San Alfonso Del Mar - World’s Largest Swimming Pool
Just when you thought swimming pools cannot possibly get another larger, along comes biochemist and business Mr Fernando Fishchman, owner of Crystal Lagoons Corporation and developer of this gigantic pool to prove you wrong.
Swim laps in this ‘private ocean’ while lapping up the beautiful Chilean ocean view.
Well, I guess you can never have enough pool to pee in…
(Text and pictures from NZ Herald)
The World’s Largest Swimming Pool
A one kilometre long swimming pool in Chile has been acknowledged as the world’s largest by the Guinness Book of World Records.
The man-made salt water lagoon at San Alfonso del Mar resort in Algarrobo, Chile, was completed late last year and has been drawing large crowds ever since.
Situated on the Chilean coast, it provides a spectacular play area of seemingly endless crystal-clear blue water.
But the impressive pool is more than just a great place to cool off.
The lagoon employs cutting-edge technology that allows it to “harvest, filter and permanently recirculate ocean water”, according to biochemist and businessman Fernando Fischmann, who heads Crystal Lagoons Corporation, the company that designed the mammoth pool.
“This advance provides something that until now was not technically possible - the generation of monumental masses of water in a crystalline state to provide a beach life environment and aquatic sports at the top level,” he says.
And it seems everyone has gone crazy for over-sized pools.
Crystal Lagoons has confirmed it has other projects in advanced planning stages all over the world, particularly in the Middle East.
Fischmann says companies are keen to take advantage of the way lagoons form “impressive artificial paradises, even in inhospitable areas”.
The San Alfonso pool:
* Is 8 hectares in surface area or the equivalent of 6,000 standard-size 8-metre-long swimming pools.
* It easily dwarfs the next biggest pool - the Orthlieb in Casablanca, Morocco - which measures 150m x 100m.
* The lagoon’s water temperature in summer is 26C, nine degrees warmer than the ocean it sits alongside.
* Its waters are transparent to a depth of 35 metres.
* It cost approximately US$1.5 billion to build and about US$4m per year in maintenance. (*Editor’s Note: It has come to my attention that this figure is mistakenly reported. As corrected by Quórum Comunicaciones on behalf of Crystal Lagoons, this amazing pool cost about US$3.5 million to construct. Please read their comments below. I apologise for the error.)
More pictures below:
What an amazing place to ‘Chile’ out eh…
See what I did there… and who the heck says I’m not a wordsmith…
<Go back up to look at more cool stuff at 33 Rebels. >
November 16th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
whoa… way cool… bet it’s super expensive to stay there though..
hmm.. but doesn’t fencing in a saltwater pool.. cause it to eventually become like the red sea cos of evaporation of water?? hmmm…… :p
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Crystal Lagoons is a chilean enterprice that uses a high technology that allows to design, construct and keep crystal clear water in an unlimited volume and at a low price.
On behalf of Crystal Lagoons, we want to clarify that the information that appeared in
this web page, is incorrect. The construction of the lagoon San Alfonso del Mar, located in Algarrobo, had a cost of US$3.5 million.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for the clarification and for the information guys…
The pool looks absolutely amazing…
You know what this means - I’ll need an all expenses paid trip to this beautiful place so that I can see it for myself and get my facts right…
…..
Please don’t sue me…
November 28th, 2007 at 8:19 am
WoW … what a nice place to visit. It is really amazing. wouldlove to visit it some day ..
December 4th, 2007 at 1:34 am
Yeah… me too…. it’s really beautiful isn’t it…
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:57 am
That looks so preety from above. I visited there and it is soooo big.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 am
I’ve been trying to find a price list somewhere but no luck. can someone tell me what my dream holiday will cost? seriously I need to start saving
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 am
oh I just found it hehehehee, wasn’t working at first :S
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:23 am
that any body knows the prices for this place in Chile
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:40 pm
This “pool” is so amazing. Kind of weird that it is right beside the ocean, but I’m sure there are reasons for this. It would give a new meaning of swimming “laps.” I could imagine the pool being used for iron-man competitions and the like. I’d love to visit someday.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
For sure this has convinced me of where I want to go on vacation next! I wonder how much and how hard it is to get there - do you suppose the rooms are as fabulous as the pool? This makes all of Las Vegas look like a child’s toy modeling set!
Great picture, great resort, great idea !
January 27th, 2008 at 9:18 am
wow, 1.5 billion dollars down to 3.5 million dollars? thats an enormous overstatement if its not a typo… I build pools and 3.5 million dollars cannot build that pool, impossible… 3 1/2 million for the pumps and filters maybe, but not the excavation and pipes and controls etc.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:42 am
We operate about 70 public pools and there is no way to that for 3.5 mil.
Also how can you clean, disinfect, raise the temp from 68 to 79 F and then
dump back into the ocean without changing the enviroment ?
You would have to a waiste treatment plant and that would take some of the
3.5 mil.
Even the maker is very vague about the technology.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 am
Can you please tell me what is the cost for a regular room for 4 at San Alfonso Del Mar Resort in Santiago, Chile. Can’t find it on Google
June 24th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Unless they are licensing tourists for nitrus diving, why on earth would they have a pool that is 115 feet deep at the deep end? That’s insane.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Nice Site!
http://google.com
July 5th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Incredible!!!!!!!
July 5th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Nice website!!
July 30th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Can anyone tell me the price for a stay or how to get one.
Cannot even find a phone number of the San Alfonso?
August 18th, 2008 at 5:25 am
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