Orca Swim School

Let me start by saying what fantastic teachers work at this location. Calvin has been my 4 year old’s teacher for 6 months. The class sizes are made small, and the teachers help the children learn at their individual paces. The school works very hard to find a time that works best with your schedule, and that remains your spot until you wish a change it. The price is also reasonable. The reason I took a star away is the state of the facility, which really should be renovated, and it would be nice for them to accept credit card payment, but that second one is a small inconvenience. I absolutely recommend this school.
UPDATE: unfortunately, Calvin, the teacher we I loved so much, has moved on, and his replacement, while good, just doesn’t seem to engage as well with the kids, nor does she remind them about basic rescue techniques when they start to struggle or get tired away from the edge of the pool.

I had the opportunity to take the Adult Beginner’s group swimming lesson at Orca on May 2014 at their Bothell location. Let me summarize the various aspects of this course
1) Having previously attended a swimming course elsewhere and dropping out of it, I was not sure if I would ever complete the course. However the first class made all the difference. The course content and teaching style of this class is never unheard of (at least to me) — It is designed to put you to calm and find comfort in water each time when you step in to the pool.
2) Each class is 3hr long with one hr discussing the topics and experiences for each swimmer in the group. The talking part is useful as it reinforces within us every swimmer’s goal is to find comfort in water and have fun!
3) In the pool, the instructor walked us through the very first baby steps — dipping your face in to water to jumping in to deep water. As a person who was always afraid of water, I can’t believe how I had come so far.:-)
4) The group is only a maximum of 7 and it is designed to provide individual attention to all the swimmers. There were enough spotters while you are in the deep end of the pool.
5) I had always though of swimming as competing against water, but this course taught me how to be within yourself (1^st Circle of comfort) in the water. Most importantly I learned how to have fun while swimming in the water.
6) I believe a course can be as effective as how good the instructor is. My thanks to Cori, our wonderful instructor. She is calm, patient and forgiving at our errors and always remind us to be slow and comfortable within so that swimming comes naturally as opposed to a ‘competition’ against water.

We went to our sons first swim lesson with Orca. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the facility and how it is marketed on the website. I felt with a nice website, a private swim school, and higher prices, the facility would match what is offered. I cant believe how unprofessional and how a business is legally operated out of that place.
«This is a private indoor pool with many outdoor features like beautiful plants that surround the deck. The pool has both shallow and deep water, it also features a small hot tub. The water temperature in the pool is a consistent 90 degrees. Our classes are exclusive to this pool.»
Pros:
1) Importantly, the teacher was amazing with kids
Cons:
1) The facility/​pool looked horrendous. The floors around the pool, the bathrooms were filthy. The random chairs, some dirty, some clean, lack thereof etc…
2) Hot tub? it looked like a hot mess with junk toys and leaves at the bottom of it.
3) Parking situation is a nightmare.
Check out the facility before signing up!