There could have been snow on the ground at St Clair yesterday and it still wouldn't have put Marilyn Haslemore off diving into the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool.
It was officially reopened for the summer season and the 64-year-old said she had been champing at the bit to get back in the pool since it closed for the winter.
''It's been a long six months. I swim here most days, unless I'm sick, which isn't very often.
''I've been coming here for about the last 30 years.''
She said she loved the pool because it was outdoors, in a more ''natural'' environment.
''You don't have loud whistles blowing or loud music, and the sound of exercise classes like at Moana [Pool].
''You just have the sound of the waves and the seagulls, and you can kind of shut off and meditate in the water. It's very peaceful and calming.
''It's kind of like being on holiday when you come here.''
But she said there was a limit to how much nature she would tolerate in the pool.
Bits of seaweed flying over the sea wall on stormy days was ''quite exciting'', but sharing the swimming lanes with sea lions was a stroke too far.
Dunedin's temperature failed to reach double digits yesterday, but that did not stop dozens of people from using the pool, which was a balmy 28.2degC.
It will close for the winter on March 31.
