That’s one of the world’s greatest places, according to TIME magazine. Photo: Surf Abu Dhabi
Wave pools are a booming industry. They’ve come a long way in a few short years, and TIME magazine recently decided that Surf Abu Dhabi deserved a spot on its World’s Greatest Places list.
Every year, TIME asks for nominations for places that could be on the list. That includes hotels, cruises, restaurants, attractions, museums, parks, and more. According to TIME, the editors rely on an international network of correspondents and contributors to compile the list — as well as an application process that weeds out the riff-raff — in an effort to compile 100 of the best places to stay and/or visit.
The list is a comprehensive one, including a bunch of odd ones, like a boutique hotel network in China, Philadelphia’s Netflix House, and Deer Valley Resort in Utah.
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This is, as you’d expect, the first time a wave pool has landed on the list, but it’s not all that much of a surprise.
“Surf pools are riding a wave of popularity,” TIME wrote. “Recent openings include Europe’s largest inland wave pool, Lost Shore Surf Resort in Edinburgh and Atlantic Surf Park in Virginia Beach, backed by Pharrell Williams, with more developments underway in New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, China, and Portugal. But the new Surf Abu Dhabi in the UAE is the first to break through the pro surf world’s skepticism about man-made waves.”
While that last sentence is certainly up for debate, it can’t be denied that Surf Abu Dhabi has had its fair share of vocal proponents. The venue uses Kelly Slater Wave Company technology — the same you see at the Surf Ranch in Lemoore — and already, it has won three Guinness World Records for the longest artificial wave on Earth as well as the largest wave pool.
“There’s no natural surf break in the world that runs perfection 365 days a year, but ours does,” Ryan Watkins, Surf Abu Dhabi’s general manager, told TIME. “We run the wave roughly every three minutes and 40 seconds — the interval that allows the basin to settle so each wave is perfect.”
