Forget that puny six foot deep pool at your local gym that's probably teeming with gross bacteria but you try not to think about it. If you really want to do a deep dive, book a flight to Poland. This autumn, the world's deepest swimming pool, DeepSpot is opening in the town of Mszczonów, which I can totally pronounce, I just don't feel like it right now. (Mszczonów is about 25 miles from the capital, Warsaw.)
The super-sized pool will reportedly be 148 feet deep (45 meters), with a water volume of 26,247 cubic feet (8,000 meters), which is equivalent to 27 normal swimming pools. It also contains three starving great white sharks, and chum rains down from the ceiling every half hour. Okay, I'm just kidding about the sharks and chum. That would probably get bad reviews on TripAdviser.
DeepSpot will include an underwater tunnel, hotel rooms overlooking the pool, plus restaurants and conference rooms. (Wooo! Conference rooms!) It will be accessible to everyone, not just scuba divers, and I'm guessing everyone that visits the pool will want to scuba dive. The pool was constructed by the same company that built FlySpot, a popular indoor skydiving simulator in Warsaw West County. So, now you have two reasons to visit Poland!
The previous record holder for world's biggest swimming pool was Y-40 Deep Joy in the Italian town of Montegrotto Terme. DeepSpot is 16 feet (5 meters) deeper. But don't crack open a can of Żywiec or a bottle of Zubrowka yet, Poland! DeepSpot will only hold the record for six months before the 164-foot (50 meter) deep Blue Abyss pool opens in Colchester, England.
However, unlike DeepSpot, Blue Abyss is intended to be a deep sea and space research, training and test facility. The website states that it's primary function is "is to enable extreme environment development, both human and robotic, ranging from the offshore energy industry through to the growing human spaceflight sector and adventure tourism."
Blue Abyss is the brainchild of John Vickers, an ex-forces diving instructor and technology consultant who has been planning the project since September 2014. "As Apollo 11 Astronaut, Michael Collins said, 'It's human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is not a choice really; it's an imperative," said Vickers. " "I wanted to push boundaries, to go beyond the expected, to plan for the future, not just for today. This is a huge undertaking, but the reality will be a legacy for generations to come."
Well, sorry to break it you, Vickers, but I've done a little research and discovered that the Blue Abyss has been dethroned by another massive swimming pool that is an astonishing 36,200 feet (11,034 meters) deep. It's called The Pacific Ocean.
.jpg_DxGeHs?tr=h-184)
