Swim in Jellyfish Lake Palau

“The first five minutes in the water were spent panicked any time a jellyfish would brush up against a limb, lightly bumping me like a rubber ducky in the bath. I frantically swam in circles, trying to keep my eye on every one of them, which was impossible since they crowded me in every direction. Though we were not supposed to touch them, the effort was futile, as their eight broccoli-like tentacles didn’t seem to give them a good sense of direction. One would bonk me in the head, then another in the leg and one more on my back. After this initial frenzy, a sense of security started to set in and their lackadaisical movements completely mesmerized me. Some were the tiny size of a lime, while others were larger than my head. It seemed like a bizarre underwater dream world where incalculable sepia-tinted parachutes oscillated around me in what seemed like slow motion.”

“And then it was full-blown jellyfish nation. It was an unbelievable experience, like floating through a living lava lamp with 20 million swirling globes of golden marshmallow puffs. Once I got over the initial shock of feeling them all over my body, it was beautiful. I did deep duck dive after duck dive to get in the densest area of jellyfish. With a Go Pro camera in hand, I got some epic shots coming through the thick schools. It was interesting too, the bigger jellies hang with the other bigger jellies, the babies are all together on the outside. Grouping by size. People keep asking what it felt like -- it felt like swimming through opened cups of Jello...so weird!”