In the beginning of the month, my family and I headed to Manitou Beach which is a small resort town on the edge of Little Manitou Lake.  Sure, there are a lot of little resort towns next to lakes so, what’s so special about this one?  Salt!  The salt content of Little Manitou Lake is quite large.   So large, in fact, that you become super buoyant and can easily float around in the water.  The region actually calls itself “Unsinkable Watrous-Maniou” and comparisons to the Dead Sea are rife.  So, is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

After a quick lunch, we wandered around the spa and hotel a bit.  We came across an interesting sign showing the mineral content of the water.  It’s so amazing what and how much mineral there is in there!  Eventually, my brother and I headed to the beach while my dad soaked in the spa waters.  Supposedly, the pool is the same water as the lake but, warmed up, however, I can’t find much information about this.

The beach is rapidly disappearing as water levels in this endorheic basin (a closed drainage area from other lakes or rivers) are rising.  In some areas of the town, bumpers have been put in place to try to hold the water back.  Unfortunately, many places are at risk for flooding including the spa and hotel, historic Danceland, and many homes.  You can see where the beach once was as a look out point is now flooded and several meters into the water.  But, we still managed to find a little spot to put our stuff down and we wandered into the water.  As you being to wade into the water though, you discover that the stones at the edge of the water are ridiculously large and pointy.  I can’t imagine what kind of beach it was before the flooding to have such rocks laying around.  But, you soon pass them and get back to regular sand under your feet.  Of course, this being Saskatchewan, the water is cold but, in August, it’s tolerable.  I was eventually able to dip my whole body in the water and before I knew it, my legs came out from under me and I was floating.

It was definitely a lot of fun floating around.  The day was a little windy so, you had to be careful floating around otherwise you might float away or worse, get a mouthful of water!  Normally, lake water in the mouth is gross but, fairly benign.  At Little Manitou Lake, lake water is absolutely disgusting!  I thought it would be like, well, like a mouthful of salt water.  But, the mineral content table shows that the lake contains more than just sodium chloride.  I’m not sure what it was that made the nasty taste but, I recommend keeping your mouth closed there!  Overall though, it was a lovely day and whether the water has healing powers or not, I’ll definitely be back for another float!