Vancouver –
British Columbia scuba diver Andrea Humphreys’ new acquaintance greeted her extra like a long-lost good friend, with prolonged arms, then a full-body hug, and eventually a kiss, lip to tentacle.
Humphreys’ “mind-blowing” encounter was with an enormous Pacific octopus.
The schoolteacher’s video of the uncommon moment with the creature, in three-meter-deep water off Campbell River on the of Vancouver Island, has gone viral.
“I’ve been diving for 12 years. I have never had that. It was just mind-blowing, and it was so incredible,” mentioned Humphreys, who has performed greater than 675 dives all over the world however describes her communication with the octopus because the expertise of a lifetime.
On Oct. 15, Humphreys and two different locals have been with a fifth diver who had by no means seen an octopus on a dive.
“So, our goal was to find that person an octopus and we geared up and got in the water. And within three minutes, I found this octopus that was just sitting there, out in the open,” mentioned Humphreys.
Humphreys and her associates tried to present the octopus some house whereas they snapped photographs. She estimated its measurement at greater than three meters, tentacle to tentacle, with a physique larger than a basketball.
But the octopus had different concepts.
It began crawling in the direction of Humphreys’ good friend who had by no means earlier than seen an octopus, then it greeted Humphreys with its physique and tentacles totally engulfing her digicam.
“Its tentacles were reaching through the camera to feel my face and then at some point, it had crawled on my body, on my hips, and was giving me a hug,” she mentioned.
“And it had tentacles up and around my mouth and it was sucking on my lip, which is the only exposed part of my body,” mentioned Humphreys, who captured the entire communication on video, full with her “squeals of excitement.”
She mentioned such shut communication with divers is uncommon from an enormous Pacific octopus, which scientists rank as very smart.
“This was definitely not a normal encounter with the octopus,” mentioned Humphreys.
“Typically, when we find octopuses, they are in their dens, so like hiding in little cracks, crevices, under rocks and open logs. So, to have it sitting out in the open was pretty rare.”
Humphreys mentioned she hopes the story of her encounter raises consciousness of the great thing about marine life and the significance of defending the underwater surroundings.
She mentioned college students in her class discovered the video and have been asking her questions on it, “so, the excitement is definitely there.”
“(I’m) just hoping I can make people, through this video, aware of what lives under the sea and how our effects can be so harmful.”
Humphreys mentioned she seems ahead to revisiting the identical diving web site, hoping to seek out the octopus once more to resume their acquaintance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed on Nov. 6, 2022.