The day of the kind jellyfish

March 12th

We have already well settled on Togian island and a barracuda for lunch is nothing out of ordinary anymore. Some of us will go to the jellyfish lake today. On contrary from the other group we already have their stories and a suspicion on what awaits us in our hands. We will be joined by Anton, a Catalonian who arrived this morning. Hence at the breakfast table we talk about Baltic Way and the independence of Catalonia. We humm “Saule, Pērkons, Daugava” [a Latvian song that was taken by Catalonians for their independence movement]. Seems that Anton recognises it.

We leave for the lake. An absolute happiness since there still is the morning freshness. We go past two villages. The houses are built on stilts, between them and the steep cliff are only couple of meters. No freshwater. That is brought to the villages in boats from our island as there is a spring on it. After 30 minute ride we reach the Jellyfish lake. That is indeed a lake as it’s not connected to the sea. Very long time ago it has been a part of the sea, so the water in it is salty, but now only rain water is supplying it. We find out from our hostess that there are only 2 lakes like this in the world – the other is somewhere in Americas.

When jumping into the lake, we feel like jumping in a pot of soup as the water is foggy and seems almost hot. There are indeed many jellyfish. Judging by eye looks like 3-5 individuals in every cubic meter of water. The jellyfish are all of the same species – supposedly also blood-relatives. Their tentacles are lighter or darker brown, but the surface almost transparent with violet stripes. The smallest are in the size of a cherry, the biggest around the size of a small watermelon. All of the jelyfish without regards of the size are very peaceful, it was possible to take them in hands and if wished so, also count the tentacles which Agnese also did. Unfortunately when moved close to the surface all the beauty got lost.

Next we go to a wonderful beach with white sand where there are no stones and nothing is hindering getting to the corals. Here the water is completely clear, many fish and lovely corals. We only get out of the water when Irina patiently calls us. On the way home we get a small drizzle. Huh, how we would want for a bigger one!

On the lunch we finish another barracuda. Everyone has such an apetite as would have worked hard. After the lunch we are snoozing in the hammocks. After a short rest the other group gets in the boat and goes to an island where there is an especially great diversity of corals. They return shortly before the sun set excited that they haven’t seen anything like that before. The main event – Vitolds has swam around the whole island! The rest of us will wait for tomorrow impatiently to see it all with our own eyes.

Day of laziness

March 11th

There was a strong rain during the night. Rūdolfs who was sleeping in the tent without the additional roof had to evacuate to the bungalo. Some rain continued in the morning. Caramelized doughnuts for breakfast were tasty. Agnese went to Wakai to pay for the car repair and the speedboat on Monday and she brought to us, guess what? Beer! Some people drank beer while it was cold, others decided to wait until evening.

Bravest men went to snorkel outside our bay where the corals are far better. For the lunch we had a giant grilled barracuda (!). After that half of the group went for a boat trip. We saw small islands and local houses but or goal was a lake of jellyfish. And there were many. Water in the lake is even saltier and hotter than in the ocean. We swam in a clear water, people could touch the jellyfish because they don’t sting. A lot of underwater pictures and video were taken. But I loved the best our second stop – a beautiful Bounty style bay with white sand and excellent corals. I snorkeled there in all directions. I and Rudolfs, we saw a clownfish.

After coming back to our Sunset Beach I laid in a hammock, drank beer and watched the setting sun. It sounds like a clichee, but you know, it works very well. After the diner we enjoyed a moonset and looked for the crabs along the beach. There is a lot of different crabs. Local cats helped us in this venture.

Agnese’s notes:
The ferry is not going from Wakai to Ampana every day but the speedboat is. Yet it only has place for about 17 people so it was important to buy tickets early for our big group.