Playing Peek-a-boo with Octopus

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seadoggirl

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It was a beautiful day May 10, 2008 on the Oriskany. The trip out onboard the H2O Below was pleasant enough for this time of year. It seems May is a little bumpy on the Gulf of Mexico. Once out there we waited for another boat to pull anchor so we could get to the buoy marker that we needed. We dropped down into 40 foot vis and water temps in the low 70s.

As is my normal process when diving the Oriskany, I went straight for the hiding holes where the Octopus live. My first visit was with the large Octopus – Ofilia. She is the larger of the two on the bridge and the friendlier also. I looked in on her and she looked back at me. Octopus are very smart and have a great memory. I studied Ofilia for a minute then began my normal game of peek-a-boo. I dropped down below her hole and looked back up at her. Ofilia inched out of the hole and looked over the side to see where I had gone. I laughed at her and immediately flooded my mask! I came up even with her lair and she looked directly at me. I moved to the right side of the hole, out of her sight and she again moved out of the opening to find out where I had gone. Again I chuckled at her and flooded my mask again. Damn it! I must find a mask that accommodates a huge ear to ear grin! Ofilia and I keep this up for a good five minutes until another diver demanded some face time with her and I moved to the other side of the wreck to visit my other Octopus friend – Fallon.

Fallon is a smaller Octopus and a little bashful. She has managed to bring two pieces of, what looks like, tile flooring from inside the Oriskany to her hole. On previous visits Fallon has been seen holding the small pieces of tile up to cover the opening of her hiding hole, thinking that you couldn’t see her. We have watched her sitting peacefully on the edge of the hole and when she sees a diver, she pulls up the tile and covers her small face, holding the tile with her arms. When I first went over the top of the bridge to look in at Fallon, she must have been startled because she immediately turned paper white. She backed up from the hole and slowly turned her normal reddish brown color. I noted that she still had her little tiles but she was too frightened to reach for them. I swam away to get her to relax and went back a little while later and she was fine.

It was another beautiful day with sunny skies and blue water. What a great day!
 
SeaDogGirl,

Thanks for the cute story. I copied it an shared it with my wife. She is a director at a science museum. One of the departments introduces children on elementary school field trips to wild animal behavior. I'll bet an edited version of your story entertains some young'uns today.

As a former Navy carrier pilot the Oriskany holds a special place for me. The Mighty O is on my list of "must dive" destinations, but probably not until next year. It will be fun to see if Ofilia and Fallon are still standing watch then.
 
We now have a new member of the family. It appears to be a male Octopus. He is smaller and friendly. More later.
 
I was fascinated to find one of their hiding places when we were there last weekend. As Walter and I were making our way around parts of the Island I saw a long horizontal pipe and I thought about your story and it looked like a great hiding place. Sure enough, as I shined my light into the pipe I saw one looking back at me. I have never seen one that large and I motioned for Walter to come and take a look and he took some pictures. They are truly amazing creatures. :)
 
Octopus 2.jpg

soooo cute
 
Hmmmmm...I'm not sure I would say cute :wink:....but definitely fascinating. :)
 
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