The world's best diving — Jellyfish Lake, Blue Corner, and ghost fleet
Koror is the commercial hub and largest city of Palau — a Micronesian archipelago whose marine environment is considered among the finest on Earth. Blue Corner, the channel between Palau's Rock Islands, produces fish populations in such density that it consistently tops world diving rankings. The nearby stingless jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake — millions of golden jellyfish that evolved without venom — are one of the most extraordinary animal encounters on the planet.
Palau has been inhabited for around 3,000 years by Micronesian peoples who developed a complex matrilineal society. The Spanish claimed Palau in 1686 but rarely visited; Germany took it in 1899, Japan from 1914, and the US after WWII at the Battle of Peleliu — one of the Pacific War's bloodiest island assaults. Palau became independent in 1994 as the world's youngest republic. In 2015 it created the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, protecting 80% of its ocean from fishing and extractive uses.