Review #24
Scott Van Hoosen (octopus at vanhoosen dot net) |
October 22, 2002 |
| Location: Tacoma, WA USA |
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Dive Type: Salt Water |
Facilities: none |
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| Hazards: |
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Entry: boat only |
Surface Swim: none |
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Difficulty: intermediate |
Typical depth: 45 |
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Dive site rating: 8 |
Max depth: 70 |
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Dive site description:
Our club did some dives off the Naknek, a Bandito Charters boat. There were eleven of us, so the boat was pretty packed, but it was a fun group. I buddied with Susan, as we explored this interesting reef that I'd never been to before. The reef runs East/West, and varies in height, from as low as a couple of feet to as high as maybe 10 feet. Susan saw a dogfish near the beginning of the dive, but I didn't see it. :^( On the reef, we spotted a mated pair of wolf eels and one individual male. This site was packed with sculpin, and I saw a couple of them snapping up the little baby shrimp that were scattered all over the reef. In the shallows, I saw a red/purple gunnel, but it darted off before I was able to point it out to Susan. The best part of the dive was near the end, as we got back into the shallows. Susan spotted a small octopus, I don't know how, as this thing was so amazingly camouflaged. We each whipped off a glove and petted and played with it for around ten minutes. At first, it seemed to want nothing more then to get away from us, trying to hide, then swim away, then hide again, but it was out in the open at the top of the reef. It tried doing some really impressive color changes, probably in an attempt to scare us off. It started as a light brown color, just like the rocks around it, then changed to dark brown, then red, then a bright purple/maroon. It changed back to brown, swam a few feet and inked a small puff of green. It landed on the bottom again, did more color changes, including deep maroon again and then white with dark patches. It was truly amazing to watch. After a few minutes, it seemed a bit more relaxed, tolerating our presence. It suckered to my fingers a few times, tasting my skin as that is where their taste buds are. This is the third time I've seen an octopus in the open and was able to touch them, but this was definitely the best, most interactive experience yet. |
Directions:
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