seadoggirl
Guest
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 couldnt 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!
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 couldnt 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!
