30 pictures of a lake full of jellyfish

Sometimes when traveling it happens to get into places that not only amaze the imagination and impress to the core, but make you think that parallel worlds are actually much closer than it is traditionally believed.

There is one such place in Palau ... And we could not help but visit it!

(Total 30 photos)

Source: Journal/enia

1. In fact, Palau as a whole is a country that boggles the imagination ... It consists of more than 300 islands, only 9 of which are inhabited ... Yes, and more than half of these nine inhabited can be called a stretch ... On our island, for example, the number the population hardly exceeded 600 people ... It seems that in one entrance of the house where I live, there are even more people! Reminds me of the Maldives? No, absolutely not…

2. The archipelago consists of a huge number of small atolls that have formed on the tops of many underwater volcanoes. In fact, this is a chain of peaks of the oceanic mountain range, which is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

3. The results of volcanic activity, as well as a number of coral reefs, were once raised above the surface of the water as a result of a tectonic shift and later overgrown with tropical forests ...

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5. All the islands of Palau rise above the surface to a height of 15 to 50 meters!

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7. From the outside, these landscapes resemble a Japanese rock garden, only on a gigantic scale ... One can only admire the sense of taste and style of the architect who created all this splendor ...

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9. Probably, the views from the window of an airplane or a helicopter are completely crazy ... But to my great regret, we didn’t manage to fly this time for a number of reasons ... However, I digress ...

10. The lake is located in the center of one of the large islands, surrounded by dozens of smaller ones ... And our route runs along the most beautiful path, wandering between the islands in ornate loops ...

eleven.

12. The gate to the lake, a small pier with floating pontoons, where a couple of small motor boats can hardly park at the same time ...

13. 5 minutes up the stairs, 5 minutes down...

14. And here we are, finally, at the goal ... A small briefing from our dive guide ...

15. We swam ...

Jellyfish Lake was formed about 12 thousand years ago as a result of the movement of the earth's crust. In fact, this is a small salt pond, almost completely isolated. It is connected to the ocean through small cracks and tunnels in limestone, but they are only enough to maintain the salinity of the water ... There are other features, but tourists do not go for this ...

16. As the name implies, jellyfish live here ... They are the magnet that attracts hundreds of tourists from all over the world to this place every day ...

17. And not just jellyfish, but a special population of scyphoid jellyfish. During the isolated existence of the lake and due to the complete absence of natural enemies, jellyfish have multiplied to about 2 million individuals! Can you imagine this?

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19. But that's not all! Jellyfish get part of their nutrition from symbiotic algae that live in their tissues and feed on the metabolic products of jellyfish. And algae need light to live ... Therefore, during the day, this entire colony rises to the surface and migrates across the lake during the day, following the sun ... What happens? JELLY SOUP!!!

20. Of course, I saw the photos before we went there… But what I saw in reality exceeded my expectations many times over… I can only regret that I am guaranteed not to be able to tear it up with words and photographs…

21. Jellyfish do not appear immediately ... gradually, as you approach the middle of the lake, the most sunlit part, their number increases ...

22. And increases ...

23. And increases ...

24. And suddenly you discover that the whole space around is already literally teeming with jellyfish!!!

25. Feelings, specific ...

26. For humans, these jellyfish are not dangerous ... Because of their isolated life and the absence of enemies, they have completely lost their stinging tentacles, and, accordingly, they cannot physiologically sting ...

27. Which, however, does not prevent them from splashing on you with a flourish here and there, instilling fear and horror in the subtle psyche of especially sensitive people ...

28. Personally, every time I twitched from these touches ...

29. At the same time, it was scary to move once again so as not to hurt someone ... The bodies of jellyfish look so fragile and tender that it seems they should literally burst from any sudden movement of water, not to mention flippers, etc. fixtures...

30. But the jellyfish turned out to be much stronger than one might think ... From active strokes, they, of course, scattered in different directions, but did not fall apart and did not lose their shape, but quickly gathered up and sailed on about their business ...

31. Yes, yes ... They were sailing ... and it was on business! You don't have to be a biologist to notice the busyness of these jellyfish... They are constantly on the move... They constantly rotate, evenly exposing the sun to different parts (obviously so that the algae receive approximately the same amount of ultraviolet).

32. Also, jellyfish now and then floated completely under the surface, touched it with their cap, after which they turned around and intensively went into the depths (for which they did this is not obvious).

33. Therefore, when I say that everything was SWEET with jellyfish, this is exactly what I mean ...

34. Absolutely surreal spectacle... Absolutely unreal, improbable... It seems that such a spectacle can only be seen as a perfectly polished three-dimensional picture for another fantastic blockbuster... but no! All this actually exists on our planet and is even accessible to ordinary tourists!

It remains only to be surprised at the whims of nature that creates such amazing stories ... And to complete the picture, I will also attach a small video that was filmed by one Australian from our group ... The stupid laughter behind the scenes fully corresponds to the sensations that you experience swimming on the lake ...

But how many more similar, absolutely fantastic places on our planet ... and you don’t even have to dream about the stars ... you just need to take a closer look at the world where we live ...