I need a "sure thing" GPO sighting

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:48 pm

A fellow REEFer from California has come up for a visit and is really hoping to see a GPO. We tried on Hood Canal today to find one - found a den, but nobody was home. We are going for another two dives in the Seattle area on Thursday, and I'd really like to send him home with having seen at least one GPO on his trip.

(side note: He was really excited today to have seen his first Quillback Rockfish, Puget Sound Rockfish, Grunt Sculpin and Longfin Gunnel)

Dive sites on Thursday are still not yet decided upon, so if you know of any sites that have one or more recent GPO residents, I would appreciate you helping me out!

- Janna

kdupreez · Post by **kdupreez** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:32 pm

come to cove2 at 5:30pm tomorrow and guaranteed I will show you at least 3 gpo's on eggs..

WylerBear · Post by **WylerBear** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:37 pm

Agreed. Cove 2 is the place to go right now to see GPO's.

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:20 am

nwscubamom wrote:A fellow REEFer from California has come up for a visit and is really hoping to see a GPO. We tried on Hood Canal today to find one - found a den, but nobody was home. We are going for another two dives in the Seattle area on Thursday, and I'd really like to send him home with having seen at least one GPO on his trip.

(side note: He was really excited today to have seen his first Quillback Rockfish, Puget Sound Rockfish, Grunt Sculpin and Longfin Gunnel)

Dive sites on Thursday are still not yet decided upon, so if you know of any sites that have one or more recent GPO residents, I would appreciate you helping me out!

- Janna

Thursday! Did you Say Thursday?

Three Tree North, has at least one. And Three Tree North is a great "Night Dive!"

I might be There on THURSDAY!

You and friend are welcome to join us. At this point I would even let you pick the time...
Early Morning...7:00am or Late afternoon / night.
I'll be posting the Thursday South Sound dive plans soon. see "Dive Planning" section.

I can't believe your diving on THURSDAY!!!

For the Record, I am planning on doing four dives on Thursday.

Possibly all of them at Three Tree N.

Keith.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:50 am

+1 for Cove 2 - octos on eggs and not on eggs. Come on down!!

Peter Guy · Post by **Peter Guy** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:18 am

Any of the GPOs at Cove 2 shallower than 60 feet? I'm leading a dive with 3 new divers tomorrow (Thursday).

kdupreez · Post by **kdupreez** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:30 am

no, the shallowest one is at about 70

If you are lucky there is one under 50' rock piles or 40' honey bear.. but havent seen those in a while.

lamont · Post by **lamont** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:40 pm

should be one on eggs under one of the plates the boundary cable goes right over, but it is around 70'.

you can actually find little ones in the shallow plates around 30' sometimes, but i haven't checked those in months.

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:32 pm

Great thanks!!!

Looks like the plan as it stands right now will be to hit the morning slack at Titlow Beach (slack is around 9:45am) and then after that head up to either Cove 2 or maybe Redondo.

Is there an octo at Redondo or Les Davis that's been seen lately?

Keith, or anyone else, you are welcome to join us at Titlow if you want - but we aren't totally sure where or when we'll be heading for the second dive. But it WILL BE ON THURSDAY!!!!

- Janna

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:19 pm

There's one at Redondo, head down the deep line look under the boat, we're diving it in around 0
930

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:04 am

Great Thanks!!
- Janna

kdupreez · Post by **kdupreez** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:51 pm

And ? Did you guys get to see some?

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:26 pm

Just got home and YES!!! We saw TWO GPOs at Redondo today. Absolutely SCORED! The Californian loved it - and to make the deal even sweeter, Rus came out of the MaST and invited him in to FEED the GPO they had in the aquarium in the back. So he got to feed and touch one, as well as see two in the wild under the boats.

Thank you all for helping out with this - he's totally happy about his PNW dive trip.

- Janna

ljjames · Post by **ljjames** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:08 pm

AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!!!!

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:31 pm

Sweet, glad to hear it. Bob and I found two new GPO dens at C2 today, one of which is in a very odd and unlikely location where I'm sure people swim over him daily without realizing. I just love how fortunate we are to have such cool critters in our "local mud holes."

lamont · Post by **lamont** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:04 pm

Sounder wrote:Sweet, glad to hear it. Bob and I found two new GPO dens at C2 today, one of which is in a very odd and unlikely location where I'm sure people swim over him daily without realizing. I just love how fortunate we are to have such cool critters in our "local mud holes."

its not too unlikely to find one under the shallow plates on the boundary cable there. i've found them there before, and found them in the small plates and boxes all the way over to the other side of cove 2 at shallow depth... i suspect that they're fairly transient in those dens.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:23 am

lamont wrote:
Sounder wrote:Sweet, glad to hear it. Bob and I found two new GPO dens at C2 today, one of which is in a very odd and unlikely location where I'm sure people swim over him daily without realizing. I just love how fortunate we are to have such cool critters in our "local mud holes."
its not too unlikely to find one under the shallow plates on the boundary cable there. i've found them there before, and found them in the small plates and boxes all the way over to the other side of cove 2 at shallow depth... i suspect that they're fairly transient in those dens.

