Hunting Giant Pacific Octopus

Ok – I did have another post scheduled for today, but it got bumped to tomorrow because this is just too cool to let sit.

During tonight’s dive, as we were gearing up, some other divers came out of the water and reported that there was only one Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) in the spot we were heading for. There had been two there for the past couple weeks and the one has been sitting on eggs, so we wanted to visit then before she died. With the report of only one in the burrows, Deana said that maybe we would see one out hunting… and since I figured the chances of that are pretty slim, I didn’t get my hopes up – honestly, I pretty much shrugged off the comment as very wishful thinking.

Since James knew right where the burrows were, he took us right to them and though the female was very visible, I wasn’t able to see any eggs…

We then started our return trip back, and only a few minutes after leaving the burrows, this happened…

Thanks to Deana, James, and George for an awesome dive! We might have to visit again soon to see if we can see the eggs and if lightning does strike twice and we get to see the male out and about again! But regardless, this is one dive I’ll not soon forget! Bucket list item checked off with a flourish!