Marine Life & Conservation Blogs
8 Places to Seek Adventure with Octopus
A Guest Blog by PADI.com
World Octopus Day on 8 October 2021 highlights the need to continue to explore and protect the ocean so that the 300 recognized species of octopus can continue to live in rock formations, coral reefs and throughout the seas.
Octopus have long been one of the most fascinating marine encounters to have as a diver. With three hearts, blue blood, the ability to camouflage on demand and their high levels of intelligence, these curious creatures place high on many divers’ bucket lists.
They can be found in a range of ocean climates around the globe, making diving with octopus attainable worldwide.
Here are eight of some of the best places to dive with octopus:
1. Canary Islands
Offering warm and clear water all year round, the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa and the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean are a great place to dive with octopus, who are often hiding under the rocky terrain below the surface.
2. The Maldives
This low-lying nation offers white sand beaches, vibrant coral reefs and plenty of opportunity to dive with octopus. The rich water in the Maldives feed the soft coral that clings to rock slides, providing a range of locations for octopus to build their home. They are a common sighting there amongst those who both snorkel and dive.
3. French Polynesia
Octopus are an essential part of French Polynesian culture—they have an octagonal building referred to as the “Octopus Church” on the island of Mo’orea and the island archipelago is home to the Micronesia mythology octopus god referred to as Na Kika. Beneath the surface of these low-lying atolls in French Polynesia are marine creature clusters that often include octopus hiding amongst the rocks or coral beds.
4. South Africa
This destination put diving with octopus on the top of the list for many after last year’s release of the Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher. False Bay near Cape Town, as highlighted in the film, is one location to dive with octopus. But the varied climates and currents provide a range of opportunities for close encounters with these marine creatures across the coastline.
5. Indonesia
As the epicenter of biodiversity beneath the surface of Indonesia’s waters, octopus are just one of the many marine animals that call this collection of 17,508 islands home. Lembeh Strait is often full of various species, including the mimic octopus, who can change into and act like a variety of other marine species like lionfish and sea snakes.
6. Philippines
The Philippines offers divers thousands of dive sites to choose from. But those wanting to dive with an octopus should plan a visit to the Sea Explorers House Reef in Dauin, where blue ring octopus are known to be found during the month of October, often amongst the colorful soft coral.
7. United States
Off the California coastline are thousands of tidepools that offer a sanctuary for octopus and a great place for those with their fins off to have an encounter with them. Those wanting to dive deeper can do a shore dive at Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach, where octopus are known to hang out around the underwater statue dubbed Shelley of Shaw’s. And farther North up the Pacific Coast off the shores of Washington, divers can encounter giant Pacific octopus in the waters of Olympic National Park.
8. Australia
For those wanting to find the world’s smallest octopus, the blue ring octopus can be found off the coast of Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. This tiny octopus is known for its beautiful blue marking and will flash bright blue and black rings to warn predators to stay away. The world’s smallest octopus is also the most venomous, so make sure to admire them from a safe distance.
To explore these dive sites and more, get in touch with your local PADI Dive Center or Resort and become a PADI Open Water Diver. And for those wanting to help protect octopus, other marine species and the ocean they call home, join the community of PADI Torchbearers to learn more about how to get involved and help restore ocean health.
Photo credit – Annie Crawley, PADI AmbassaDiver and Master Scuba Diver Instructor / @anniecrawley_oceanannie
Blogs
Saba’s Plan for a Coral Comeback
Saba has an exciting new initiative to restore its coral reefs. This new project, running from 2024 to 2026, will focus on reviving key species in the island’s underwater ecosystems. With a collaborative team from the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF) and Van Hall Larenstein (VHL) University of Applied Sciences, the project aims to restore both corals as well as sea urchins.
This initiative is centered around coral restoration, specifically reviving two essential coral species—staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata). By mapping parent colonies and using a technique known as coral gardening, SCF will create and maintain coral nurseries. These corals will eventually be outplanted at key reef sites around Saba to not only expand the number of coral colonies, but also provide essential fish habitat. The project focusses on installing coral nurseries, training staff with the newest techniques and starting with the restoration of key reef sites.
Reef Cleaners to the Rescue
It’s not just corals getting a makeover—this project also shines a spotlight on the essential role of grazers, particularly sea urchins. VHL is leading the charge on cultivating and restocking two key sea urchin species, West Indian sea egg (Tripneustes) and long-spined sea urchin (Diadema), known for their ability to keep algae in check. By removing algae, which are important competitors of corals, they help the coral to thrive. By restoring these “reef cleaners,” Saba’s project will give corals the breathing room they need to grow, setting the stage for a healthier, more balanced marine ecosystem.
