The Ultimate Self Care Sunday: Spa Chance Harbour

Dear Readers,

Sunday’s have always been my favourite day of the week, I like taking at least part of the day to re-charge for the week and do something for myself. I tend to work for just a couple of hours on Sunday, but usually in the evening I like to relax with a bubble bath, facial and do my nails. A couple of weeks ago, I had the ultimate self care Sunday at Spa Chance Harbour alongside my best friends. Last year I visited Spa Chance Harbour for the first time with the girls from Urban Shoe Myth. I knew my girl friends would love it too, so with everyone coming home for the Christmas holiday I made the point to organize a girls day with everyone. My friends and I are spread out all over the country – from New Brunswick to British Columbia, so it’s always special when we all get together.

Located at 110 Cranberry Head Road, Spa Chance Harbour is just a half hour outside of Saint John, making it the perfect afternoon getaway. Like I said in my previous blog post, “Spa Chance Harbour is a nature spa that focuses on thermal therapy. Essentially, thermal therapy is exposing your body to extreme warm temperatures e.g. a hot tub or a sauna and then exposing your body to extreme cold temperatures e.g. an ice bath or diving into the Atlantic ocean.” Since this was my second time visiting the nature spa, I knew what to expect and came more prepared. 

One of the lucky details about this trip to the spa was that there was only one other group visiting, so it was like we had the place to ourselves which was great!

The first stop we made was the sauna, to warm ourselves up after we changed into our bathing suits and robes. I should have taken a photograph of inside the sauna. It’s so cute, and has a beautiful view, the wall is allllll windows so you can look out to the Bay of Fundy. Plus, the smell from the wood fire is so comforting.  Following the sauna you can dump a bucket of cold water on yourself to cool back down! Since it was raining out while we were there, I felt like it was okay for me to skip that step 😜.

Following the sauna (and the bucket for some of us) we headed over to the hot pool. The hot pool is basically a massive hot tub, and my favourite part of the nature spa. It is so relaxing, and a great place to chat and catch up with friends. From the second photo we took you can see how hot and steamy the hot pool was!

After the hot pool, the next step was another cold water submersion in the natural spring. This was definitely pretty chilly and I only made it partly into the natural pool of water that was partially frozen over. They did have a railing installed on the rocks which did make it easier to climb in.

(P.S. just ignore my physio tape on my shoulders)

In the lodge they have a little cafe where you can purchase tea and coffee, but you are also welcome to bring any food or drinks that you would like. They have two mini fridges to store your own food, so we brought a couple of bottles of prosecco and snacks for our little lunch break.

Following our little snack break a few of my friends were brave enough to dive into the ocean for the final cold water submersion. December Bay of Fundy temperature wasn’t really what I was feeling that day… but maybe next time I’ll be adventurous enough to dive in!  The walk down to the ocean was extremely therapeutic, and also extremely entertaining watching my three friends run in and out of the ocean quickly.

Our Sunday trip to Spa Chance Harbour was the perfect start to the Christmas break (and a great first day of vacation). One of the many fantastic things about the Maritimes is it is SO easy to get away, just for an afternoon even. Spa Chance Harbour is a beautiful, quiet, relaxing location. Definitely a destination I need to visit more often. Next time I will have to switch things up, and visit when there is no snow on the ground. I think I would be more in favour of diving in the Bay of Fundy then.

So, if you are feeling like you need a relaxing day, grab a few friends, some delicious snacks, your bathing suit, and take a drive to Spa Chance Harbour. You will not be disappointed!

 

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