This review is for the NEW pool and clubhousem
Pool: FIVE stars. Locker rooms: THREE stars.
The pool is great. It's very wide, and has plenty of wide lanes. And it looks like the smaller, shallow pool is a separate pool (I didn't check it out, maybe I'm wrong).
The lobby is very spacious and the locker room has a lot of facilities.
My only grip is the layout of the locker room could have been improved. There are plenty of showers (7), more than enough toilets (10 stalls plus urinals.... I don't know why they need so many!), and plenty of sinks (4). But that comes at the cost of the most important part of a locker room: the lockers and the changing area.
I can't comment about the ladies locker room, but in the men's locker room the lockers (which are reasonably spacious) are arranged in an inefficient L-configuration, instead of a straight row along the wall. This makes it very congested to access lockers if there are more than two people using the the lockers at the same time. Also, there is almost no sitting room to change clothes. The bench is narrow and short and it's crammed in very close the wall of lockers. Two people can't really access the lockers if someone is sitting on the bench. There is a table/bench to the right of the lockers that can seat a second person. Today there were two people in there the same time I was in there. I used the baby-changing station to lay out my stuff while I was changing. If there was a fourth person they would have no place to sit. It might be better to bring a gym bag and leave your stuff on the floor.
In summary, the locker room layout isn't as user-friendly as the older Eagle Pool. But it looks very clean, and the fixtures, especially the showers, are all new and work perfectly.
Also (this isn't a gripe, it's just a warning), if it's your first time visiting the new center, check the sign on the locker room door BEFORE you enter! For some reason the wall painted BLUE is the LADIES' room, not the men's room. Remember: in Mountain View I guess Blue is for ladies; orange is for men. Same when you're...
Ā Ā Ā Read moreIām a Life-time 51 year old Mountain View / Los Altos resident and taxpayer who grew up flipping off the boards at the old Rengstorff pool and chasing coconut ice cream pops from the park vendor. When the new $29 million Aquatics Center opened this summerāwith its 13-foot dive pool, with one, and three-meter boardsāI was thrilled. The facility is immaculate, modern, and staffed by attentive lifeguards.
But thereās a huge catch: flips, twists, inverts, and back dives are strictly prohibited. Banning these maneuvers on a purpose-built dive pool is absurd, and it pushes divers to practice tricks unsafely off-site. Properly supervised flips are no more risky than a straight head-first dive, yet the rule reads: āFlips, twists, inverts, and back dives are prohibited from the board and the deck.ā
Positives:
True 13-foot deep dive pool
Regulation one- and three-meter boards
Clean locker rooms, well-maintained grounds, friendly staff
Negatives:
No flips, twists, or backdives allowed
Rules feel WAY more about control and are overly restrictive for a dedicated dive facility
Missed opportunity to support local youth divers and families
My suggestions for improvement:
Allow flips, twists, inverts, and back dives under standard safety guidelines (one diver at a time, no running, lifeguard supervision).
Update signage to distinguish between dangerous horseplay and legitimate dive maneuvers. Running, Pushing, maybe dangerous but using a diving board for what it was meant to do and calling that dangerous is absurd.
This facility could be the vibrant heart of our communityāa safe, supervised haven where youth and adult divers of every skill level come together to learn, play, and grow. Instead, the overly restrictive rules undermine its purpose and send a discouraging message to our...
Ā Ā Ā Read moreFirstly only $7 for non-resident drop in entry fee. Just slightly more expensive than my coffee that morning. Bay Area bargain! Itās only been open for a month so itās brand spanking new. Water was the right temperature and didnāt taste weird or anything. They had signs for lap speed! Very rare in šŗšø but very welcome. Swam with a speedy lad. Quarter star off for no timing clock anywhere. Not something that concerns me overly cos I can go off my watch but seems like a silly omission. They also didnāt open until 9am which doesnāt make sense but the hours get earlier in April so Iām assuming it was just for a soft opening.
Nice warm individual showers with soap but limited bench space to get changed (the other quarter star deduction). And of course it was a 25yrd pool instead of a 50m but Iāll probably go to my grave waiting for that to happen here but Iāll deduct half a star for that because you never know what the future holds. Anyways good job City of Mountain View getting a new affordable pool together during this cost of...
Ā Ā Ā Read more