I try not to post specific locations of GPO dens publicly, but this one is not near the boundary line nor is it shallow. It is in a most bizarre location, one all the people I've mentioned it to agree is exceptionally odd. That said, there are some folks who have much more experience in Cove 2 than others, so for all I know it's old news.

ljjames · Post by **ljjames** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:07 am

there have been a few active dens up in the '6 min from 20' to surface' zone for past several years (obviously variable depth due to tide height). usually what i gather from people more knowledgeable than me, is that they are homes for transient youngsters... The dens and their occupants are generally smaller. I imagine a lot of people generally miss them because they are boot-scootin' through that portion of their dive

The dens also tend to be just below the fresh to salt water interface on a low tide, and i've noted them to be empty when we have big influxes of fresh water from the duwamish.

there was also an odd den out in no mans land under an old tarp or boat canvas in the 60ish range that lamont and i scootered over yesterday, identified by the standard octo-garbage trail but it kinda seemed like a lunch break den as opposed to a hole up and live there.. cool nonetheless. Seems that Cove 2 is still crawling with octos!

seainggreen · Post by **seainggreen** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:45 pm

Sounder wrote:
lamont wrote:
Sounder wrote:Sweet, glad to hear it. Bob and I found two new GPO dens at C2 today, one of which is in a very odd and unlikely location where I'm sure people swim over him daily without realizing. I just love how fortunate we are to have such cool critters in our "local mud holes."
its not too unlikely to find one under the shallow plates on the boundary cable there. i've found them there before, and found them in the small plates and boxes all the way over to the other side of cove 2 at shallow depth... i suspect that they're fairly transient in those dens.
I try not to post specific locations of GPO dens publicly, but this one is not near the boundary line nor is it shallow. It is in a most bizarre location, one all the people I've mentioned it to agree is exceptionally odd. That said, there are some folks who have much more experience in Cove 2 than others, so for all I know it's old news.

I have also tried to refrain from posting specific locations... and now have quit publicly posting any video that references a specific den location, especially one that houses an expectant mother. Within 2 weeks of me posting GPO den/egg footage last fall, there was much evidence that all kinds of people were visiting that den. I am just glad the GPO's hatch had passed by the time its location became known.

Unfortunately a new octopus mother is in that very same location. I share this news b/c it is quite obviously already out there. The current occupant took great pains to pile up rocks and debris to protect its brood, and good on it for doing so. I can't film the den in its natural, unmolested state. But it's quite clear that divers are regularly moving the rocks to "get their shot" and then not replacing them; I've repeatedly seen rocks relocated neatly on top of the den or stacked away from the pile in a way that no sea creature could do. I now regret having posted any footage of that den, because apparently I've condemned any future expectant mother in that location to incessant visitation and endangerment from divers. Lesson learned for me.

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:52 pm

seainggreen wrote:
Sounder wrote:
lamont wrote:
Sounder wrote:Sweet, glad to hear it. Bob and I found two new GPO dens at C2 today, one of which is in a very odd and unlikely location where I'm sure people swim over him daily without realizing. I just love how fortunate we are to have such cool critters in our "local mud holes."
its not too unlikely to find one under the shallow plates on the boundary cable there. i've found them there before, and found them in the small plates and boxes all the way over to the other side of cove 2 at shallow depth... i suspect that they're fairly transient in those dens.
I try not to post specific locations of GPO dens publicly, but this one is not near the boundary line nor is it shallow. It is in a most bizarre location, one all the people I've mentioned it to agree is exceptionally odd. That said, there are some folks who have much more experience in Cove 2 than others, so for all I know it's old news.
I have also tried to refrain from posting specific locations... and now have quit publicly posting any video that references a specific den location, especially one that houses an expectant mother. Within 2 weeks of me posting GPO den/egg footage last fall, there was much evidence that all kinds of people were visiting that den. I am just glad the GPO's hatch had passed by the time its location became known.

Unfortunately a new octopus mother is in that very same location. I share this news b/c it is quite obviously already out there. The current occupant took great pains to pile up rocks and debris to protect its brood, and good on it for doing so. I can't film the den in its natural, unmolested state. But it's quite clear that divers are regularly moving the rocks to "get their shot" and then not replacing them; I've repeatedly seen rocks relocated neatly on top of the den or stacked away from the pile in a way that no sea creature could do. I now regret having posted any footage of that den, because apparently I've condemned any future expectant mother in that location to incessant visitation and endangerment from divers. Lesson learned for me.

I agree. I wish all divers loved GPOs as much as I do, but....a lot of people don't care very much. I try to avoid posting specific locations. To be honest, I don't post much about any of my dives, for a variety of reasons. Lotta haters out there in the peanut gallery.

dwashbur · Post by **dwashbur** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:29 pm

I can't imagine having the shallowness to rearrange a den. I've seen some octos that were really hard to spot, and more than once given up on getting a photo because either I couldn't see enough of the critter, or it was too far back in a den. In particular, I can't believe anybody would be selfish enough to disturb a den with a brooding mother in it. Maybe I need to polish my rose-colored glasses, but I find that astonishing. I've been checking periodically on the one mama at Cove 2, but I can honestly say that the idea of moving anything anywhere near the den has never occurred to me (hail me, I'm good). If I find an octo on a dive, cool. If I can get a picture, even better. If I don't find one or can't get the shot, well, that's the luck of the draw. There's always next time.

Glad you found some octos for the visiting diver, Janna!

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:57 pm

Yes, please don't touch the dens. It'll become quite clear who is doing it if they ever post video from particular dens such as the one Laurynn mentioned. It's just plain bad form, period. It'll be interesting to see if anyone actually does post images from a molested den. If so, they did the moving as the mothers always rebuild it once the molesters leave.

The new den I found *hopefully* won't Have this problem... Not much to move, no where near a "typical" location, and very well hidden. It was quite clever and I'm excited to go back next week to see if it is still occupied.

Northwest Dive Club