[One Day 10,000 Steps, One Day 1,000 Characters] Underwater Nordic Walking with Seaweed and Mud Therapy... This Place Established in Wando

Marine healing refers to health promotion activities that use various marine resources to heal the body and mind. On November 24th, Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do, opened the country's first 'Wando Marine Healing Center.' The Wando Marine Healing Center consists of a total of 16 therapy rooms across the 1st and 2nd floors, with five therapy rooms on the 1st floor, including the largest seawater pool called the 'Thalasso Pool.'

Underwater exercise in the Thalasso pool
Photo by Wando-gun

The 'Thalasso Pool' (from the Greek word meaning 'sea'), filled with purified seawater drawn from Myeongsasimni Beach in front of the center, offers aquatic exercise programs led by professional instructors at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m., using aqua sticks and underwater dumbbells. It also provides water pressure massages through air bubbles and dream baths. Various aquatic exercises and water pressure massages in the 'Thalasso Pool' help with full-body relaxation, pain relief, and muscle soreness alleviation. Visitors can also learn underwater Nordic walking using poles, similar to skiing. The 'Thalasso Pool' has become a healing spot with a panoramic view of the blue sea of Sinji Myeongsasimni.

Near the 'Thalasso Pool,' there is a 'Seaweed Foam Therapy Room' where seaweed extracts are made into foam for massages, a 'Mud Therapy Room' where applying mud harvested in Wando helps with detoxification and skin improvement, a 'Meditation Pool' where visitors float on seawater for meditation, and a 'Seawater Mist Room' utilizing brine water.

Wando Marine Healing Center Exterior View [Photo by Wando-gun]

During the pilot operation period, surveys conducted with visitors showed that the 'Meditation Pool' and 'Seaweed Foam Therapy' were the most popular programs. The total time required to use all five therapy rooms on the 1st floor is about two hours. Currently, to commemorate the opening, a 50% discount event on center usage fees is underway. The 1st-floor programs can be used for 18,000 KRW.

Shin Woo-cheol, the mayor of Wando-gun, stated, "We hope you experience marine healing directly in Wando and feel its effects," adding, "We will do our best to make the Wando Marine Healing Center a hub facility for Korea's marine healing industry and to promote the activation of the marine healing industry."