To truly explore the pearls of the Rock Islands, there are no easy options; you have to go by boat, and it’s a long way away. So, unless you came with your own boat, you have to go through agencies.
We chose Impac Tour, a reputable Japanese agency with affordable prices. First day, we set off on the most famous tour, Rock Island and Jellyfish Lake!
Heading south, in about twenty minutes we reach our first attraction, the arch-shaped island.
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Next, we stopped for snorkeling in Paradise. Honestly, we didn’t find it great: average visibility and not many fish or beautiful coral. We still had a great time, especially thanks to Jimmy, a little
goldfish who decided to swim with me the whole time!
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We then set off another 20 minutes further to reach the island of the jellyfish lake. We disembark, then a 5-minute walk to climb a little and then go back down to the lake, and here we are. There’s just our group, the
coronavirus is good, no large groups of Chinese tourists arriving these days! Masks on, a first jellyfish, then dozens of tiny ones, a few big ones, and finally 100m
further on there are jellyfish everywhere, of all sizes, swimming peacefully everywhere, at all depths. Sometimes we touch one, with no other sensation than a slightly cool jelly that
touches us, but no sting, nothing. History has it that they were held prisoner in this lake when it was created, and that due to a lack of predators, they have, over the generations, lost their
stinging power. It’s completely crazy to swim here, and unique in the world!
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Back on board, we are dropped off on a small paradise island for lunch. Very good Japanese bento! Next to the boat we snorkel with sharks. Baby sharks first and
black tip sharks of a good size! I see two or three different ones swimming around, great, then the boat comes to pick me up since I am the last one. I climb aboard and it restarts the engine, that’s when we see
about twenty sharks around! The noise attracts them!
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We then head a little further north to another exceptional place, Milkyway Beach. An island in the middle of which the water is a milky blue because of the bottom which is all clay! The
color is crazy, even more so seen from the drone, and it’s a good excuse to cover your skin in clay and give yourself a good exfoliating treatment!
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Afterwards, we head a short distance to another, much larger island. Here we jump into kayaks to explore the magnificent mangrove (we will learn much later that the Rock Island mangroves
hide saltwater crocodiles!). For about twenty minutes, we wind our way through a corridor of water hidden under the trees before emerging into a beautiful lake in the middle of the island. Absolutely calm, right down to
a few fruit-eating bats that fly away when we clap our hands. An atmosphere that is still different from every place we have visited today…
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A crazy day, surely one of the craziest we’ve ever spent traveling, very touristy but honestly, it’s always been just our group, that is to say, about ten people. In other words,
alone in these landscapes!
Tour price: $100 US
Ces photos font vraiment rêver …
Même avec les requins qui m’auraient fait un peu peur tout de même 🙂