Jellyfish Lake Liveaboard Diving

Jellyfish Lake sits on Eil Malk Island in Palau's Rock Islands, about a 45-minute to one-hour boat ride south of Koror. It's one of dozens of marine lakes scattered through the Rock Islands, but by far the most visited thanks to its population of harmless golden jellyfish.

Palau, in Micronesia, is famous for Jellyfish Lake — one of the nation's signature attractions, alongside Blue Corner and the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon. A similar (less-visited) jellyfish lake exists on Kakaban Island in Indonesia, but Palau's is the one most travelers mean when they use the name.

No — scuba diving has been banned in Jellyfish Lake for years because exhaled bubbles can injure the fragile jellyfish, and the water below about 50 ft (15 m) contains hydrogen sulfide that's hazardous to breathe. Only snorkeling with a mask and fins is permitted, and swimmers are asked to avoid touching the jellyfish altogether.

Yes — snorkeling is the only way visitors are allowed to experience the lake, and it's included on most Rock Islands day tours from Koror. A short, sometimes steep 10-minute walk over a limestone ridge gets you from the boat dock to the lake itself.

The golden jellyfish here have lost most of their sting through evolving in an isolated lake without natural predators, so most visitors feel nothing more than a faint tingle, if anything at all. A related population of moon jellyfish in the same lake retains a very mild sting, though it's rarely noticeable to swimmers.

The lake reaches about 100 ft (30 m) deep, but only the top 30–50 ft (9–15 m) contains oxygen and supports life; below that, hydrogen sulfide makes the water toxic. Snorkelers stay entirely within that upper, jellyfish-filled layer.

Most visitors reach it as part of a Rock Islands day tour by boat from Koror, roughly 45 minutes to an hour depending on the operator, followed by a short but sometimes slippery limestone trail to the lake's edge. It's rarely visited as a standalone trip since it's usually bundled with stops at other Rock Islands sites.

As of 2026, a Jellyfish Lake permit costs $100 per person (ages 6 and up) and is valid for five days, on top of the standard $50 Rock Islands Permit required for the wider Rock Islands Southern Lagoon area. Most tour operators bundle these fees into their day-trip pricing.

Mid-morning, around 9–11 a.m., is generally considered the best window for sunlight to penetrate the water and for jellyfish to rise closer to the surface. Arriving before the bulk of day-tour boats also means a quieter, less crowded swim.

Numbers have declined sharply from the millions the lake was once famous for — recent counts have put the golden jellyfish population at under 6,000, alongside a healthier population of moon jellyfish. Researchers attribute the drop to warming water and changing rainfall patterns rather than any single event.

The lake's namesake golden jellyfish (a locally evolved population related to spotted jellyfish) shares the water with a smaller population of moon jellyfish. Both species have adapted to the lake's isolated conditions over thousands of years since it separated from the open ocean.

For most travelers, yes — snorkeling among thousands of gently pulsing, essentially stingless jellyfish is a genuinely unusual experience unavailable almost anywhere else. Just set expectations: numbers are lower than the lake's famous photos from decades past, and it's best paired with other Rock Islands stops rather than visited alone.