Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Finding Nemo

For all its charms, landlocked Brussels has never been an obvious destination for a scuba diving weekend. Richard Fleury reports on how a civil engineer with a lifelong passion for the underwater world decided to change all that

John Beernaerts’ dream of creating the world’s first purpose-built indoor diving complex began late one night in a Brussels bar. He was doodling on a napkin while waiting for friends when he had his eureka moment.

“That’s the idea! It’s too good. We have to build this!” Beernaerts said to himself as he sketched out a new aquatic leisure concept.

Today, Nemo33 isn’t only a reality but a success. Beernaerts and I are sitting at the complex’s bar as waiters walk by serving drinks and delicious Thai food. Facing us above the bottles and optics is a row of large picture windows. Every few seconds a diver drifts past, happily blowing bubbles in the blue water. It’s a human aquarium.

Building Nemo33 in Uccle on the outskirts of Brussels was a huge undertaking, costing €5m, seven years of Beernaerts’ life and four girlfriends.

“It was really an obsession. I was at the A and I had to make it to Z,” says the 47-year-old. “It was so risky. The investors were quite worried because we didn’t know if the public would come. But they came.” More than 100,000 divers from all over Europe have found Nemo33 since it opened in 2004.

At 33 metres deep, this is the world’s deepest swimming pool. The 2,500,000 litres of spring water are maintained at 33°C. The stuff is so pure, Beernaerts boasts it’s drinkable. Although frankly, I wouldn’t. Not with up to 50 aquanauts submerged at any one time.

Before Nemo33, Belgian scuba divers were limited to dark, freezing lakes, flooded quarries or the North Sea; none too enticing and not especially safe, either. Beernaerts’ brainwave was “to bring the Bahamas into Brussels”.

“I wanted to make tropical water,” he explains. “To build the Rolls-Royce of swimming pools.”

But Nemo33 is much more than a big swimming pool. It was designed specifically for scuba diving, with every feature informed by Beernarts’ 32 years of underwater experience.

He offers me a guided tour of his creation. So we kit up at the poolside three storeys up, with the equipment provided as part of the €20 entry fee, and wade into the warm water.

Dropping to 10 metres, I pause at the observation windows to wave to my wife and bemused five-year-old son sitting in the restaurant, then we make our way to the 33-metre pit. Looking down, we are greeted by a roaring wall of bubbles rising from the divers below. We descend through what resembles a Jacuzzi filled with fins, arms and legs – the pit can get quite crowded at weekends – until we reach the bottom.

The dive computer on my wrist reads 34 metres. I can feel the pressure of more than a 100 feet of water bearing down and a numbness in my lips, an early sign of nitrogen narcosis (a potentially dangerous intoxicating effect of depth on the brain). The pit is kept deliberately dark to make divers aware of their environment.

We spend a few minutes at the bottom, Beernaerts checking the floor tiles, while I stare up at the distant disc of light visible through the frog flotilla of divers above. Then it’s time to ascend via the underwater tunnels and chambers, filled with pressurised, breathable air. Beernaerts designed these to allow instructors talk to students without surfacing. Divers can pop up, spit out their regulators and chat 10 metres below the surface. Very sociable. But then socialising is a big part of Nemo33’s appeal: “Seeing fish is replaced by meeting mermaids,” says Beernaerts.

Above Nemo33’s bar has observation windows so you can watch the diving action; Right Make a relaxing day of it with a drink on the terrace; Left At 33 metres, the pool is the world’s deepest

“There are people who have been coming here once a week from the beginning – they’ve done hundreds of dives here,” he continues. “It’s like pressing the reset button. It’s like a sauna or yoga. All the stress of work, of the week, is gone in one hour.”

Even the world’s best pool will never beat the magic of a tropical reef, of course. But as a scuba training and practice facility, Nemo33 is in a class of its own. It’s safe, comfortable and convenient – just turn up with your scuba certification, dive computer, swimming gear and a 50 cent coin for the locker, and enjoy a relaxing 45 minutes underwater.

Every city should have one. And perhaps one day every city will. Beernaerts is already talking to potential investors about opening a London Nemo…

Need to know

Nemo33 is located at 333 Rue de Stalle, Uccle, Brussels. Entry costs €20 per dive. For more information and booking details, call (0)2 332 3334 or visit www.nemo33.com.

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