Dive #197 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log

We loved the way this octopus rapidly tented over areas to feed
Videograph by Rich Torkington in BVI 2004

Dive Journal: We take another beautiful afternoon sail to Beef Island and anchor in Bluff Bay for the night. After dinner we suit up for another night dive, and this time I decide to take along my video rig, even though the only light I have is my handheld dive light.

Andrew and I are buddies and we soon come across some crinoids and a sleeping queen triggerfish. I experiment with the video and find it quite difficult to operate the camera while trying to align my narrow dive light beam onto the same spot.

We then discover a small reef octopus. He’s slithering over the tops of coral boulders, first wrapping his arms around the boulder, then tenting his body quickly over the top, feeding on whatever might be there. The octopus repeats this sequence often, and goes through amazing color changes in our dive lights, especially a near fluorescent shade of green. Particularly great because he doesn’t seem to mind a couple of divers hovering above him.

We spend a long time studying the octopus and I get quite a bit of video. Andrew and I then vector off and swim for a long ways over the flats, not seeing much but enjoying the swim anyway. We get a little bit lost but eventually find the edge of the reef again, and then finally we run into Linda and Nathan, off exploring on their own.

This octopus was clearly the highlight of the dive.
Videograph by Rich Torkington in BVI 2004

Nathan and I continue exploring for a few more minutes. It’s another great night dive, our last aboard the Cuan Law (this trip anyway). Back on the boat, I eagerly play back my video – it came out better than I might have guessed, especially the octopus.