Today is the last day of the season for pool-goers in St Clair, Mosgiel and Port Chalmers.
Mosgiel residents David and Deborah Murphy were at the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool yesterday afternoon, where they had swum about four times a week for years, they said.
Ms Murphy was at the pool for two marine mammal sightings this season: a Fiordland crested penguin in early February, and a sea lion in January, she said.
''It was exciting.''
Mr Murphy said he came to the St Clair pool because of what he called the Mosgiel pool's ''deteriorating'' condition.
He supports a proposal for a new aquatic centre in Mosgiel, which the Dunedin City Council has included in its long-term plan as an ''unfunded project'' on which it is accepting submissions.
Ms Murphy said she preferred the St Clair pool because ''there's not much chlorine, in pool, and I don't like the chlorine''.
Aquatic services manager Paulien Leijnse said staff had not yet had the chance to crunch the numbers on how well the pools had done this year.
But she thought ''St Clair did really well because of the fantastic summer, and the other pools were normal''.
The St Clair pool was closed for a day this month after being flooded by the sea, and any closures at the other pools were only for a couple of hours at most, Ms Leijnse said.
The pools will reopen in spring.
