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By Stephen Pearce. Another installment of our series on diving near Vancouver. This time Stephen checks out the octopuses at Porteau Cove.
No skeleton, perfect camouflage skills and high intelligence is already an interesting combination. Add in eight arms, three hearts, and a weight of up to 600 pounds (272 kg) and you have something truly extraordinary.
The Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest species of octopus in the world. It can have an arm span up to 30 feet (9 m) and a mantle 8 inches (20 cm) in width. It’s one of the treasures of the west coast and finding one is a special treat that’s sure to turn any dive into a great dive.
The best places to look for octopuses are in the nooks and crannies of the rock formations all along the west coast. And Porteau Cove Provincial Park with its wealth of artificial reefs is a perfect place to start.
Sites include the tugboat “Granthall“, the hull of a concrete sailboat, and a steel dredger called the “Centennial III“. And if you’re still looking for places to explore there is always an underwater “jungle gym” of pylons and concrete built just for divers. How cool is that?
Aside from the artificial reefs, Porteau is a great location for plumose anemones, lingcod, sculpin, rockfish and nudibranchs. And the occasional harbour seal may visit just out of curiosity.
Porteau is a great place for divers at all levels with ample parking, easy entry to the water, a maximum depth at high tide of about 50 feet (18 m) and an outdoor shower for rinsing. On any given weekend, year round, an active community turns out to explore the sites, practice skills and share stories.
Octopuses are notoriously shy and a little luck is needed to see them during the day when they normally stay well hidden from prying eyes and potential predators. Tell-tale signs of a recent den are the carapaces of crabs and other crustaceans that the octopus has dined on. Divers can often get surprisingly close once they do see one; although it’s smart not to touch or alarm the animal in any way.
On Sunday September 18th my buddy Darek and I entered the water at Porteau Cove around noon to check out the attractions. A short surface swim out to the buoy marking the location of the Granthall and then down we went to begin our tour. An hour later we surfaced having been lucky enough to see the sites as well as finding three different octopuses. Very neat.
We’re already planning a night dive in the near future – perhaps we’ll be lucky enough to see one or two of them outside their den while they’re hunting.
Porteau Cove Provincial Park, a short drive from Vancouver, is located on the most southerly fjord in North America and offers stunning views of Howe Sound and the nearby mountains. Facilities include a boat launch, campsites and washrooms. Full details, including a dive map, can be found on the following web site: www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/porteau/
