Cloward H2O, an expert in aquatic design, is revisiting two major premium resort projects in the Caribbean and Dubai as they celebrate over 25 years of success since Atlantis made its debut in The Bahamas. The company is using the opportunity of a new season to look back at how well some of its most iconic projects have endured through time:
“For more than four decades, Cloward H2O has been privileged to participate in the design and engineering of thousands of aquatic projects spanning virtually every aspect of aquatic attractions,” says a representative of the design company.
“These projects range from the simplest of fountains to large manmade lakes and river systems, hotel amenity pools to full-scale waterparks, and individual aquarium tanks to some of the largest aquarium facilities in the world.
Atlantis Paradise Island
When Atlantis Paradise Island first opened its doors in phase one in 1994, it set a new benchmark for hotels and outdoor facilities in the resort hospitality sector. With each successive development, it continued to raise the bar.
Phase Two included numerous swimming pools and slides, including the landmark Leap of Faith, as well as aquarium attractions containing 50,000 animals in a fully immersive ancient Atlantean habitat. This slide, the first of its type in the world, drops riders more than 60 feet from the top of a Mayan Pyramid into clear plastic slide portions that blast them through the shark tank.
Aquaventure, a one-of-a-kind, 141-acre waterscape with additional pools, a downhill action river with rapids, tidal surges, and various other effects, and Dolphin Cay, an 11-acre interactive dolphin lagoon that includes swimming coves and sandy beaches, pools, an education centre, an animal rescue rehabilitation hospital, and other animal care facilities, was added in Phase Three to complete the offering.
Sustainable ecosystems
Atlantis became the first mega-resort of its kind at its opening, and even more than 25 years later, continues to set high standards for premium resorts across the world.
“The sheer size and complexity of a 141-acre water park designed and engineered by Cloward H2O on hotel grounds turned these impossible dreams into reality. Pioneering new types of aquatic attractions on a scale such as this resulted in what is still considered the top vacation destinations in the world,” adds the firm.
A key objective of the resort is to help maintain the Bahamas’ unique ecosystem for future generations of visitors, something in which Atlantis remains a key stakeholder.
The Atlantis Blue Project Foundation is a nonprofit organisation that has worked since 2007 to protect species and their habitats throughout the Bahamas and the Caribbean Sea, funded and supported by Atlantis Resort.
Atlantis guests can participate in interactive learning opportunities and special encounters with animals in their secure enclosures while helping to develop sanctuaries for various species.
Atlantis The Palm
Atlantis The Palm is located in Dubai on the artificial Palm Island. The resort launched in 2008 and quickly became the largest aquarium and largest waterpark in the middle east, replicating in one go what took three phases and 15 years to create in the Bahamas. With its latest expansion, Atlantis’s Aquaventure Waterpark has become the largest waterpark in the world.
Atlantis boasts a variety of resort dining establishments, luxury retailers, a lively nightclub, spa and fitness centre, as well as a large number of meeting and event rooms which remain in high demand thanks to its impressive location atop The Palm Jumeirah crescent.
The vision of bringing Atlantis’ ancient civilization to the UAE was successfully transformed by Cloward H2O and the resort’s design team into a distinctive water playground with one-of-a-kind attractions.
Its famous 27.5-meter Leap of Faith drops riders through a clear acrylic tunnel submerged in a lagoon filled with sharks, whilst Shark Attack spins riders in tubes through darkness before emerging into another acrylic tunnel suspended in a real shark tank.
There are also three Master Blaster slides and a 2.3 km Rapids loop which allows riders to traverse river sections of high-intensity whitewater rapids and waterfalls interspersed with calmer sections, opening up to large zero-entry pools with roomy sundecks.
Open-flow system management
The main draw of the resort is its aquatic activities, including both freshwater and marine attractions. Aquaventure features over 18 million litres of water across its 17 hectares. More than 65,000 fish and other sea life representing more than 250 species live in the 42 million litres of salt water that are present throughout the entire resort.
The primary attraction, Ambassador Lagoon, is designed to resemble the streets and boulevards of the fabled lost city of Atlantis. The habitat includes marine species from the Arabian Gulf and the adjacent area’s local waterways.
Seawater is taken from the Arabian Gulf into an open-flow system through a nearly four million-litre reservoir. Before entering the marine habitats surrounding the resort, the water is filtered through sand, treated with ozone, and sanitised.
This aquatic ecosystem closely resembles the conditions that marine species would encounter in the wild, with continual environmental change and seasonal temperature variations. A fish hospital with isolation pools for babies, sick, and acclimating marine creatures will also be part of the marine ecosystem.
“Throughout our years in business, we have had the pleasure of forming many lasting friendships and wonderful partnerships with the people and firms that we have worked with all over the world. We have learned that providing excellent services and quality material always pays off in the long run.”
Cloward H2O recently shared its latest guidance for operators looking to incorporate splash pads into their offering.
