Northwest Dive Club

Hiya local divers and visitors to Cove 2, if you are visiting the Octopus on eggs, and move the rocks on the far side of den to get a closer look, please return them. Too big an opening and momma octo gets more stressed due to predators poking head in. Stress will shorten her life and reduce chance of a viable hatch event.

This is the first den i've observed in the coves in a couple years (all the other dens that used to be prolific seem to have been barren or die too quickly since Seastar Wasting syndrome - i don't know if there is any correlation to water quality/temp etc, just of interest given the late nature of the egg laying in this den).

I'm not gonna be the scuba police and say 'don't touch the rocks' just 'please put them back and limit your visits to every couple weeks and keep them shortish as traffic is increasing now that folks know she's there (yes I weight this concern when i post images/video). The eggs do not look ready to hatch so you don't need to bug her every day.

I promise i won't hoard the hatch if I happen to be there when it happens. I will mention it here.

Yes, I am visiting the coves weekly, but i'm only stuffing a camera near the opening and filming once every 2-3 weeks. Last night we did a quick pass, peered in from several feet away and that is when i noted the much larger opening and felt the need to mention. The first time I visited her the opening was basically fist size (think gopro on a stick needed to get any shot), now its full on DSLR camera with a dome port size.

So please please if you have visited and terraformed the den opening on the passenger ferry side, put the rocks back and give momma & babies a chance.

Thank you Laura ... and I'll add my voice to "please be gentle and considerate". I'm convinced the last octopus mama in that location died prematurely because she was "loved to death" by all the diver traffic (including me, unfortunately). She's stressed enough during the final cycle of her life protecting her young. Let's please keep this in mind, and while I know how much people love to see these octos on eggs, let's try to be as inobtrusive as possible.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks you two!

Visited the den last night. The rocks were pulled away and it was as if the GPO and eggs were never there.

Sad!! :(

Wow. That is a bummer

I had visited the den last week and while the rocks were pulled away you could still see the remnants of where the eggs were and it looked like they hatched.