When you arrive, you immediately notice how pretty everything is! You get a tease of the famous blue water as you enter the building. While waiting to be checked in, you get a bit about what to do once you enter. The biggest thing is they are not kidding about the water drying out your hair! No amount of pre-conditioning will help. I used a large amount of conditioner before and after and my hair still felt like straw for 3 days! While you may bring lots of travel size bottles, make sure to bring a full size conditioner…you’ll need it! You check in and they give you a band that will give you access to a locker and free beverage. You are also given a towel. Whether this is the towel you keep is another story (detailed below). You enter into the locker room, place you stuff in a locker and must take a shower before entering the lagoon. I brought an old swimsuit and purchased a rash guard, which I highly recommend as in January it is windy and chilly. You do not need to bring flip flops as they are not allowed inside. Now here is the really odd thing, right before you enter, you have to hang up your (white) towel. There are hundreds of towels hanging. I placed my towel in the corner, cocked the handle so I would know which one was mine. This was the only way I was able to tell when I left.

The water is so warm I hardly noticed it was 30ish degrees out. The water came to around mid-chest but I mostly squatted so that essentially just my head was exposed. I immediately went to get my complimentary mudmask. It is made from the silica that is found in the lagoon. My next stop was the bar. You are given a free beverage…as I did not drink the alcoholic beverages, I am not sure if that is included or only the smoothies. I had a blueberry smoothie and it was pretty tasty. I also got a bottle of water…you need to stay hydrated!! I thought I would have to pay for the bottled water but when I left and pay for my additional beverage, I did not have a charge. I wasn’t about to complain!

I wandered around for about an hour. It was very relaxing. When you arrive, they give you a card with all the departure times, usually running every hour. I spent about two hours total. There is a gift shop with all sorts of beauty products. I did buy some travel size lotions and lip balms for my two best friends and myself. They were relatively inexpensive and a nice gift!

Other than my hair, which I wore in a French braid the rest of the trip, the experience was amazing! I do wish I had spent more time with my camera prior to leaving. When I uploaded my photos, most were blurry and/or curved. It was a bit of a bummer. My dad believes that due to it being overcast, there just wasn’t enough light. It is a touch disconcerting as I was planning on taking the camera to Australia and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef this June. I may purchase a Lumix underwater camera as a backup, but I will keep you posted.