Photograph courtesy Carmel Salt Caves
WE’VE ALL READ A NOVEL in which a sickly heroine is sent to the seashore for fresh salt air, where she recovers to meet a swarthy lighthouse keeper. The plot device is based on a grain of truth.
After visiting a salt cave in Massachusetts, Skye Winslow, a naturopathic doctor, was inspired. Salt air is charged with negative ions, shown to increase oxygen absorption, reduce symptoms of colds and allergies, and ease respiratory ailments. Thus began a three-year effort to transform a historic home into the Carmel Salt Caves.
They aren’t actual caves but two cave-like rooms. No matter. They’re bewitching, hand-hewn from pink Himalayan salt sustainably sourced from Pakistan. Chill in a zero-gravity recliner or plop down on the salt. Starry lights twinkle, the “fireplace” carved from 300-million-year-old salt glows, and the sound of waves mingled with spa music lulls. Microparticles of pharmaceutical grade salt are dry-misted inside the low humidity, 73-degree caves.
A 50-minute session is like spending four hours at the ocean. Go on, make salt angels.
