Oversized pools

[HJ]

San Alfonso del Mar in Chile seems to be the largest "swimming pool" in the world currently. But has any one here been there? Is there any depth to it? I looks from all the photos to be very shallow throughout. I wonder if there's a deeper hole or spot somewhere in there. Their site gives no specs. Anyone been there yet?

H

 

[trux]

This one was not mentioned here yet, although it seems to be even a deeper diving pit than the famous NEMO 33 diving pool in Belgium. I heard about the flooded Valhalla nuclear missile silo already long time ago, but remembered it only now, so searched for some more info. Unfortunately I did not find any really nice and representative photos. The available ones do not show much.

Some data:
Max depth - 127 feet (almost 39m)
Volume - 2 million gallons of water (7.6 million liters)
Water temp - 60°F (15.5°C)
Visibility - 120ft (~36m)

More info:
Texas Missile Silo TX page
Gone to Valhala
Dive Valhalla Nuclear Missile Silo - Divester
Diving The Valhalla Missile Silo - a set on Flickr

​

 

[haughki]

Barton Springs Pool in Austin, TX is ~300m x ~45m. I think it's only ~5m deep at the deepest point, maybe a little more. It's a natural pool which has been dammed at one end and cemented at various points. The bottom is mostly natural. It's a really wonderful place to swim, dive, and just hang out.



Though they're no longer around, the Sutro Baths in San Francisco deserve honorable mention. It must've been so fun to swim there!



[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutro_Baths]Sutro Baths - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

[HJ]

Yep.. use to swim at Barton Springs back in the day. Don't recall it being deep, but never surveyed... wasn't into subaquatic back then. It was the '60s after all ;-)

See pix from site of the official largest swimming pool in world: San Alfonso del Mar in Chile. They say: big enough to hold 6,000 regular 8-meter-long swimming pools; holds 250 million liters of water.

Let's go!

 

[wet]

Richmond municipal saline non-chlorinated swimming pool 60 feet by 150 feet is reopening, (near Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Calif.). Part is at least 7 feet deep, not sure if deeper. (I like to know if a pool is saline or chlorine).

 

[polishpower]

What does it cost to freedive in the nemo 33? Is it open like regulare swiminpools or do you have to reserve a time

 

[trux]

You can't freedive there (except of the ~10m shallow part). It is (was) possible only very exceptionally - for example I know there were some courses of Fred Buyle, but I did not hear about any recent ones since a while.

 

[polishpower]

OK that sucks
How about freediving in the S.E.T.T

 

[Jorg]

SETT is closed since this year for non-military use. Shark Freediving The Last SETT Freedive

 

[trux]

I just went through the old posts, and checked some of them again. So for example the project of the Mardan Palace in Turkey that I reported about in 2008 (post #34), is completed and operational.

It is an extremely luxurious hotel, and a rather big one in plus - there are 560 rooms, and if you look at some of the photos, it is really huge. I wonder how often it is booked out. There are some 10,000 square metres of gold leaf, aided and abetted by 500,000 crystals and 23,000 square metres of Italian marble. More details for example here: Mardan Palace in Antalya, Turkey - Europe's Most Expensive Hotel (in Pictures) or on the official website at Mardan Palace Hotel Antalya | Luxury 5 Star Hotel Antalya, Turkey

There are not only all these huge extern pools, an artificial river, but there are also numerous aquariums, aquamarine restaurant, spas, interior pools, snow paradise, etc. There is also a big aquarium with some 2,400 fish (and also sharks) sunken in the middle of the big pool. The central pool has 24.000 square meters.

Some photos are below, but you can find many more on the web. It might be an interesting place for a freediving competition

Photos copyright © Mardan Palace and Turkey4travel.com

 

[fabrice]

Here's one with a1 50m long infinity swimming pool : 5.7 Billion dollar resort that houses a 55 story high infinity pool | Interior Designs And Home Ideas

I didn't find any information on the depth of the pool.

 

[trux]

Looks interesting! I wonder if some of our Singaporean members (or visitors of Singapore) will have the chance to test out the pool. From the photos, I guess it is likely shallow (~1m ?) all along. I did not find closer technical specifications. They indeed write it is an "infinity" pool, but it is not clear whether there is artificial stream, or whether they call it so just because of its over-standard length. On the photos, the stream (if there is any) is not really noticeable.

I am just adding some of the photos (© Reuters) into this thread:

 

[salibandy]

I *would* check it out... but the height... not a fan.

 

[rbsub]

I was surprised when I noticed that one of the larges pools is in Kaiserslautern (K-Town) - only 50 km from my home.

Some weeks ago I was there for a swim. Next time I will have my mask and fins with me - just to give it a try ;-)

The pool is 165,3 m long! The part on the lower left site are the 50m lanes!!

Waschmuehle.de

 

[trux]

Looks great! How deep is it, and is the depth profile regular, or are there shallow parts? I guess it is a summer pool, so probably already closed by now (or soon).

 

[rbsub]

I don't know it exactly but I guess that half of the length is between 2,50 and 1,80 m. The second half is only about 1 m :-(

But for me it's enought for dynamics ;-)

 

[azapa]

you can see a dive pit on the left center, those are normally 5M deep, great for training EQ!

 

[Elduderinio]

Hi everybody

I'm very proud to put Bern/Switzerland on the map

I just found out that I live some 5km away from the biggest pool in of the country: 25Mio litres of water, 16000 sqm, that's equal to 13 olympic pools - well, quite a big pool for a small country. I couldn't find out the exact size, but the map gives quite an impression. It's name is "Weyermannshaus" and there's free access for everybody. According to the head attendant (on the pic!) it's main problem is the pretty low average water temperature, we're talking 16-20C.

As it is basically following natures shape it's more like an artificial lake and I don't think that it's very deep, but I'll check it out - as soon as my wetsuit is delivered.

Oli

 

[sanso]

Looks interesting! I wonder if some of our Singaporean members (or visitors of Singapore) will have the chance to test out the pool. ... "infinity" pool ...

Around here an "infinity-pool" seems most often to describe a pool whose edge is invisible from within the pool, so you're looking at a horizon of water that - most likely - just blends with the view over the sea.
We'll get something sorted with that pool there, and then you can come and visit!

 

[Simos]

Didn't see it mentioned but the Tooting Bec Lido is a decent size pool:
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooting_Bec_Lido"]Tooting Bec Lido - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]