Some time ago Matteo and I had the pleasure to visit the Y 40 deep joy pool. What’s that? Well, nothing but the deepest pool in the world! I can testify, I saw the Guinness World Record sign. Pretty impressive, eh?
But before starting, I bet you’re curious to know what does Y 40 mean.
- 40 stands obviously for the meters of depth, equivalent of 3 school buses in a vertical row!
- Y is the shape of a scuba diver… well, scuba diving… downward, of course.
The kind and beautiful Gloria accompanied us for a tour and explained us the story of the place. The project creator is architect Emanuele Boaretto, passionate scuba diver who thought to made diving possible even in winter.
What is so special about this particular pool and its water? Being located in the thermal area of Abano and Montegrotto Terme, the water of the pool is thermal, lukewarm, at about 32 Celsius degrees (89° F). Therefore, thanks to this temperature, scuba divers but most of all free-divers can train also during winter.
After consulting with the maximum experts of apnea, diving and cave diving, he hired three teams of engineers who developed the pool, the platforms at different depths, the caves, the well that reaches the maximum depth point and the suspended tunnel allowing visitors to see for themselves the pool from the inside. About 600 workman were employed and the pool was ready after 365 days, a year.
On May 1st 2014 the water pipelines were opened in order to fill the pool. But, remember, it is the deepest pool in the world. So it took 9 days to fill it.
Umberto Pellizzari, among the best free-divers of all times, measured personally the meters of depth before the opening.
At the inauguration, on June 5 2014, a scuba diver priest blessed the pool and Italian free-diving champion Ilaria Molinari bewitched the spectators dressed like a siren. You can watch the video below.
The great Enzo Maiorca, who sadly has recently passed away, was present and he stated that maybe, if he could have trained with that pool when he was young, he would have set a better personal record.
Y 40 deep joy pool opening hours
Y 40 the deep joy pool is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 10 pm. Monday 8 pm -10 pm.
Entrance for simple visitors who want to take a look and get some info is free. There is also a café, so you can relax while others work hard and train inside the pool.
Quirk note. If you need to go to the toilet, you will surely notice the funny sign for lady – a siren, gentleman – a scuba diver and disabled – a fish on a wheelchair, fishing with hat and rod. But what can the fish possibly fish? As Lilo would say “It’d be an abomination!”. I don’t know if you remember the scene in Lilo & Stitch, when Lilo explains why she could not feed a tuna sandwich to her fish Pudge.
Courses
Anyway, you can dive on your own, attend a courses or a workshop with the most prominent experts. Basic individual lessons cost 75€ for a 90 minutes session with a professional diver, equipment included.
In order to attend you must be able to swim. Gloria told us that once they had to deal with a Chinese couple who came specifically to visit the pool and they were resolved to try scuba diving… Turned out they both couldn’t swim, so no lesson for them.
And what about children?
The pool and the scuba diving courses are open to children from 8 years up.
Wedding bell “blue”
If you love scuba diving and you wish your wedding to be memorable, you should think of this place. While a couple of wedding proposals happened, a proper wedding has not been celebrated yet. So, what about getting married in the deepest pool in the world?
