Swimming Pools On Hawaii (Hilo: real estate, 2015, condominium)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

One of those: I wonder why this is.

I've looked at a lot of real estate and I notice the lack of swimming pools. Only the mega mansions, the most expensive condos, and the resort hotels have them, and even many of those don't.

Hawaii has swimming weather nearly year round. There is a shortage of swimable beaches and a lot of properties aren't close enough to a beach to make ocean swimming a daily sport. Yet, I am seeing no swimming pools. I am not even seeing above ground pools in the real estate photos.

There are lots of above ground pools in Puna for water catchment, but they are covered and it appears that no one is swimming in their drinking water. So the answer is not that the pools aren't available.

Why are there no swimming pools?

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Why are there no swimming pools?

Swimming pools are expensive - very expensive, which doesn't really support income levels for a lot of people on the BI.

Other factors, uses up considerable real estate in your yard, maintenance fees/upkeep (electric pumps), cost of water, and the cost to heat to the pool adds up (despite the weather, the temperature of the water typically does not stay warm for most people unless the pool is heated, and if you don't have solar, the electric is very expensive).

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

There are six swimming pools in my middle class neighborhood. I agree with white viper about the prohibitive cost of heating the water. Most of the year the water is just too cold to swim in, even with the sun shining. One friend has a pool cover that helps warm the water a bit, but it is still really cold even on a clear sunny day.

[constantcuriosity]

We have some really great public pools so there is no need for the maintenance headaches of having our own pool. I just never want to do that again. Pumps, chemicals, heaters, vacuums, lines, tile, plaster, slide resurfacing, decking,...no thank you, been there, done that! Plus, if you have catchment like we do (although we have closed tanks), you get to deal with some of that just to take a hot bath and wash dishes. You do not want to do it again for entertainment. Also, although there may not be a white sandy beach everywhere, there are plenty of places to ocean swim and even our wonderful Puna, man-made, heated ocean pool. Another compelling reason in our neighborhood, we definitely do not want anything else that attracts mosquitoes, hence our closed catchment tanks.

[Due]

There are approximately 22 pools in our neighborhood, with 3 on our street. We don't have a pool, but have been in 2 pools in the adjacent neighborhood. One was in full sun and warm enough to enjoy, the other was partially covered by the lanai and was COLD (no heater).

[McFrostyJ]

Of all the time I have spent in Hawaii I don't think I had ever been in a swimming pool, until this last October. We were at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel on a beautiful sunny day. Since it was our last day my wife wanted to lay out in the sun for awhile. After taking this picture I decided to go down and do some laps.

It was such a nice day and I didn't even think to test the water. So I dove in, swam the length of the pool faster than I ever thought I could, got to the other side and leaped out of the water like a dolphin! That water was VERY cold! My wife thought this was extremely funny because she, being much smarter that I, had tested the water and knew it was cold.

[Due]

Thanks for the laugh! (My wife thought it was funny too.)

[hawaiian by heart]

Gee swimming pools in Hawai'i.

With the excepting of tourists hotels WTH?

[smarino]

We used to live at the Bayshore Towers condominium in Hilo years ago. The pool was heated, and right by the ocean. It was pretty neat laying in the pool and watching the ocean right outside, just yards away. We miss that place, but wow, was it expensive.

[hotzcatz]

We have a big hot tub and it's heated with solar electric otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford it. It was installing that hot tub that influenced the installation of solar electric, too!

There are several community pools around and the one in our town just put in solar heating a year or so ago. Wish it had a nicer shaped pool instead of just rectangular. A waterfall or two would be fun, but that's usually only found at hotel pools, they have more money than municipal pools.