A short walk from where we anchored we found the source of the hot water. There was a small group of three or four small hot springs surrounded by rocks to create a sort of hot spring rock garden. Some were just a trickle but the largest boiled away wildly in a small pool. The water they expelled flowed into a small steaming creek that wound its way down toward town and the beach. The creek was still boiling and much too hot to dip your hand in. In the name of science, some very hot spring water was collected in a water bottle and later examination revealed that it smelled of sulfur and did not taste good at all. With this constant supply of boiling water we couldn't help but wonder what uses it may have had to the Fijians hundreds of years ago. Maybe it was used for washing or even cooking perhaps. You could easily hard-boil an egg in the bubbling pool simply by dropping it in. With a plastic bag or a metal pot you could cook almost anything over the natural heat.
The hot springs found here are a result of the islands volcanic past and tectonic activity that is releasing energy from below the earth's crust underneath the islands. Similar phenomena can be found at the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park in the United States where geysers of water shoot high up into the air. The activity there is caused by a giant dormant volcano whose energy is slowly leaking through cracks up to the surface. Recent studies in renewable energy on Fiji have suggested that with the right technology in place, the hot springs found here could be used to generate all of electricity needed to power the homes and industries on the islands.
Another perk of the volcanic activity here is the aquifer of fresh clean water that is naturally filtered and purified through the porous volcanic rock before being collected and bottled for drinking. Back in the US we know this water as the popular bottled water brand that has the island as its namesake, Fiji Water.
SGE
