While diving in Sydney I came across two large octopus who had made a home inside an old tyre. Inside the tyre were a variety of coke cans, beer bottles and other rubbish that octopus apparently like to horde.
As octopus usually tend to be quite friendly, I held out my hand hoping to get the occies interest so they would come out of the tyre for a photo. One octopus immediately unfurled a tentacle and latched on to my gloved finger.. no big deal. Soon another arm came out and he had grabbed hold of my whole hand. This was all good fun until I decided it was time to go and I tried to shake my hand free of his grasp. As soon as he felt me try to pull away, the occy increased his grip and began to change colour as he attempted to drag my hand into his lair. The more I pulled the stronger the occy's grip seemed to get. They are immensely strong! Eventually I realised there was no way I could win and I had to pull my hand out of my glove and let him have his prize. (thank goodness I was wearing gloves).
So they can certainly be a threat to your dive gear if you let them get hold of it. (I learned my lesson). I don't know if this octopus was being aggressive or just playful. Anbody had a similar experience? I've seen a video of a giant octopus wrench a diver's mask off his face. Pretty scary, even though I think they're just being curious.
