I had my eye on this place for quite a while before finally experiencing it myself a few weekends ago now. We know New Brunswick has a lot to offer, but a lot of our hidden gems are "summer only" spots, so I was excited to check out a place that's sweet no matter what season it is! Besides, is it really a polar bear dip if it's not in the winter? :)
Two of my "couple friends" had been there about a year ago and spoke highly of it so they let me tag along this time! We now have two new members of the polar dip club!
So, the whole spa operates to provide thermal therapy. As they say on their website, this therapy is not very well-known in western society, but it boasts many health benefits and is just fun!
They recommend a certain pattern for your therapy going from hot to cold to hot, and so on. You can do the recommended pattern or just build your own adventure. We really like the sauna and the hot pool and the bucket of ice cold water! But more on that later. You can find out more about the health benefits and pattern here.
We went on a brisk -7 winter day, but there wasn't much snow as we've had such a weird winter (for the third winter in a row)! We brought our own bath robes, but you can also rent some there if you don't have your own. It is recommended to wear shoes that can get wet as you're in and out of water all day. I wore flip flops and I didn't get too cold going from place to place. Rubber boots were a little more cumbersome, so I'd recommend the sandals.
We started off admiring the Bay of Fundy in the beautiful sauna.
And then once we started sweating, we cooled off with the bucket of freezing fresh water!
We then rushed to the hot pool to get warm again, which was also nice and relaxing. I liked that it was nestled up in the trees. :)
The "cold option" closest to the hot pool was the waterfall. We did meander over, but access is a little more difficult in the winter. I sat in the waterfall for a second before rushing back to the hot pool.
It was nice to be able to see another New Brunswick waterfall while I was there!
From there, we finished off our first "round" in the steam room. This area is quite small and only fits about 5 or so people. It was a little too steamy for me, but it was my friend's favourite spot!
We spent most of the day trying to decide if we were going to brave the Bay of Fundy for the Polar Dip! Mark and I worked up the courage, and Lindsay was our photographer. :)
This is clearly BEFORE I froze my butt off!
It was SOOO cold!! We RAN to the sauna to warm up again.
Like a beacon in the night.
Humans do weird things.
They also have their Polar Bear Cafe where they offer drinks and healthy snacks.
Or, you can bring your own lunch and enjoy it by the fire.
We had a really fun day at the spa and it was a really nice winter adventure! I'll definitely be back.
I'll leave you with my favourite capture of the day!