Last Friday we had our best day so far in Palau. Unexpectedly
we were invited along on a trip out to the rock islands & jellyfish lake (two
of the major tourist attractions in Palau). We knew about half the people on
the boat and quickly became friends with the others. The ride out from Koror to
the islands was in overcast conditions with frequent showers and stayed that
way until mid-afternoon. Despite the weather the water was calm and it was
truly incredible to finally get to see just how many islands there are. They
are seriously everywhere, from small little mushroom shaped islands to massive
long ridge lines. I honestly don’t know how the guys navigate through then
without a map or GPS, I had no idea which was we were going for most of the day.
We saw all sorts of cool stuff like birds diving down into the water for fish
to flying fish who seem to defy gravity for an unfeasible period of time.
Our first stop was Jellyfish lake, an inland lake populated
by thousands of sting-less jellyfish. After a short but steep walk up and down
the ridge line we arrived at the lake. After a short swim out into the lake we
started coming across jellyfish, after pushing out a little further we were
completely surrounded by them. They are all over the place, they slowly move in
every direction and are constantly bumping into you. And no they definitely
don’t sting.
It was an extraordinary
experience to be floating around with thousands of these creatures all around.
I can’t wait to return with a waterproof camera and on a sunny day. One thing I
quickly adjusted was my method of swimming around. Once getting in the middle
of the jellys I noticed I accidentally kicked a few, so I ended up using a modified
front-paw only, slow doggy paddle. Even then occasionally I’d send one
spiralling away, at least I wasn’t wearing fins! I’ve heard people can actually
kill them when belting them with fins. For some reason that I don’t understand
the use of fins aren’t banned in the lake however they are quite particular
about you wiping off sunscreen and washing your feet in a bucket (before walking
up & down to the lake)…
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Our next stop was having some lunch on a small beach in the
middle of the thousands of rock islands. It was a great little spot but due to
overcast conditions the couple of pics I took really don’t do the location
justice.
After lunch it was time for some snorkelling. We headed to
an area called German Channel, I’m not sure when but at some point in Palau’s
history (most likely prior to WWI) the German Navy bombed a long channel in the
corral between various rock islands. The spot is now favoured by divers hoping
to swim with Manta Rays. In my limited snorkelling experience this is by far
the best spot I’ve ever been to. The corral was incredible and there were lots
of varied aquatic life. The highlight was following a 1 metre+ white tip reef
shark around for a good few minutes. Apparently Amanda had a turtle come within
about a metre of her as well.
All too soon it was time to head elsewhere, we checked out a
significant sized cave that formed in one of the rock islands when a section
fell in and another marine lake with only a small channel running out to the
sea. Our second and last snorkelling spot was a place called the cemetery.
There appears to be a lot of dead corral at this little corner off the end of a
rock island. For some reason that doesn’t stop a huge amount of fish hanging
around. Again I was lucky enough to follow around a very large Napoleon Wrasse
for around 5 minutes or so.
The day was amazing and I’m very thankful we were able to
tag along on the trip. It’s reminded me that whatever I end up doing over here
has to involve the water in some way.
Stay tuned for the next mini update about how I got racially
abused (yep, really).
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