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Only a five minute walk from where our marina is an interesting little natural attraction. It is the local Hot Springs. What makes these springs so interesting and unique is that they are not commercialized but rather a very natural setting that are free for the locals to enjoy and use. We were told about one local person with a restaurant who periodically cooks roasts in pots at the hot springs. The food is left in a pot for a few hours before she returns to collect the meal.

We walked the short distance to the hot springs anticipating some grand attraction. We were surprised however with what we found. It was a small park like setting with a few paths, a sheltered bench and a garbage can. In this little park were two small areas marked off with white painted stones encircling a bubbling pool of water. The water was coming up from holes in the ground at a temperature that was a rolling boil. From these two bubbling pools and a third trickle off to the side, were hot streams of water that led the water away and down a stream to the ocean.

Of course the kids were all a bit intrigued by the bubbling water which had no sulfurous like smell such as those at Yellowstone park. Here the water smelled like pure water as a steam vapor wafted into the air. Jaeden and Orin just had to know what the water temperature was like and so they dipped a toe into the water downstream a little bit. It was hot but not too hot that a half second dip in the water would do any damage.

We wandered around a bit amazed for a while longer before Eli stuck his pot of potatoes into the water to cook. Unfortunately we were missing a few ingredients and some oven mitts to pick up the hot pot and so we headed back to the boat for more supplies. Eli and Orin grabbed some Raman Noodles and water before heading straight back to cook up a meal. They were determined to eat something cooked in the bubbling hot springs. While they were there, some Asian tourists came by and were taking lots of photos of them cooking up a meal. They were a bit surprised but were great sports and posed for some photos.

Dailin and Jaeden in the meantime headed back to the boat and helped with a few repair projects that we needed to complete. Dailin helped Sam, our local friend, with scrubbing and buffing the sides of our boat while Jaeden got to work at re-caulking the sink in the kitchen. The projects and maintenance on the boat has diminished substantially at time goes on. Perhaps due to keeping on top of things. It’s always great however to check off a few of the to do items in each port where possible.

In the evening we invited a Fijian family with seven children of their own to come and visit us on our sailboat. It was a fun evening to share some food and to talk a little bit about ours and their experiences. In all we had 21 people on our boat and I have to admit we were getting a little low on cups and silverware but we managed fairly well. I think Zakary has probably tossed off a few too many things off of the back of the boat. Only hours earlier a drinking cup was tossed overboard as Eli looked on and tried desperately to recover it before it sank to the bottom of the harbour.