Another attraction in the Derawan island system is the jellyfish lake on Kakaban island. It’s a big ocean water lake completely surrounded by the island so no creatures can get in or out. The jellyfish here have been secluded from predators for 11,000 years, making their natural defense mechanism obsolete. This leaves a lake filled with millions of stingless jellies. We slid in to the murky green water with our snorkels and started playing with them. They are completely soft and harmless, except for the occasional headbutts. Yeah, they don’t see so well, or at all, and there’s so many that they just bump into you. There’s only one other place in the world that this phenomenon has occurred and that’s in Palau, Micronesia.

–Mary