On Monday afternoon we went back to the northwestern side of the island, first returning to Vertigo and then to another site further south. Vertigo is known for its (tame) reef sharks, mostly black tip ones. At the 2nd of the two sites, one of the guides picked up a small octopus, about 1.5 – 2′ long from head to tip of one of the tentacles. For 5 minutes we all gently played with it as it suctioned up our bare arms and “inked” us. No, I didn’t like the feel of tightly clingy tentacles on my body. I automatically let out a loud and clear “girl” scream under the water, much to the amusement of my friends nearby. And I can only imagine the relief of the octopus when we finally released him! He or she will be talking about the experience on their therapist’s couch for a long time.
A few of the students have underwater cameras so I’ll share some pictures.
mostly black-tip reef sharks, curious but otherwise relatively harmless to divers nearby
We have video footage of us with the octopus but no still images.
Chris showing the camera something; I’m one of the divers in the blue above.
diana maps 