Colman Pool

Classic beautiful pool. I love the location and I can’t think of a better place to go swimming on a beautiful Seattle summer day.

World famous Coleman Pool Saltwater pumped from the other side of the sidewalk Puget Sound this place is the best.

How can you go wrong with a salt water pool right next to the ocean? You can’t! We look forward to the new season opening every year. Be aware, though, the salt content of the water is high (it’s purified sea water) so if you or your child is careless about getting water in the mouth, you’ll notice the difference between this pool and a typical salt water pool.

The view on a clear day is spectacular! I love coming over for lap swim on my days off. The lanes are usually not too crowded, and all the other swimmers are friendly. Once I met an Olympian there (who shall remain nameless), and even she was friendly and respectfully shared the lane with us mere mortals. Also, I like the salt chlorination, it’s not as hard on my skin and hair.

I like the pool but the facility is a bit run down and it is hard to get to.
First time I went one of the lady lifeguards was terribly rude to me when I asked questions because after all it was my first time and I had no clue what to do or where to go for things.
The prices are good but it gets crowded quickly!

It was a beautiful Seattle summer day — 80 degrees, no humidity– and I thought to myself, «What better day to go swimming right by the water in West Seattle’s Lincoln Park.» As a life-​long lover of swimming with a now 6 ½ year old who loves the water too it’s almost criminal that this was our first trip here.
We came down to the beach pretty early — around noon — and bought our tickets because I’ve heard it can sell out early on hot days. Then we spent about an hour just walking around, watching the people fish, throwing rocks, that sort of thing. We got in the line at around 115 or so when it was just starting, and by 145 when the pool opened the line had gotten so long I couldn’t see the back of it. Anyone who tried to get in after that opening time was turned away, although I don’t think I really had to get down here at noon. 1 would have been fine.
By the time we got changed into our suits and out to the pool all the lounge-​chairs were taken, but we managed to snag a few regular chairs to put our stuff. Lesson learned, for next time, go immediately out and snag the lounge-​chairs with a strategic placement of towels — and then go back to the locker room for changing. I’d also bring some snacks as swimming for 3 hrs can make you mighty hungry.
We had a great time though — my son can pass the deep water swim test with ease (swimming back/​forth across the pool) — allowing him to use the water slide ($ 1 extra), spring off the big diving board and otherwise splash around to his heart’s content. It was a busy day, but I didn’t feel like the lines for the slide/​diving board were too long, or that the pool was so crowded we couldn’t have fun. The water is warm and since it’s salt-​water you don’t get that chlorine burn even if you swim without goggles.
The locker rooms are quite large, but a little threadbare as are all city-​run properties these days. Gets the job done though, and they have showers + suit dryer + rental lockers ($ 0.25).
Great to have a public facility like this that really combines some of the best features of Seattle (waterfront view, park location, etc). Will definitely be back.

Lap swimming gets INSANELY PACKED! There were 5+ people to a lane at the lap swim last night.
The facilities are clean and well kept, lockers provided for $ 0.25, the heated salt water pool is warm enough, as long as you’re moving.
I would be happy to pay double the entry fee if that would mean only 2 – 3 people in a lane…

Coleman Pool is one of the few outdoor pools in Seattle. It is situated in Lincoln Park. On a beautiful Seattle summer day it’s fantastic place to go for a swim.
There are beautiful views of the water and its nice and clean. The prices are pretty cheap, about $ 5 for adults and $ 3 for children. Lockers are a quarter each use. There are tons of lifeguards on duty. They offer lap swim, swim lessons, public swim etc.
Pretty awesome place to get your tan and swim on. (:

Working out at Colman Pool is what defines summer as a swimmer in Seattle. Great swimmers from all over the city converge to swim long-​course in the sunshine. It doesn’t get better.

About a month ago a recreational group I belong to rented the pool from 7 until 9 p.m. one Saturday evening, after the pool was closed for the day.
I was the last person to shower up and leave Colman. I accidentally left my new swimsuit on the bench next to the showers. I didn’t think I would have any problem getting it back as between the private party that evening and the time the pool reopened the next day there was obviously no one else entering and using the facilities.
To my dismay despite calling the first thing the next morning, the lifeguards said they had not found my swimsuit. At the very least, even if the lifeguards had been in a hurry to get out early the previous evening (Saturday night, after all), there was also a maintenance person who scheduled to come in early Sunday.
Pretty mysterious.
When I did contact the Seattle Parks Department, they seemed pretty defensive and reported that the protocol for picking up stray items had been followed by their staff. («Maybe it fell out of your bag on the way to the car.» «But I know I hadn’t wrapped it up, as it would have been sopping wet.»).
On the other hand, swimsuits just don’t get up and walk away.
I would not leave anything behind at Colman Pool, for any reason, as security may be a problem («Maybe an ‘inside job’?»).

