The night shore dive started out at Sund Rock in Hood Canal, west of Puget Sound in Washington like most night dives do. We geared up with flashlights, four of us buddy-checking our drysuits and gear before jumping into the cold water 10:30 at night. We had been diving Sund Rock for two days and seen a lot of wolf eels, rock fish and beautiful plumose anemone. Nothing prepared us for what we were to see fifteen minutes into this night dive at a depth of forty feet.

We approached what appeared to be an old tree stump. Our four lights moved on and off the “tree” looking for anything that moved. Suddenly each of us became aware the “tree” was changing positions. All lights went to the “tree.” In front of us, sitting on a rocky mount was a giant Pacific octopus. I saw each dive light and colored tank light react as the divers realized what they were seeing. The roots of the “tree” became tentacles with suckers larger than silver dollars. The creature’s head was 4 feet in length. It watched us as its red grapefruit sized orifice moved seawater in and out. The tentacles were easily fifteen feet in length.

This magnificent creature graced our presence sitting still and allowing its picture to be taken as long as our air would allow. We were guests in another world and knew it. Each of us said thank you in our own way then slowly and safely surfaced. This encounter was one of those unexpected things in nature.

If you enjoy the movie below, Nature's Waiting Video Systems is offering a copy to you, free of charge, as our gift to our friends. To get your copy, right-click on the following link and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" depending on your browser: Octopus Movie.**Note: File is approximately 10 mb, so it may take a short time to load/download.

To make movie full screen, double click on the movie while it is playing.