Traveling in St. Lucia

It is the only dive in volcano in Caribbean. This makes it one of the must see St. Lucia attractions.

At Sulfur Springs Park situated in the town of Sourfriere, you are amidst a torpid fountain of liquid magma and on the last's site recorded emission in St Lucia in 1766. Of course, the quick range is vigorously wounded from the exceptional volcanic action experienced in the south's development western piece of the island. 

The recreation center's principle fascination is its sulfur springs—a great gathering of bubbling springs and fumeroles that is situated 305 meters above ocean level, between the Rabot Ridge and Terre Blanche. The springs, from which the territory gets its name, Sulfur Springs, happens at the convergence of two issue lines which cross the focal point of a substantial steep sided volcanic melancholy, called "Qualibou" caldera. This caldera speaks the truth 32, 000 to 39,000 years of age. 

Sulfur Springs has been portrayed as, "the most sultry and most dynamic geothermal field in the Lesser Antilles". As you walk or drive through the recreation center, you will really be moving over a magma chamber pretty much 2 km underneath the zone's surface. 

This magma load is in charge of warming the stones above it, which thusly warms a mix of water that saturates the ground and seawater from the Caribbean Sea that has saturated the substratum, offering ascent to bubbling springs with temperatures between 70 – 90oc and fumaroles with temperatures of up to 172oc. 

The understood Sulfur Springs in Saint Lucia is the most blazing and most dynamic geothermal range in the Lesser Antilles. The recreation center is pretty nearly 45 hectares and is charged as the Caribbean's just commute in spring of gushing lava. A stroll through the pit takes you past pools and hot springs percolating and burping with sulfur-loaded steam. Simply outside the Springs, you can bathe in the warm sulphuric pools, rumored for its relieving impacts. The Sulfur Springs structures a story's piece of the whole's production Caribbean bowl. 

The principle range of Sulfur Springs contains various hot springs, foaming mud pools and fumaroles (steam vents) in a region of unequivocally hydrothermally changed earth rich shake pretty nearly 200 m x 100 m in size. Numerous fumaroles have temperatures 100°C or more sultry, and temperatures of up to 172°C have been recorded. Various studies have been completed in the course of recent years to explore the geothermal vitality capability of Sulfur Springs, to date, on the other hand, no endeavor at misuse has been made. 

Geothermal frameworks, for example, Sulfur Springs structure when water saturates the ground where it is warmed by hot rock. The high temp water gets to be light, and ascends back to the surface along breaks. In a few places the water is warmed so much that it ascends as steam. The warmth hotspot for the Sulfur Springs geothermal framework is presumably the cooling magma body in charge of the youthful volcanism of the Soufrière Volcanic.

St. Lucia itself has a refuge that will definitely get you even hotter. At the town of Soufriere (French word for sulfur) at the southwestern side of the island, located is the only drive-in volcano in the world. Locally known as the Sulphur Springs, it has now become a major tourist attraction in St. Lucia. 

Imagine yourself at the middle of a volcano that has erupted in the late 18th century. This eruption of the Soufriere Volcano of course created intense damage to the immediate area, however, this tragic nature-made calamity pave the way to what is internationally-acclaimed tourist spot now. The Sulphur Springs happen to be at the intersection of two fault lines lying at the center of a volcanic depression named “Qualibou caldera.” Incidentally, this caldera is about thirty to forty thousand years old. 

The Boiling Springs

The Sulphur Springs is the main enticement of the park which features an impressive assembly of boiling springs of about 340 Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celsius). Due to its skin-burning temperature, the springs create large amount of steam and it also has high content of sulfur and iron. The location of the springs stands 305 meters above sea level at the collapsed crater of the volcano. 

Excursion at the Sulphur Springs comprises of a walk behind a wooden fence even up to the edge of the springs. Before, tourists are allowed to walk up to the actual crater covered with a thin crust, but when an accident of a fall of one of the guides happened, the public is restricted behind the fence. 

Therapeutic and Mud Baths at the Sulphur Springs 

At the crater of the Soufriere Volcano is a stream running through and established hot springs a little downward. Due to volcanic minerals present at the water, it is believed that Sulphur Springs can provide therapeutic benefits to tourists. However, many cannot stand submerging themselves for too long, because of the extreme heat reaching approximately 45 degrees Celsius and the foul smell coming from the spring probably that of rotten eggs. 

World famous health-giving waters in the Sulphur Springs Park consist of the ‘Pool of Love’ and the ‘Black Water Pool’. In the West Coast of St. Lucia, the locals and even tourists experience all natural sulfur baths that has great benefits for the skin. Tourists have nothing to worry about possible eruption of the Soufriere Volcano for it is already considered dormant.

Image credits: slu.travel