This is the greatest pool I’ve ever gone swimming in! Last summer was the first full summer in Seattle for my partner and me, and we’re always off on Tuesdays, so we were able to make it for three sessions that were actually on semi-​hot days. We chose the afternoon public swim… we still like swimming kiddo-​style. :)
It’s a little hard to find within the park. Each time we went, we ended up taking a different path down to the waterfront where the pool is located, and one time we had to climb down this dry waterfall bed. It’s probably not as long a walk as it seems to be when you’ve been on two buses coming from Wallingford and are eager to jump in the oh-​so-​refreshing salt water. We never had a problem getting in though – each time we showed up about an hour later than the beginning of the session and got in just fine, no lines. There were also no chairs a couple times, but we don’t lay out anyway.
So here’s some more reasons why Colman is the best pool ever:
1. the beach view, obvs. When you’re done swimming, it’s nice to sit on a log on the beach and rest before hiking back up the hill to the bus stop/​your car.
2. They have enough pool rafts and floaty noodles for an army of people. When you get tired of treading water while tossing around this awesome water-​skipping frisbee thingy they also have, you can grab onto a giant piece of animal-​shaped foam flotsam and take a breather. Two girls we saw there totally had the right idea: one had stacked several rafts, climbed on top, and had her friend pull her around with a noodle, like a chariot. What?!
3. Hi-​dive!!!
4.Tasty snackies in the machine, for if you forget to bring your own.
5. The salty water makes you feel really great inside. We swim at Evans Pool all winter and the swimming euphoria you get from a regular pool isn’t close to that which you get from a saltwater pool. It cures a hangover pretty well too.
It’s a bummer that it doesn’t open until the end of June this year, but it probably won’t be swimming weather until then anyway. Just wish they stayed open after labor day, or had a twilight public swim.

In a dead heat against myself to win the tacit contest of «least timely review of the season,» I’d like to note the excellence of this outdoor pool (one of Seattle’s only publicly accessible outdoor pools, in fact). Having spent years in pools during college for swimming and water polo and such, I’ve been in a variety of them, and there are quite a few criteria by which a pool can be judged (or, at times, damned).
I’ll start with the criteria that aren’t universal – the intangibles. Colman pool requires a sort of commitment to get to, as you have to walk through the park (or approach it from the not-​right-​off-​the-​roadway boardwalk, and it’s in West Seattle, which depending on who you talk to, might as well be Tangiers (or worse – Kirkland). But once you get there you’re rewarded with a panorama of ocean water, as the pool facility abuts the beach, and if you position yourself on the lee side of the pool, you can gaze at the watery horizon. Seattle, this is kind of as close as we get to the «infinity pool.»
Now onto the pool facts. For years in college I swam in a pool that was 33 and one third yards in length. It’s okay; I laugh too. Colman is regulation size, 50m and eight lanes, with both a high dive and a standard board. (These tidbits may matter less to you, of course, if you’re toting your kids over for a full 3 or 4? (foggy on this last bit) hours of outdoor splashings on those few days of summer which shriek up to an absolutely intolerable 81 degrees.
Up next: water composition. You know how a lot of pool water is chlorine and urine in what’s probably a ⁵³⁄₄₇ ratio? Yes, you do. Well I love Colman for using a grown up chlorine/​saltwater hybrid. It’s both fitting, as a pool which seems to extend from the ocean, and infinitely kinder on the skin, eyes and hair, and yes-​on those sad instances when you get a little blast of it kicked into your mouth by a noodle-​wielding toddler-​it tastes better.
So if you are a lane-​swimmer, this pool is fast, orderly, and there are some good swimmers who understand protocol. Nice. If you’re more a «drag kids to swim lessons» type, you’ll also appreciate that these lifeguards are overwhelmingly Not Dickheads. This is a big one (are you listening, Ballard Pool?) I happened to be in the cordoned off area when a little girl began to struggle and I swept her up and delivered her poolside to her mama. The lifeguard didn’t get butt-​hurt about this, and appreciated it and thanked me. And I watched her administer the rules that are necessary without ever being patronizing or snotty. This is a challenge when one is 19, and I’ve seen it go very awry, people! In the many times we’ve been to this pool I’ve had opportunities to watch many of the lifeguards chastise, remind, enforce, and cajole, and you know, they’re a really good bunch.
The young woman who staffed the front of the house this summer is also outrageously good-​natured, and even secretly allowed us to plunder the overspilling Drawer of Lost Goggles after she recognized us from our recidivist patterns of arriving without goggles and repurchasing them ad nauseam.
Overall this pool is kind of dreamy. The sort of place that you’d almost make a trans-​city move for if you’re into that sort of thing. The swimming serenely against a backdrop of sea and sky sort of thing, that is.

