New2view's Blog   Life on The Blue Marble

I was only a beginner, home on annual two week leave from the RCN. My older brother was an instructor and partner in a scuba shop on Kingsway in Vancouver. With his basic instruction in a large tank there, I soon dove with a group of experienced divers at Horse Shoe bay, a fair distance away from the ferry terminal there.

In those days divers wore basic lead belts to obtain neutral buoyancy at about 30′ depth. Following divers down in the cold clear water with comforting wet suit on, I spotted a large cod fish and tried to sneak up on it. It appeared to be sitting on a rock unconcerned, but  sensed me about 10′ away, so before I could even load my spear gun it took off like a rocket, as only fish can.

Below me I observed a pair of our experienced divers squirting some kind of powder material into what appeared to be a small cavern on the bottom. To my amazement they were soon able to pull a fairly large octopus out! They had located its liar by the tidy pile of empty shells outside it. I don’t know what they used, but it apparently numbed the the hapless creature to relax and let go of its protection.

However I suddenly realized that my fascination with their activity had allowed me to descend below neutral buoyancy. Reaching a lower than equilibrium depth meant I was beginning to sink rapidly!

I didn’t even think about dropping my weight belt, which would have been the right course if I couldn’t manage to swim upward. However I began pumping my flippers as hard as I could to return to the surface from about 90′ depth.

Thankfully being in good physical condition in those days I gradually ascended,  I was now below the two divers that had pulled the dazed octopus out of its den. As they ascended above me I could see the limp creature held between them. It appeared to lazily wrap its multi legs around those two divers, a very memorable view, but my focus was on simply returning to the surface as a priority!

Evidently an octopus cannot survive for very long out of its watery element, having no physical bone structure etc, so its virtually anathema to be removed to our human environment. Sorry to say this was the outcome that day. How sad is that?

Amazing Divers BC octupus encounter on utube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayQK0OT_R1c