From Tiny Urchins to Big Goals
The project will be funded as part of the Dutch Government’s Nature and Environment Policy Plan (NEPP) 2020-2030 for the Caribbean Netherlands, a comprehensive initiative aimed at conserving and restoring the unique natural environments of the Dutch Caribbean islands, including Saba, St. Eustatius, and Bonaire. This project is aiming for big milestones: build and maintaining coral nurseries, the expansion of urchin cultivation facilities, and the creation of a dedicated research center. By 2026, the project hopes to ramp up coral and grazer restoration, with the ultimate goal of extending these efforts across the Dutch Caribbean. By linking local initiatives to broader regional goals, Saba’s restoration project promises to leave a lasting impact on both the environment and the community.
Find out more about the DCNA at dcnanature.org.
Blogs
Reef-World marks two decades of marine conservation: strengthening impact amid coral reef threats
Empowering ocean stakeholders to tackle future challenges and ensure the survival of coral reefs and humanity
2024 marks the 20th Anniversary of The Reef-World Foundation’s tireless efforts for global coral reef conservation. The UK charity is the international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative, known as the leading voice in sustainable marine tourism. Today, Reef-World released its 2023-2024 Impact Report outlining a year of substantive growth and impact in its marine conservation programmes.
Impact Report Highlights:
- Impressive improvements in environmental behaviours to protect coral reefs by the marine tourism industry as the global participation of Green Fins increases.
- Continued capacity building for government and NGO staff to effectively manage marine tourism activities in Asia, Caribbean and Red Sea regions.
- For the first time in Green Fins’ 20-year history, tourism operators have achieved ‘Best Environmental Performer’ status by demonstrating the lowest possible environmental impact in their environmental assessments. In 2024, three dive operators achieved this challenging milestone.
- Significant increases in global participation of Reef-World’s innovative digital conservation tools.
- 138 Green Fins dive operator members achieved the strict threshold for PADI Eco Center recognition.
- Developed four new educational materials and translated two into 16 languages to support the marine tourism industry in achieving sustainability targets.
- Establishing a new Reef-World Development strategy and recruiting new roles – Development and Programmes Managers.
- Reef-World’s board welcomes new Chair and Trustees strengthening organisational leadership.
Reef-World started as a one-person mission to inspire and empower communities to act in conserving and sustainably developing coral reefs and related ecosystems. Today, the team of 12 continues to meet this mission by inspiring and empowering the global marine tourism community to be exemplary sustainability leaders by using the Green Fins guidelines and tools to simultaneously use and protect the world’s precious reefs.
In April 2024, the fourth global coral reef bleaching event was confirmed. Reef-World’s work has never been more urgent as the marine environment, and the benefits they provide humanity, continue to be eroded by global threats. The reduction of local threats, like those from the marine tourism industry, is an essential step to ensuring a future where coral reefs survive and continue to support the millions of people who depend on their ecosystem benefits. Reef-World’s work buys time for coral reefs and related ecosystems to be resilient to the impacts of global threats.
“Right now our corals are facing the greatest fight of their existence as the terrifying predictions of the steps towards their complete extinction are starting to come true. But all is not lost, reefs are resilient and they have existed on this planet for millions of years. We must take action now, to buy time for reefs by reducing threats facing them and allowing them to react and adjust to the changing environment they need to survive in.” – Chloe Harvey, Executive Director
Looking Forwards:
Like coral reefs, the Reef-World team needs to be resilient in the face of the complex challenges of the conservation sector. Reef-World has invested significantly in developing a Culture of Care to ensure the well-being of its team on a daily basis, continuing to be an exemplary employer to enable its team to best achieve the mission for coral reef conservation.
With the foundations of a Culture of Care and organisational development laid, Reef-World is emerging from the end of a natural organisation life cycle, that brings the challenges of growth and scale, stronger than ever. With a new strategy in place to generate much needed resources, Reef-World is excited for the opportunities to leap forward, continue to scale our impact and lean into new innovations and untapped opportunities for marine conservation.
We continually strive to become a forward-thinking organisation that delivers on our goals and commitments to our stakeholders with fresh approaches and not being afraid of steering away from a “normal approach.” This approach is not only applied to our programmes of work but also internally and carries over to our Culture of Care for our team.” — JJ Harvey, Operations Director
The Reef-World Foundation is immensely grateful for the continued support of its grant funders: UN Environment Programme, IUCN’s Blue Natural Capital Financing Facility, Adventure Travel Conservation Fund, PADI Aware Foundation, and World Nomads Footprints Program.
Reef-World would also like to express its gratitude to international partners whose vital support has resulted in significant tangible benefits for our work and mission: PADI; Professional SCUBA Schools International (PSS); Explorer Ventures; 1% for the Planet; ZuBlu; Snorkel Venture, GSTC; Dive O’Clock; Seven Dragons; DiveAssure and Eco Beach, without whom these achievements would not be possible.
The full 2023–2024 Annual Impact Report is available on Reef-World’s website.
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