PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Instead of the beach, Yamira Baez is celebrating her birthday at a human-made lagoon in East Pasco County.
“I’m a Floridian, so beaches, kinda been there,” said Baez.
The 15-acre Mirada Lagoon, part of the Mirada housing community in San Antonio near Dade City, is the largest in the U.S.
“I saw it on social media a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been wanting to go to the Epperson one for a few years and saw this and heard about this and that it was bigger and newer, so we made the plans to come here,” said Baez.
David Heaton is director of operations for MetroLagoons, the company that runs Mirada Lagoon, and two others in the Bay Area.
He said the number one question he gets asked is how they keep such a large body of water so clean.
“It’s 37 million gallons of water, so we really use technology to maintain the filtration, the water treatment and we have cutting edge technology including vacuum pump systems to just keep this water looking crystal clear and beautiful all the time,” said Heaton.
The Mirada Lagoon also has amenities like VIP areas, a swim-up bar, a waterslide, a floating obstacle course, and kayaking.
Non-residents can buy a day pass with cost depending on the day.
Surrounding the Fourth of July, it’s about $40 for adults, $35 for children.
“Family friendly having the adults have a few drinks, cocktails while also having the kids having a good time as well. Everybody is having a good time,” said Baez.
Mary Silva and her family visited from North Carolina and chose to come here over the beach.
“Just because it’s easier to swim in and safer for the family environment as well as we already went to the beach this week. So it was like, let’s try something else,” said Silva.
More lagoons will be coming to Florida, with the next one being built in Manatee County.
