Ok – sorry for the prolonged absence, and I can’t make any promises that I’ll be back to a regular posting schedule with this one, but hopefully it sparks a bit more motivation for me.
Anyway, today I went for a dive and had we not known that there was a Giant Pacific Octopus with eggs at 90 feet, I probably would have aborted this dive long before and just chalked it up to a bad dive day. The visibility was absolutely gross – only about 5 feet max – until we got to about 70 feet deep. As we were going, I was telling myself if the visibility didn’t improve by 50 feet, I would turn us around… when we got to 50, I convinced myself to go to 60… and when we got to 60 feet and the visibility was still horrible, I told myself 75… and luckily when we hit 70 feet, things opened up decently. We found the octopus den and I got this quick little video.
This GPO will stay with these eggs until they hatch, and then she’ll die. It is a sad yet very magical thing to witness first hand. The dedication of the mother to make that sacrifice and the beauty in the commitment to life at the cost of death is just such a humbling thing to see.
Dusk
November 7, 2023 at 2:15pmHaunting and beautiful. Her death as well as life for so many others. Made the 90 feet worthwhile!
Tim
November 11, 2023 at 8:55pmWow. I am such a cephalopod fan. This is, as always, amazing, and I really do love your photography. Please keep posting!
Katherine O'Leary-Cole
December 17, 2023 at 2:35pmGrateful to have been your dive buddy on this interesting adventure!