I once made friends with an octopus, also.

In my youth, during the southern Australian summer startup parts of the year, things would get warmer and warmer .. the sun staying up for longer and earlier and waking up the beach from the cold nights winter storm hangover, the awesome Indian Ocean water a bit docile, the winds calmer, perhaps, visibility getting less shark'y and more plankton'y, and in general a happy sea in the morning first-thing meant it was time for a swim. And so the daily ritual: goggles, flippers, a knife and a bag of treats, beach-bag: check.. I'd walk down to the spot, as it wasn't far from the family beach-house, and by the time I got to the water had deposited all earthly possessions behind me such that I could just splash my dive with the wave .. always a bit of a shiver at first, but then with clarity the ocean opens up its wonders.

This particular spot, and there were many for sure, but this particular one was just better to swim to, rather than walk up and over .. a spot just out past a reefy-beach, beyond a bit of a break, and then back onto a shallow reef a bit further from the beach. A bit of a swim and daunting in the deep bits, but if it were docile once you got there, the creatures were too. Playful, even. Chill.. A true ocean garden paradise of warm-weather nooks, holes, ledges, crannies, shelves, and a few scarey deep bits thrown in for pleasure. On the right day though, its like swimming in a giant bath-tub, although all your mates have the potential to kill you..

I can see it in my mind now, the back of my hand ahead of me as I take one last breath of air and dive down to the hole with a ledge... my bag of treats seemingly dropping into the hole with a mind of its own, and out spills the contents .. a few gold coins (well-polished with coca cola), a couple marbles, a flourescent rubber ball, like they used to make, heavy... all sinking into the shallow depth. And the inky tentacle reaching from the hole, catching each coin as it fell, glistening endlesly in the sun, to dark silence below. I float and watch, and of course the other objects cross my mind, but once the coins are gone, the octopus disappears for a few seconds .. probably inspecting the validity of the mint .. before returning in a gigantic splash of liquid being, all 8 tentacles extended, some kind of attack mode like .. how dare i enter this lair .. and then .. docile. friendly. just a big scareshow for the human, and anyway.. what else did i bring, oh yes .. the fluoro ball now has a bite mark in it, didn't like it .. marbles .. hmm ..

I go up, grab another breath, dive down .. can't see anything its just the hole with a ledge. Dive deeper, under the ledge, there it is .. guarding the horde. A few fish-hooks and sinkers down there, a thousand empty shells too, some kind of a collection. Would I call it a midden? Yes, I would. With my coins in it. Up for another breath, and down again to retrieve what treat I can, but of course the game is to get a coin from the lair, drop it from the surface, and let the sun do all the work. Not easy though, putting ones hand into an octopus lair when its guarding its midden.

I know this is going to sound weird, but to me it really seemed there was a sudden sweet-spot where the reflections would catch in a way that the octopus could see I was trying to play the game, and so it was that we played catch like this a few times that summer. It did give me one of the coins back eventually.