On March 5 we departed Bhutan for our next destination, Palau and the famous Rock Islands. I could have spent much longer in Bhutan but was also looking forward to a bit of R&R in a tropical resort. The flight out had the same interesting, mountain-dodging maneuvers as when we arrived. We headed for Siem Reap in Cambodia (home of Angkor Wat) to catch up with our private jet which had gone directly there from Kathmandu. Surprisingly, no schedule glitches and we were soon on our way to Palau. These were both long (3-4+hr) flights and with a three hour time shift we landed in Palau late at night. It was hot, humid and dark. The next day was planed as a snorkeling trip as well as diving at Jellyfish Lake. It was cloudy and rainy as we set out on our boats but our expedition Explorers-in-residence, Wade Davis and Chris Rainier, were in a good mood.
Wade knows everything about everything and Chris is one of the leading National Geographic photographers. They're both great company and, from out last expedition a couple of years ago, have become good friends.
First stop was Jellyfish Lake. if you haven't already heard about this you likely won't believe it. On one of the Rock Islands, there's a lake which contains about 30million jellyfish, give or take a few. Because they have no natural enemies, these jellyfish have lost their sting and are harmless. They just swim about together. I believe this phenomenon is unique in the World. The plan was to snorkel in the lake and commune with the jellyfish. It was truly a unique experience, like something out of "Fantasia".
There were thousands of these small jellyfish all around. You could hold them in your hand. They were soft and really nice to touch. Seriously.
After a brief lunch break, we continued diving and generally had a great time. Every 30min or so it poured rain and we all got more soaked in the boat than the water. In this tropical climate it cooled us down.
In addition to the fish we saw giant clams and even the wreck of a crashed Japanese WWII fighter.
There were plenty of stories to tell at dinner that night. the next day (today) was a day off (yeah!). We lazed around and generally relaxed, getting prep'd for the next leg of our trip - off to Laos tomorrow.