The Holy Cephalopod

Text and Photo by Charlene Kwan

With a dive count in excess of 400 and visits to the legion of SE Asia’s macro diving hotspots, diving’s most sought after critters have been found, admired and photographed for posterity. With one notable exception. Back in October, I proved the old adage ‘if you snooze you lose’ by sitting out one of 13 dives in the tropical island of Malapascua. In this dive not one, but two, blue ringed octopi were discovered in the islands’ fringing reefs. Despite the primary purpose of this trip being to see the majestic thresher shark, this was a sickening body blow! So near and yet so far!

Plans for the next trip therefore were researched with a single aim: to find one of diving’s holy grails, the blue ringed octopus.

Constructing an algorithm of dive locations to establish the most likely seasonal sightings, we opted for Dauin, a small town South East of the island of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. I booked in with my partners’ long-time friends, Tim & Zoe and owners of Liquid Dumaguete - a first rate flash-packers’ resort nestled amongst verdant plantations and overlooking the black sands and azure waters of Dauin.

Trying not to be too demanding, we did however make it clear that for we were on a mission! By the time we arrived, all of the dive guides, staff and anyone else that would listen knew our single-minded aim.

And so armed with local knowledge, eagle-eyed dive guide supremo Rocky, the alignment of tides, currents, stars and the planets we plunged into the temperate waters of Dumaguete. Our quest had begun.

Despite our much publicised goal, this was strangely forgotten as we explored the local sub-aqua fauna and flora. Perennial favourites frogfish, seahorses, ornate ghost pipe fishes, an abundance of funky and obscure crabs filled the vista and occupied us wholly. And then the telling ‘clank clank clank’ as Rocky signalled for our attention by rapping his pointer repeatedly on his air cylinder.

We approached cautiously, our eyes darting to where Rocky was positioned motionless on the sand. And there it was. Perched atop a single outcrop of sinewy soft coral, plugged in isolation in the black sands was the most majestic of cephalopods.

Disturbed by our intrusion the octopus took flight, nimbly moving across the rubbly seabed in search of refuge. Recognisable by characteristic blue and black rings and yellowish skin when the octopus is agitated, it constantly flashed its warning as the brown patches on its body and tentacles darkened dramatically and, mesmorisingly, it’s iridescent blue rings or clumps of rings appeared and pulsated. Despite their small size and relatively docile nature, they are known as one of the most venomous marine animals and we therefore kept a close but respectful distance as we followed this tentacled trouper in awe until fully sated by this experience.

The dive came to an end and elated we clambered aboard our Bangka, ready to discuss where to find our next Holy Grail.