With the end of the dive season quickly approaching for a "warm weather" diver, I had a mission; get some shots of an octopus. I'd seen them on a handful of dives but never got a decent photo.
I knew the best bet for finding an octopus was a shallow shore dive with artificial reef pods. The water has looked great this entire fall compared to last fall when a red tide and algae really messed up our waters so things looked promising. The wind picked up overnight and stayed pretty strong but surf and surge in the Panhandle of FL isn't the same as the Pacific or Atlantic so it was manageable.
The water temps had fallen from around 76 two weeks ago to 72 but my 3mm was sufficient. Despite the waves and surge kicking up a good amount of sand the water was beautiful and there was easily 25' of visibility a mere 100 yards off the beach!
Fish and marine life galore, but after searching the first half of the pods still no luck on finding the target subject. Undeterred the search continued and then, expertly camouflaged both in color and texture was the first octopus of the dive! After a good 5 minutes working angles on it a brave blenny was spotted. A second octopus of much larger size was spotted on the next pod that was more cooperative and less shy.
After the cooperative octopus, the dive was turned with the mission accomplished!
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWFqj][/URL]
http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWFq.../photos/skeptic14/]Skeptic14[/url], on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWxFG][/URL]
http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWxF.../photos/skeptic14/]Skeptic14[/url], on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWEvy][/URL]
http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWEv.../photos/skeptic14/]Skeptic14[/url], on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/PpoK7Z][/URL]
I knew the best bet for finding an octopus was a shallow shore dive with artificial reef pods. The water has looked great this entire fall compared to last fall when a red tide and algae really messed up our waters so things looked promising. The wind picked up overnight and stayed pretty strong but surf and surge in the Panhandle of FL isn't the same as the Pacific or Atlantic so it was manageable.
The water temps had fallen from around 76 two weeks ago to 72 but my 3mm was sufficient. Despite the waves and surge kicking up a good amount of sand the water was beautiful and there was easily 25' of visibility a mere 100 yards off the beach!
Fish and marine life galore, but after searching the first half of the pods still no luck on finding the target subject. Undeterred the search continued and then, expertly camouflaged both in color and texture was the first octopus of the dive! After a good 5 minutes working angles on it a brave blenny was spotted. A second octopus of much larger size was spotted on the next pod that was more cooperative and less shy.
After the cooperative octopus, the dive was turned with the mission accomplished!
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWFqj][/URL]
http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWFq.../photos/skeptic14/]Skeptic14[/url], on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWxFG][/URL]
http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWxF.../photos/skeptic14/]Skeptic14[/url], on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWEvy][/URL]
http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/NQWEv.../photos/skeptic14/]Skeptic14[/url], on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/PpoK7Z][/URL]