One Big Pool: San Alfonso del Mar in Algarrobo, Chile

Wide view of one end of the lagoon.

Text and photos by Jason McKenney.

When I was seven years old, my parents took me along on a family vacation to Disney World in Orlando. We were in Florida for a week. We rented a car and spent a day driving north along the eastern coast. We passed quiet, sandy beaches, void of many people. It must have been outside the normal tourist season because I remember it being desolate and empty. We visited Marineland and all I can remember is a fog rolling in and storefronts shuttered up. It was a very lonely feeling, yet still relaxing.

The heated pool rests under the
pyramid-like structure in the distance.

I had strange feelings of deja vu decades later when I made a visit to the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Algarrobo, Chile. I was with my wife and her parents. We were visiting in late February, the end of summer in South America. The series of large apartment complexes surrounding the famous pool are filled with vacationers during the summer high season, especially the few weeks right after Christmas. The buildings look like giant cruise ships paused at harbor. The pool is their ocean. Which is good because the real ocean beyond the lagoon is much to vicious for swimmers or surfers.

Rentals sit waiting for business.

The community of Algarrobo, an Arabic term meaning "the winds," lies about 30 miles south of Valparaiso along the coast of Chile. Inside this community is a private resort called San Alfonso del Mar. The resort has the world's second largest swimming pool, referred to as a lagoon. The new record holder is the 30 acres CityStars pool in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, built by the same company that built San Alfonso del Mar. The pool is over three thousand feet long and covers 20 acres. The water is pumped straight in from the Pacific, filtered, and treated. The lagoon was developed by Fernando Fischmann and his Chilean company, and it opened in December of 2006.

The lagoon and attached pools.

When we arrived I felt we might as well have rented out half the building. It was quiet. There were only a handful of people in the pool for our building. The lagoon was virtually empty. Each day that passed I noticed fewer and fewer sunbathers and swimmers. People were heading back inland, returning to school, going back to work. This left more space for us to lounge around the cabanas, believing ourselves to be powerful sultans vacationing in our private oasis. I had the pool to myself every day. For a small fee I went to the large heated (very heated) indoor pool and again had the entire space to myself save for a couple retirees who only sat under the small water falls having their back massaged.

Shot from the far side of the lagoon.
A tube bringing in treated water can
be seen in the depths.

I took my wife to one of the water-side restaurants by the lagoon and we were the only ones dining for lunch. There were several workers milling about, looking like they weren't sure how to fill their time. They leaned on the bar, wiping down the same spots over and over while gossiping about their love lives.

"It's end of season," said our waitress, a short, middle-aged woman named Myra. "Two weeks ago we were packed. This week it's dead. Many of us are seasonal. I'll be moving back north next week."

The beach beyond the lagoon.

There are a few people on the beach beyond the lagoon wall soaking in the sun and watching the blue water churn like a witch's cauldron. The waves pound the shoreline without mercy day and night providing great soundscapes for napping. The strong tide and fierce waves provide no safety for swimmers or surfers. These aren't waves that curl in slowly and can be ridden and tamed like the North Shore of Oahu. These waves simply roll up and crash straight down like hammers of Neptune. Anything that moves out beyond the break will be pulled down in an undertow or swept north in the strong tide. This part of the Pacific is Redondo Beach's morbidly drunk uncle. Captivating to watch, but deadly to challenge.

Water slide closed
until next season.

A large, curling water slide stands near one edge of the lagoon. I found out that it stopped running the previous week. It was now shut down for the winter. Kiyaks, however, were still in season. We rented one and paddled out across the lagoon. Swimming is verboten in the lagoon, but there are plenty of other activities that can be enjoyed: water trampolines, peddle boats, SUP boarding, and even available rentals of small sailing canoes.

If one enjoys competing for resources, being surrounded by the masses, and feeling like being in the middle of the action, showing up at San Alfonso in December and January is the time to go. If one prefers to have more space, more peace, more solitude at the expense of an occasional amenity not being available, show up in late February and the world is your oyster.

Loading dock for boats to be released into the lagoon.

A warm day in Algarrobo.

Another view across the lagoon.

Paddle boats make there way across the lagoon. Swimming is forbidden in the lagoon to allow for boats and kiyaks, but
each complex has its own swimming pool set along the edge of the lagoon.

Making the long walk around the perimeter of the lagoon, a distance of nearly 2 miles.

Frankie enjoys her stroller ride.

Business is slow.

Some interesting graffiti on the water pumps that feed the lagoon.