This outdoor salt water pool is located on the water in West Seattle. While mostly it only allows for lap swimming it can be a great place to get some excercise on a sunny day. Beware it can be crowded. Supposedly many real swimmers practice here. It can be quite a walk from the parking lot though as it is located in the depths of the park, but its a nice walk and everyone could probably do with a little more excercise.

Oh, yuk, I have to downgrade Colman Pool to three stars because today I saw a band-​aid and hairs floating in the water AND someone left nail clippings on the pool deck behind a chair. They must have been grooming their toenails because they were way too big to be fingernails. Either way, that’s just nasty.

It’s a bit of a walk over to the pool, but a little exercise never hurt anybody.
On a sunny day in Seattle, this pool is jaw-​dropping. It’s large, clean, heated, outdoors, alongside the beach, and with a view of the Olympic mountiains. They even have a picnic area if you want to bring a group or your family.
Personally, I prefer going to the 5pm-​7pm lap swim. It’s more relaxed and with the lap swim you can really experience how massive the pool is.

No, no, no.
For a town with a love affair with fitness, where is the love for the Colman pool?
While the setting is gorgeous, who can deny that (?), the pool had a dirty floor in the locker room, just ok staff, crowded lap lanes (7 – 11 people in a lane), slightly unclean water (it is salt water), and slightly peeling pool walls.
I prefer a cleaner pool in a less scenic location.

This place is AMAZING! A beautiful 50-​yard, outdoor, salt water pool perched on the edge of the Puget Sound with incredible views of the Olympics.
Lap swimming here is great. Even when it’s crowded the 50 yard lanes really keep people pretty well spaced. And after swimming, you can sun in the lounge chairs and soak up the sun.
I’ve heard the slide is also fun, but haven’t tried it yet… next time I’m there though, I’ll give it a try!

I had always heard of the Colman pool like some mythical creature. People spoke of it with a faraway look in their eye. The saltwater! The sound view! The open air! The low price!
It wasn’t until this record breaking summer that it seemed worth venturing out to. (I know, I know– West Seattle is actually very close). With a 20 min drive we were whisked away from the big city to summer a little more idyllic. Parking is well marked, but a bit confusing as it identifies beach parking or something. We began a trek downwards (to the left) towards the beach. Wonderful picnic tables, play areas, and finally an open trail along the waterfront led the way to the pool.
For $ 4 there are ample deck chairs, deliciously warm & refreshing salt water, and glorious Seattle sun. I was in heaven. Thank you to the truly wonderful diver who made some spectacular dives, and kinda biffed it once. Even more thanks go to the flopper who landed on his back and was red for the rest of the afternoon.
Quarter points off for the slide costing a dollar more & that the diving boards aren’t open the entire time. Ten points for this spectacular Seattle summer. Everyone’s a winner!

I went swimming during the public swim at the Colman Pool this weekend. I had a great experience.
It is true, you have to walk through a park and down a hill to reach the pool, but the walk was not that difficult for me. However, walking back up all the stairs, I definitely ran out of breath. It would be a difficult walk for some.
The view is spectacular. The pool is right on the sound and you can see the water and sail boats in the distance. There is also a nice grassy area around the pool, with part of it fenced off, so you can sit there while still inside the facility.
Once you get down to the pool, we had to wait in line to get in. There were 2 lines, one for people who needed to buy tickets and one for people who already had them. I found this strange since I looked on the pool’s website and found no place to purchase tickets ahead of time. Maybe the other line was for people with passes? I don’t know.
The locker room was nice and large and had tables that you could put all your stuff on while you changed and put on sunblock.
Once I was outside, ALL tables, chairs, and chaise lounges were occupied. I was surprised at this, since we got in line at the front door 15 minutes before public swim opened. But, we found a place to put our towels on the ground and swam the whole time we were there anyway.
The pool is a great size — 50 meters and is divided into sections, which is nice. The smaller children were in the shallowest section and so on. My group swam in the 5 – 6 feet section and had plenty of room to move around.
I personally like the salt water much better than chlorine, but my sister disagreed with me. But, swallowing pool water isn’t fun, no matter what’s in it.
We had a great time swimming and I would definitely go back again! :)

You have to go to Colman Pool because its just so cool.
Especially on a hot day.
It’s an outdoor, saltwater, heated pool nestled between the amazing Lincoln Park and the beach near the Fauntleroy Ferry.
It’s cheap thrills and the only drawback is A LOT of other people think so. I’d suggest going off hours to avoid the big crowds, but you definitely need to go. Its retro cool, but better hurry this watery oasis closes for the season way too soon. A fairly perfect day would include a leisurely walk through Lincoln Park or a bike ride from Beach Drive. Picnic optional, but always recommended.