Northwest Dive Club

LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/magaz ... attle.html

The New York Times finally decides to jump on the Octopalypse bandwagon with this, ahem, embellished account of what went down nearly a year ago.

The giant Pacific octopus was curled inside a rock piling, both its color and texture altered by camouflage. Mayer judged it to be his size, about six feet, and wondered if he could take it on alone. He lunged at the octopus, grabbing one of its eight arms. It slipped slimily between his fingers, its suckers feeling and tasting his hand. He reached for it again, and again it retreated. Able to squeeze its body through a space as small as a lemon, the octopus was unlikely to succumb to his grip. He poked it with his finger and watched it turn brighter shades of red, until finally, it sprang forward and revealed itself to be a nine-foot wheel charging through the water.

The octopus grabbed Mayer where it could, encircling his thigh, spiraling his torso, its some 1,600 suckers — varying in size from a peppercorn to a pepper mill — latching onto his wet suit and face. It pulled Mayer’s regulator out of his mouth. His adrenaline rising, he punched the creature, and began a wrestling match that would last 25 minutes.

The comments on the article are worth reading too. For entertainment value, at least.

Uhm.... interesting... good writing, I always did admire a bit of historical fiction. Just perfect for the NYT!!

Tom Nic wrote:Uhm.... interesting... good writing, I always did admire a bit of historical fiction. Just perfect for the NYT!!

I'm sure coverage by Fox News or MSNBC would have been much more entertaining!

spatman wrote:

Tom Nic wrote:Uhm.... interesting... good writing, I always did admire a bit of historical fiction. Just perfect for the NYT!!

I'm sure coverage by Fox News or MSNBC would have been much more entertaining!

No doubt!

I thought it was at least a fairly entertaining version of his side of the story.. There was a creative license on the writers part for sure to make it captivating read for audiences.. If you didnt know anything about the issue or never heard of it, i think the point (and its a valid point) is clear..

In principle, what he did was not wrong.. if he had gone out on a boat to a fishing reef and grabbed an octo, nobody would have been the wiser and nobody would have cared..

He was stupid (or unfortunate) enough to go do it at a very popular dive site and THAT was the issue.. Basically killing Bamby in the Zoo while the kids were watching..

At least thats my opinion after the entire saga...

Like I was telling someone today.. If I kept a pet pot belly pig, I would still eat bacon.. but I would not slaughter poor old piggy to get me some bacon and I'd take offense if someone else did.. But I'd gladly go get me some bacon in the store, even feed it to piggy too..

Hypocritical of us humans, I know.. but thats just the way it works..

A man was walking past a farm and noticed a pig that was missing a leg, so he stopped and asked the farmer about the three legged pig.

"Son, this pig is amazing. This pig ran into a burning barn and herded all the animals outside before the roof collapsed. Last summer this pig jumped into the pond over yonder and saved a drowning boy. And just the other day this pig carried a wounded dog all the way into town to see the vet."

"That is truly a remarkable pig!" said the passerby. "But I don't understand why the pig has three legs."

"Well, hell, son. You can't eat a pig like this all at once!"

Bwahahaha - good one!

Yeah I read this yesterday, it was somewhat stomach turning, and funny at the same time.

Well they are called "stories" for a reason right...............

Keep in mind that this is an article in the food section of the New York Times Magazine (a supplement to the Sunday paper). It's not really about accurate reporting so much as entertaining people who like to read about food. All publicity is good publicity for Seattle restaurants and GPOs I suppose.

In the end, regardless of however someone from NYC prefers to craft the story for mass consumption in a food section of the newspaper, the important thing is this: due to the diligent work of awesome people following an unfortunate event, the giant pacific octopus is now protected in several of our favorite diving locations.

And I am looking forward to seeing several GPOs at many of these now protected locations in the coming weeks and months. They are still my all-time favorite marine animal.

Happy diving,
Laurynn