What It’s Like to Swim with Jellyfish in Palau

Just a few seconds of Sarosh Jacob‘s incredible video, Jellyfish Lake, will have you googling flights to Palau and digging out your snorkel (in this scenario you own a snorkel — just go with it).  An underwater photographer and videographer, Jacob specializes in creative, jaw-dropping footage worthy of clients like National Geographic Traveller Magazine, Discovery Channel, and the National Science Foundation.  From the Caribbean to the South Pacific, he showcases mesmerizing locations and spectacular wildlife inspiring the wanderlust in every frame.  Jellyfish Lake, locally called Ongeim’l Tketau, is a salt-water lake connected to Palau’s Southern Lagoon only by small channels in the bedrock.  With few predators, Golden Jellyfish have lived a relatively easy life here.  They migrate across the lake during the day, so at any given time visitors are greeted with plenty of jellyfish casually floating by.  The jellyfish of Jellyfish Lake are unique.   They have been isolated for thousands of years, and so their sting is relatively harmless to most creatures, including humans — a fact that demonstrated as the jellyfish careen into the snorkeling filmmaker over and over again.

While a recent decline in the lake’s jellyfish population has some scientists worried, others believe it is a natural fluctuation caused by El Nino and that the population may soon recover.   In either case, several tour companies have halted tours to the lake until adult jellyfish populations increase.  In the meantime, we’ll have to rely on the soothing otherworldly footage brought to us by this talented filmmaker.  More of Sarosh Jacob’s mesmerizing work can be found on his website, his facebook page, and his Vimeo channel.