Single Older Woman – Lake Manitou – Beach #4 – Accomplished

August 2019

As the days to my next swimming vacation approached in August 2019, I marveled at how much I enjoyed busing and biking to work these past few months.

When the day finally arrived to get myself to the airport, I decided to take the bus to the airport, instead of a taxi. I was packed and out the door by 6:15 am, grabbed my coffee and walked with my suitcases to the bus stop. Wow -what a thrill that was -where normally I would be going to work, now I’m going on VACATION! For the cost of one bus fare – $3.15, it took me less than 20 minutes to get the Terminal 3. My mode of transport for this trip would be flight to Saskatchewan, train from Saskatoon to Edmonton, AB and flight home to Pearson from AB.

The two beaches/bodies of water to accomplish this time would be Lake Manitou in Watrous, Sask and Devonshire Beach in Edmonton.

My accommodations while in Sask, included two nights at the #Park TownHotel in downtown Saskatoon and the #Manitouspringsresort in Watrous.

This Resort boasted a large enclosed pool with several hot tubs and areas with varying water temperatures. The water used to fill these pools was piped in directly from Lake Manitou. As a guest of the resort, we had unlimited access to these pools and the daily experience was sheer joy and relaxation. Due to the abundant amount of therapeutic salts and natural minerals found in the lake water, once submerged, your body/skin was treated to the most softening effect. If one is used to swimming in a chlorinated pool or any beach, the colour of the water took a little getting used to – it had a light green tinge to it.

The last day (Aug. 11) of my trip to Watrous, was the day I had chosen to swim in Lake Manitou. The temp hovered around 23 Celsius, with heavy cloud cover. Not the most ideal day for swimming. I set out to peruse the beach for anyone willing to be my videographer. I found one such couple and they were more than happy to accommodate me.

Now I must confess, the water temperature was quite chilly – lakes in Canada are not as warm as the world’s oceans – yikes!!!!! I put one foot in and gritted my teeth – cold, cold, cold……I was not so sure I could do this swim……..

A thought occurred to me then – “I don’t have to swim here – I’ve already been in the pool at the Resort which uses this lake water as its source”… Who would know????? See that’s the thing about integrity – I would know that I didn’t swim at one of the Best Beaches in Canada and it would haunt me for the rest of my journey.

So, in I went, and swam out for a bit. My beach buddies turned on the camera and got to taping………I did a few short swims and then made my way out………

I did it! Lake Manitou has been conquered – now time for a dip in the warm therapeutic pool…….lol.

If you are counting – I’ve now done Parlee Beach, Singing Sands Beach, Grand Beach, Lake Manitou and next is Devonshire Beach. We are almost done.

Thank you, as always, for reading and letting me share.

Joye