Freediving and Octopus

[glennv]

Anybody got any scary encounters with Octopus ?
Never knew they where that agressive untill i faces a small attack on my last freediving holliday. I spotted two octopus that where very interested in each other and where bussy with some serious courtship on a reef at about 10-15 meters. I tried to point them out to my buddy with my snorkel when the pointee suddenly attacked my snorkel and wrapped a couple of tentacles around it.
Forcefull pulling only increased it's grip oin the snorkel. :martial
After about 30 seconds of pulling :ko it started to creep up the snorkel towards my arm.
Since he had not signed any ownership rights to my nice snorkel :naughty and I am not of the giving up type , I decided to not jerk the snorkel but to gradually increase a constant pull . This worked and it let go finally. Good because i needed some serious air. Of course my buddy almost blacked out from laughing rofl

See also this thread on our team forum for some scary video of Octopus killing a shark and some other stuff.

http://www.apnea-amsterdam.com/forum/index.php/topic,46.0.html

Anybody else got some Octopus/Freediving related stories ?

 

[demasoni]

I went out with a spero buddy of mine and here in Hawaii, octopus or Tako, is quite a delicacy, so "poking Tako" is very popular.

I didn't have much experience with catching them so he "demonstrated."

We found what looked to be about a 5-6 pounder - not that big - but keepable, and he teased it out of its hole with the spear from his gun. It immediately wrapped itself around his arm, squirted ink like mad and changed colors like some kind of disco ball.

My friend had enough of the octopus' hi-jinks and started ripping the legs off his arm and as he grabbed the octopus by his head, he led the creature somewhat violently through the water to get it under control and all its legs in the same direction. :martial

As if that wasn't enough, he then proceeded to use the end of his spear - the sharp tip - to remove the creature's beak and he handed it to me as some kind of souvenir. :yack

The creature just floated in the water for a while before my friend threw it in his catch bag and was off to find more. When we got out of the water, I realized my friends arms were covered in circular suction marks from the tentacles. He was only wearing a short sleeved shorty suit. :blackeye

 

[spaghetti]

http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=53761&page=3&highlight=octopus
I hope the link will work: it's about an octopus who pulled the trigger of a speargun with a tentacle and shot the man! One of the best stories I've ever read :-o

 

[Juniorre]

Only "octopus" experiences I had was when I was freediving and my buddy was scuba diving. He used to offer me his octopus regulator so I could stay with him underwater longer.

I also remember that when I used to freedive with some beginning scuba divers, every time I went down to them sitting on a platform at -8 meters, practising mask clearing or something like that, they all reached their hands with their octopuses thowards me with a look of a panic in they eyes.
"Man !!! Haven't you forgotten something ?!" - they seemed to say. :duh

Well ... it's quite hard to meet a real octopus in polish lakes where I use to dive.

 

[glennv]

Thanks Spaghetti, haven't seen that thread before. Jeezzz to be shot by your own gun by an octopus :crutch
How do you explain that to your health insurance company :friday

 

[lungfish]

I posted a journal entry here at deeperblue regarding freediving w/Hawaiian Octopussessesessss. Never saw any agressive behavior myself. I did watch them holding ground against Roi but never any real aggression. Frankly, they are pretty mild... I would have a hard time killing one.
Lungfish

 

[Jorg]

Once I was diving with a freediving buddy of mine on the spanish coast. We dove to 25 meters and he found a nice octopus, he wanted to show it to me, and pointed at the animal which was in a little cave. Suddenly the little guy attacked the hand of him and wrengled around his arm. I couldn't even see his arm anymore, the tentacles were like 1 meter long, so it was big enough to jump back very fast. Black ink all over the place... Afterwards we could laugh, but at the moment.....

 

[DeepThought]

Octopi are known for latching onto approaching objects, heard of quite a few poeple losing their snorkels that way (=littering).
Saw a picture of dad standing in knee deep water in the red-sea after a scuba dive with his old (70's) dive equipment on him and holding in his hand in the air his oval one-lense mask with an octopuss glued to it.
I think I remember Adrian had a story about an octopus falling :inlove with his leg.
EDIT: I think I also remember some member reporting about very friendly octopi in Greece that he became to see them as pets.

 

[roy_nexus_6]

Octopi are very intelligent and some are very curios. It's fun to watch them and some will actually come closer and interract with you if you don't seem threatening.

After encountering them more then a few times I kinda stopped ordering them as food. They are much more fun alive.

 

[deep thinker]

Did the snorkel used to point out the octopus have one of the orange strips on the tip, if so that could have been the cause of the 'attack'. To catch them in rock pools we normally use a gaff with orange or red plastic strips tied onto the end of the pole, you just drag it slowly through the water and they seem to pounce onto the strips.

My gran once had a similar experience with one in a tidal pool, she had red shoe laces and the octi came out from under a rock straight for the shoes.

Another mate of mine went line fishing from a boat once and felt a nice bite, the fish was on instantly so he started to bring it to the boat, all the while thinking this thing is huge. When the 'fish' finally arrived at the surface it was a octi ,and a 5kg rock, when he hooked it the octopus grabbed onto a rock and it held onto it all the way to the surface. rofl rofl

 

[lungfish]

Octopi are very intelligent and some are very curios. It's fun to watch them and some will actually come closer and interract with you if you don't seem threatening.

After encountering them more then a few times I kinda stopped ordering them as food. They are much more fun alive.

I am of the same opinion, myself.

It is getting harder to eat fish of any kind.... not that I have an opinion about the rest of you. I just have a pretty well developed empathy sense.

They really are neat, and can be very engaging. When I get back to Hawaii in two weeks to stay for six months, I will be diving on them in a protected bay most days....they aren't hunted there so the interactions might be more interesting, if my experiences last September are any indicator...

Lungfish