Ned Baumer Aquatic Center

My experience at Ned Baumer only consisted of bringing my young 15 month old daughter swimming a couple times, however I have enjoyed using their kid and adult pool. I may not have enrolled in any of their programs, or used their large water slide, but I will say that having the children’s pool even available is a plus in my book. I live close the other public pool in Carmel Valley, and their children’s pool wasn’t even open all summer… hence I found myself 20 minutes away at Ned Baumer.
The children’s pool is great in opinion, and that of my toddler. My daughter and I love the little whale slide, and the overhead buckets that poor water on you. There is also a large «WaterWorld» like fort for kids to play and slide down on. Both times I went to Ned Baumer, there were no crowds, plenty of place to play, and chairs to lay out on.
My only feedback is that the center should have longer hours. After Labor Day in San Diego, everyone nows it’s still hot as magma outside, so having the pool open for only 4 hours on weekend afternoons makes it hard to get there on time and make the most of the pools. Otherwise, I definitely recommend Ned Baumer Aquatic Center for other families, especially on those blazing hot days.

The Aqua Fitness Class was cancelled today, so I was in the big pool. Very nice. However, they have an ant problem; both visits and my towel and clothing were covered in ants.

This place is awesome! I take the little monsters here all the time. Even when there are field trips or camps here for the day there is plenty of room. And even better is when you get there and there are only a few people there. The pool is nice and warm and the lifegaurds are attentive. There is ample room in the locker rooms and plenty of showers and bathroom facilities. The pools and play structure are always clean, the kids always have a blast!

I really want to like this place — it is such a beautiful place and the kiddie pool is really nice for young children. But every time I’ve gone, it’s been a huge disappointment that has been a waste of a day — seriously, don’t waste your time! Almost every time I’ve tried to go, they are either full and won’t let anyone else in, have a rowdy school full of kids there, or the kiddie pool is closed. On the two (out of probably 10 attempts) that we were able to get in, my kids got bad diarrhea both times afterwards! As the previous reviewer said, the lifeguards are horrible, mean, and ruin any chance that you may have a semi-​good time there. You have to keep your young children at arms-​length at all times and they are not allowed to use any flotation devices — despite the fact that the other city pools allow them!
If you are looking for a good family friendly city pool, Carmel Valley has a splash pool plus a zero entry for kids and the lifeguards & manager are MUCH nicer — I will never go back to Ned Baumer!

My kids have been here for multiple swim lessons. The lessons are inexpensive, but offer very little individual attention. My kids have been to several lessons and still couldn’t swim on their own. They learned more from our pool at home from us.
Recently, my kids begged to come here and hang out at their splash zone. My four year old loved it, although the water is freezing. My six year old was almost too big for the stuff there, but enjoyed himself too.
The lifeguards here are on a power trip. No fun allowed. I’m not talking about the normal no running, no diving, no holding someone under water stuff. You can’t bring in any water toys here, or floaties. The kick boards, noodles, dive rings, etc. that they have available are for swim school students only, but are left out in the open in an unlocked cabinet. The water slide is never on, and they refused to turn it on. The regular swim area is really small, maybe 15×15. If you want to swim laps, there are a few lanes for that, unless it’s swim practice or water polo time.
The hours here are really limited and parking can be a bit of a PITA because it is on campus.
Try the Rancho YMCA instead, way better value for the money and less cranky lifeguards.

I’m down here from Portland and needed to continue my triathlon training. I was very happy to find this place. There were plenty of lanes, the temperature was perfect and the locker room was large and clean.

My kids took swimming lessons here this past summer and they loved it! The teachers were very good and very effective. One of my sons was afraid of the water and now, he loves to put his face in the water and blow bubbles and even jump in! My other son already loved the water, but had no idea how to stroke. Now he knows how to stroke and is working on how to breathe while doing so. My only complaints would be the registration process — online doesn’t always work. They do have on-​site registration, but it is painstakingly slow. The workers are very helpful, though. Also, in the middle of one of the sessions, they made a rule that boys over the age of 5 could not be in the women’s locker room. That made if very hard for me to shower my kids and get on with our day, since by boys are 4 and 6. I did not feel comfortable letting my 6 year old shower by himself in the men’s locker room — especially since the showers in there are just open — no stalls. The workers offered for us to use the showers on the deck — in public eye. Thanks, but no thanks. Plus, they don’t have hot water in the showers on the deck.