shore-aquatic-center2

Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – The new Shore Aquatic Center in Port Angeles opened this morning at 9:00. Not for swimming just yet, but to allow folks to reactivate their old membership or create a new one. Doing so will then let you make a reservation to use the facility.

Pool Director Steve Burke stopped by KONP’s Morning Scramble show this morning to announce the big news. He says they’ll be starting slow in terms of occupancy to let pool staff get their feet wet in their new environs.

“Yeah,  full capacity when all this crazy is behind us is about 300 people, and then…now we’re going to start with 50, make sure we can get our feet underneath us, and then we can actually now go to about 90 if we feel comfortable. We just gotta make sure we’re doing it right and safe. We don’t want to be the contact source for some kind of crazy outbreak. So we gotta do it right.”

That’s not to say swimming is unsafe. Burke has said in the past that, to his knowledge, no one has ever contracted Covid-19 in an aquatic environment. The real work is in the locker rooms between swim sessions each day.

“Yeah, it’s so it’s very safe in the pools. It’s more of the locker room, lobby, You know, we have big enough locker rooms now, you can socially distance. And then we’ll have a set of lockers that are designated for that session. And then the next…we have a half an hour between sessions, and then we do a clean, and then…so, you’ll never use a locker that has been used by someone else.”

Again, in-person registrations began today. Then they ask that you visit the website (here) for more information about how to make a reservation.

On Friday they’ll be having a Community Walk-Through event from 5-8pm. And then actual swim and play sessions begin on Saturday, Oct. 24th, with 3 blocks of time from 10am-12pm, 1-3pm, & 4-6pm.

Register in person, then reserve your time by logging on at sacpa.org.