Jellyfish Lagoon

You can swim through an enclosed saltwater lagoon with jellyfish drifting around you.

It is one of the newer additions to itineraries in this region. One widely read first-hand account of these islands says the lake was only found in 2023, which would explain why it is missing from most of the older writing.

Let us clear up the myth first

You'll read, on page after page about this region, that stingless jellyfish exist in only three places on Earth.

That's not true, and it's worth saying so plainly because it gets repeated as though it were a fact.

Marine lakes holding jellyfish are documented in Palau, at Kakaban in East Kalimantan, in the Togean Islands elsewhere in Sulawesi, at Misool in Raja Ampat, and here. That is already five, which is enough to retire the claim.

What is actually true is more interesting than the exaggeration. These lakes form where a body of seawater gets cut off from the open ocean inside limestone, holding enough connection to stay salty but enough isolation to develop its own conditions. They're uncommon, they're fragile, and swimming in one is a genuinely unusual thing to be able to do. None of that needs a made-up number attached.

What it is like

Still, warm, enclosed water with green karst walls going up on all sides. Visibility is different from open sea, softer and more suspended.

The jellyfish sit through the water column rather than on the surface, so you are swimming among them rather than looking at them from above. They're slow and they do not react much to you.

How to behave in the water

This matters more here than at any other swimming stop, because a marine lake is a closed system and the animals in it are soft-bodied.

• No fins. A kick from a fin blade damages jellyfish and stirs the bottom. Swim with your hands or float.
• Don't lift them out of the water for photographs. It kills them.
• No sunscreen going in. Whatever is on your skin ends up in a body of water that doesn't flush. Cover up with a rash guard instead, and put sunscreen on after you get out.
• Don't stand on the bottom. The sediment layer in these lakes is part of what keeps them working.
• Move slowly. There's no reason to be anywhere quickly in a lagoon.

The same restraint applies to the giant clam sites on Small Labengki and its no-take zone, and for the same reason.

Do they sting

Jellyfish in lakes like these have generally lost most of their sting through isolation from predators. Most people feel nothing at all.

That's not the same as guaranteeing nobody ever reacts to anything. If you have known allergies or sensitive skin, wear a rash guard, which is sensible in the sun regardless.

Practical summary

• Getting there: by boat, on the Sombori side of the trip
• Swimming: yes, and it is the whole point
• Fins: no
• Sunscreen: not before going in
• Best for: anyone. No climbing involved.

Where it sits in the wider route is on the full list of Labengki and Sombori attractions, and the trip that gives it the most room is our four-day Labengki and Sombori trip.