Spectacular snorkeling in Palau - Part 1
24.06.2019
Jellyfish Lake closed in 2016 when drought killed off millions of jellyfish but reopened in January 2019; the jellyfish population now is around a million, down from 30 million in 2005
Imagine having this view every day!; I was ready to buy a houseboat and just ride around the gorgeous islands of Palau
Palau's Natural Arch looked pretty precarious to me; we saw lots of smaller arches and other creative contours that the sea has molded
We stopped at the Milky Way Lagoon where you apply white mud to your body and, supposedly, will look 10 years younger (I don't think it worked!)
Blue-spotted pufferfish; this species is solitary, shy and active during the day (they also have 4 strong teeth)
Gray Norse god nudibranch; these sea slugs get creative names because of their often extraordinary colors and striking forms
Branching whip coral; soft corals are integral members of the reef ecosystem and provide habitat for fish, snails, algae and a diversity of other marine species
Clownfish; Palau is unusual in that there is virtually no shore snorkeling since there are no beaches on the tree-covered islands
The waters off Palau were incredibly pristine with great visibility; there was practically no trash and if we saw plastic or other garbage we would remove it
Oriental sweetlips; this colorful fish is very photogenic but they tend to be very camera shy and hide whenever they see me coming
A tiny slice of beach meant we didn't have to eat lunch on the boat; the few specks of beach tend to be far out in the islands (45+ minute boat ride from town)
Titan triggerfish; the locals on Palau tend to have bad teeth and I only saw one dentist office
Raccoon butterflyfish; since Palau is surrounded by a national park, everyone has to pay $100 for a 10 day pass in order to do any snorkeling or diving
Festive parrotfish; yes, that's actually the name of this colorful species
Feather star crinoid; these animals are related to sea stars and sea cucumbers
Barracudas are ferocious, opportunistic predators, relying on surprise and short bursts of speed, up to 27 mph, to overtake their prey
Giant clam; there is a commercial nursery for giant clams nearby but some have managed to escape their enclosure
Ringed (banded) pipefish; this is the only one I've ever seen and it moves more like an eel or snake but is actually a fish; in this species it's the male that gives birth
Brown curryfish sea cucumber; this sounds more like an item on an Asian restaurant menu rather than a sea animal
Juvenile Oriental Sweetlips; first time I've ever seen one of these before they turn into colorful adults
Mean-looking crab; the Palau population was 50,000 in 1783 but the arrival of Europeans brought epidemics so that by 1901 the population was only 3700
We didn't see many sea stars except in the brackish waters near the main island; Palau is an archipelago of 500+ islands in Micronesia
Gorgeous, large, pink sea fan; Palau has little variation in temperatures throughout the year with average monthly highs of 87 or 88 and average monthly lows of 75 or 76
Crown of thorns sea star; Palau is great but difficult to reach from the US (it's taking me 4 long flights to get back to NC)
The visibility was so good we could see huge schools of big-eyed jacks below; the wall we snorkeled appeared to go straight down
Checkerboard wrasse; there is an annual calendar of underwater activity here so each month you're guaranteed to see something different
Moorish idols with brain coral; Palau is expensive to visit partly because the diving and snorkeling requires a boat rental or organized group trip
Blackeye thicklip; not the most flattering name for such an attractive fish
Juvenile silverlined cardinalfish (?); only 8 of the hundreds of islands that make up Palau are inhabited
Jellyfish Lake is one of the top tourist attractions in Palau; you can swim with millions of non-stinging jellyfish during their daily migration across a 14 acre marine lake
Our snorkeling excursion wasn't much cheaper than diving would have cost; we did the obligatory stops at Milky Way Lagoon, Natural Arch and Jellyfish Lake
Orange-lined triggerfish; this species helps control the burrowing sea urchin which has the ability to degrade coral reef ecosystems
Posted by VagabondCowboy 03:17