Swimming in Syri i Kalter (the Blue Eye) at 10 degrees celsius by Michael Hussey

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Syri i kalter is a natural spring believed to be fed by Ioanina lake in Greece. Divers have not yet been able to touch the bottom. The name is said to come from a sound engineer who worked for some years in the nearby hydropower station, and compared the spring with the blue eyes of his fiancée.

I'd been here once before three years prior and told my wife I wanted to swim in it the next time. Of course, she thought that was crazy. We made it back late in the afternoon, on September 4, 2009. The sun was setting and the colors were not as brilliant as before, but the spot was still beautiful. I setup the gigapan and quickly stripped down to my shorts, standing on the shore line while my wife watched carefully the direction of the Gigapan robot. One her cue, I dove in and felt a cold shock the likes of which I'd never felt -- and probably hope to avoid in the future. I started swimming furiously across the short distance, but my muscles had to work much harder than I expected and it seemed to take a while to get to the other side. Exhilerating but pretty scary too.

In order to get in this shot, I had to time it perfectly. I wasn't sure the gigapan was going to capture me and was very pleased to see that it did.

About me: www.michaelhussey.com