdaugh appeals his convictions and a sentence of life without parole. His lawyers said Hill tried to influence jurors to vote guilty and that she was biased against Murdaugh for her book.
Prosecutors said they investigated jury tampering allegations. But while three jurors or alternates said Hill told stories that changed about how she may have tried to influence them, 11 said she did nothing wrong.
“I would be facing a trial with 11 witnesses coming in to say everything the state is saying is not true,” Solicitor Rick Hubbard said.
During Monday's hearing, Hubbard told the judge that a journalist told investigators that Hill showed graphic crime scene photos to several media members. He did not name the journalist.
The photos were posted online and Hubbard said metadata from the images matched up with a time where Hill's courthouse key card said she was inside the locked room where the photos were kept.
Murdaugh is also serving a separate sentence of decades in prison for admitting to stealing millions of dollars from settlements for clients who suffered horrible injuries or deaths — and from his family’s law firm.
An initial appeal by Murdaugh’s lawyers was denied. But Judge Jean Toal said she wasn’t sure Hill told the truth about her dealings with jurors and was “attracted by the siren call of celebrity” status.
Along with showing the sealed exhibits, an arrest warrant said Hill lied to Toal during a January 2024 hearing when the judge asked: “Did you allow anyone from the press to view the sealed exhibits?”
One of the charges — misconduct in office — involved money that investigators said Hill took for herself. She brought a check to court on Monday to pay back nearly $10,000 meant for bonuses from federal money meant to improve child support collection and about $2,000 in money from the Clerk of Court’s office.
The warrant on the other misconduct charge said Hill used her public role as clerk of court to promote her book on the Murdaugh trial on social media.
The judge said he knows Hill has been more humiliated than most people who come before him because of all the attention from the true crime world on the Murdaugh case.
“ A lot of boats got swept up in the hoopla that was at that trial,” Taylor said. “A lot of folks probably made a lot of money, but you didn’t.”
Hill was also accused last May of 76 counts of ethics violations. Officials said Hill allowed a photo of Murdaugh in a holding cell to be taken to promote her book on the trial and used county money to buy dozens of lunches for her staff, prosecutors and a vendor.
Hill also struck a deal with a documentary maker to use the county courtroom in exchange for promoting her book on the trial, which later she admitted had plagiarized passages, according to the South Carolina Ethics Commission complaint.
Hill resigned in March 2024 during the last year of her four-year term, citing the public scrutiny of Murdaugh’s trial and wanting to spend time with her grandchildren.
This story corrects Hill's sentence to three years of probation.
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill listens during her guilty plea on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Attorney Will Lewis speaks on behalf of his client former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill as she pleads guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Solicitor Rick Hubbard waits for a court hearing where former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill pleaded guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill reads a statement as she pleads guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill is sworn in during a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill smiles after pleading guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
FILE- Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill is sworn in before taking the stand to testify during the Alex Murdaugh jury-tampering hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Hill, under investigation amid allegations of tampering with the jury in the Alex Murdaugh trial, announced her resignation on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool, File)
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill awaits a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill awaits a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
