Mere months ago, Dubai launched the deepest pool in the world, having a depth of 60 metres. (Image: Bulbul Dhawan/Financial Express)

Deep Dive Dubai: Adventure sports have reached a whole new level! Dubai is known for having the tallest building and the biggest observation wheel in the world. It is also among the most popular destinations for skydiving. Now, the city has brought its love for adventure sports and for doing things bigger than ever together, and the result is Deep Dive Dubai! Mere months ago, Dubai launched the deepest pool in the world, having a depth of 60 metres – a Guinness World Record. But somehow, that is not even the most interesting aspect of the pool.

Financial Express Online visited Deep Dive Dubai to understand what the pool is all about and to see the safety aspects that are in place.

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To describe Deep Dive Dubai as a pool is to put it very simply. Filled with 14 million litres of water, the pool offers divers an experience of an underwater city, complete with a kitchen, a toilet, a foosball table and chess. Ferrari F1 and a Harley Davidson bike can also be found underwater, with ample places to sit.

To describe Deep Dive Dubai as a pool is to put it very simply. (Image: Bulbul Dhawan/Financial Express)

Only divers are allowed to enter the deck of the pool, from where, one cannot see below a couple of metres. From the surface, it seems like a never-ending darkness, which is revealed to divers in layers. Divers can explore the entire depth of the pool in what seems to be equivalents of floors, with the depth containing even fully furnished apartments at 30 metres. The theme in the pool is that of a sunken city, where parking metres, park benches and walls full of graffiti can also be found.

But let’s come back to the surface for a moment. Deep Dive Dubai requires people interested in experiencing the pool to make bookings in advance, as only pre-booked people are allowed to enter the building. Once in, the reception area has windows that let people gaze into the water and look at the divers and the sunken city. From here, people who wish to participate are made to go through the formalities and taken to one side of the pool, while their friends and family go to the other side, where they can sit and look at the pool via similar windows.

The pool has ample places to sit, and even has, what seems to be, a massive underwater tree. (Image: Bulbul Dhawan/Financial Express)

Meanwhile, the divers are measured for exposure suits, and they are sent off to the changing rooms. It is important to note here that while Deep Dive Dubai provides the exposure suit and all other equipment like oxygen supplies, swimming goggles, and diving fins, it does require people to carry their own swimsuit to wear under the exposure suit.

Once a diver is ready in their gear, expert divers run them through safety procedures, the signs to communicate underwater, and basically prepare them for their dive. This takes about 20 minutes, and following this, the divers are slowly taken into the pool.

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One does not need to be an expert or have any diving certification to experience Deep Dive Dubai, as they do have guided dives for beginners as well. In fact, even divers who have learnt diving and wish to get their certification renewed can visit Deep Dive Dubai and work on getting their certification. It must be kept in mind that for beginners, the experience can cost anything up to around Rs 50,000 (AED 2,500) per person.

As far as the safety aspect is concerned, the entire pool is fitted with 56 different underwater cameras to keep an eye on the divers and to ensure that all of them are safe during the dive.

The pool even has a room to take care of compression-related accidents. Basically, the air supply for divers contains several gases to simulate the normal breathing environment. This also includes a little bit of nitrogen. The compression level of this supply changes as per the depth of the water, which is why divers have to be careful and come up slowly. In cases where divers come up fast, the nitrogen causes air bubbles to form in the blood streams of the divers, which can be dangerous. To rectify that, this compression room is used. The diver is taken inside this room, and then the team changes the compression level of the room to match with the depth of water where the diver had been. The compression is then slowly released to simulate the diver slowly coming up to the surface of the water. The length of this treatment, however, varies on a case to case basis.

Cars and motorcycles have also been carefully placed under water to complete the look of a sunken city. (Image: Bulbul Dhawan/Financial Express)

Deep Dive Dubai has put in place all measures to ensure safety, but it also is aiming to look at sustainability. It has 14 million litres of water, which means that the pool takes 40 days to fill completely. Draining this much water and replacing it with new one will not only take a lot of time, but it will also mean wastage of a lot of water. To make sure that that does not happen, the pool has put in place multi-layered filter technology which is capable of purifying the entire water in a span of six hours. Moreover, the pool deck is in a room so that the water wastage is minimal, caused by the natural light coming in through the glass. The temperature in this room is kept at around 24 degrees Celsius so that the water does not heat up and evaporate.

The depth of the ocean or the sea is a phenomenon that can be scary to many people, mostly because of the unknown that it hides within itself. Deep Dive Dubai seems to be a good alternative to that, since the darkness stimulates a similar depth, but there are no unknown creatures mulling about within the water. It seems to offer everything – it is safe for beginners, and certified divers can plunge into a whole new experience all in the same pool. So next time you are in Dubai, here is one thing you can add to your to-do list!