u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI

A large male Giant Pacific Octopus out for a stroll in search of a mate or food. I asked him, but he wouldn't answer!

Filmed in Nanoose off Vancouver Island.

I'll be releasing a new 3-hour ambient octopus compilation soon from this year's footage. It has been a very good year for filming octopus, and I have captured some amazing behavior I have never seen filmed before! But for now, you can see my last years ambient compilation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qiztsIcqWo

A large male Giant Pacific Octopus out for a stroll in search of a mate or food. I asked him, but he wouldn't answer!

Filmed in Nanoose off Vancouver Island.

I'll be releasing a new 3-hour ambient octopus compilation soon from this year's footage. It has been a very good year for filming octopus, and I have captured some amazing behavior I have never seen filmed before! But for now, you can see my last years ambient compilation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qiztsIcqWo

I'd found this octopus in a crack and patiently waited for several minutes hovering about 15 feet above. It would peek out at me every few minutes then finally decided I wasn't a threat and emerged to conduct some business. As I came within his reach he decided to reach out and give my camera a little bit of octopus love. It took some effort but I eventually won the tug-of-war.

2 hours of ambient octopus (no music): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qiztsIcqWo

I'd found this octopus in a crack and patiently waited for several minutes hovering about 15 feet above. It would peek out at me every few minutes then finally decided I wasn't a threat and emerged to conduct some business. As I came within his reach he decided to reach out and give my camera a little bit of octopus love. It took some effort but I eventually won the tug-of-war.

I found this little grunt sculpin on Browning Wall near Port Hardy. Browning Wall is world famous for its incredible diversity of sponges, soft corals, anemones, and other colorful invertebrate life.

This little guy or gal was hopping around among the sponges, more than 100 feet from the bottom. As I drift away you can start to see the scale of the wall and where this tiny little creature lives.

I've put together a two-hour ambient film from Browning Passage for anyone interested in seeing more of what this ecosystem looks like underwater:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFhXh2U2D2U

Some of my Browning Passage footage can also be seen in two one-hour episodes of Ambient Film streaming on PBS.

One of those encounters where all you have to do is hold the camera steady and let the animal do the work.

This giant Pacific octopus came straight toward me, turned broadside right in front of the camera, and then slowly cruised away across the sand.

This was towards the end of a 21 dive streak where I was filming octopus daily for a couple of weeks. It takes patience and perseverance to catch them out in the open so getting in the water as much as possible definitely helps.

More of my underwater content here: https://www.youtube.com/@scubabc6701

One of those encounters where all you have to do is hold the camera steady and let the animal do the work.

This giant Pacific octopus came straight toward me, turned broadside right in front of the camera, and then slowly cruised away across the sand.

This was towards the end of a 21 dive streak where I was filming octopus daily for a couple of weeks. It takes patience and perseverance to catch them out in the open so getting in the water as much as possible definitely helps.

2 hours of ambient octopus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkNu1PMK_0

One of those encounters where all you have to do is hold the camera steady and let the animal do the work.

This giant Pacific octopus came straight toward me, turned broadside right in front of the camera, and then slowly cruised away across the sand.

This was towards the end of a 21 dive streak where I was filming octopus daily. It takes patience and perseverance to catch them out in the open so getting in the water as much as possible definitely helps.

2 hours of ambient octopus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkNu1PMK_0

One of those encounters where all you have to do is hold the camera steady and let the animal do the work.

This giant Pacific octopus came straight toward me, turned broadside right in front of the camera, and then slowly cruised away across the sand. This was towards the end of a 21 dive streak where I was filming octopus daily. It takes patience and perseverance to catch them out in the open so getting in the water as much as possible definitely helps.

Filmed while diving off Vancouver Island, BC.

Filmed this Pacific sea nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens) while diving in Browning Passage near Port Hardy, British Columbia.

Watching these things move underwater is mesmerizing. The golden bell, enormous trailing oral arms, and the way it just pulses effortlessly through the water make it look almost alien.

[OC] Filmed underwater in British Columbia, Canada. I post all of my underwater content here: https://www.youtube.com/@scubabc6701

We spotted this giant Pacific octopus this morning. After it tried to mug me for my camera it went after my dive buddy. Climbed right up a wall and went straight for her.

It reached out, grabbed the camera and wasn’t particularly interested in giving it back. 😂🐙

Just another day diving in the Salish Sea. [OC]

More [OC] octopus videos on my YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkNu1PMK_0

I was solo diving at about 100 feet off Vancouver Island when I turned toward deeper water and saw this massive bluntnose sixgill shark emerging from the darkness.

I believe it was a female, roughly 10–12 feet long. She came right up to investigate me, then calmly cruised alongside me for about three minutes before eventually disappearing back into deeper water.

Sixgills are primarily deep-water sharks, so getting to spend this much time with one at recreational diving depths was an incredible experience.

The encounter has since been featured by CBC National News, Global News, CTV and CHEK, which has been pretty surreal.

This is my original footage. If anyone wants to see the longer 4K version of the encounter, I put it together here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJaHm1LZ0Lo

Filmed off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. [OC]

I was solo diving off Vancouver Island looking for giant Pacific octopus when I turned toward deeper water and saw this massive bluntnose sixgill shark coming directly toward me.

I believe it was a female, roughly 10–12 feet long. She came right up to investigate me, then calmly cruised alongside me for about three minutes before eventually disappearing back into the darkness.

Sixgills are primarily deep-water sharks, so getting an encounter like this at around 100 feet was pretty incredible.

The footage ended up getting picked up by CBC National News, Global News, CTV and CHEK News this week, which I definitely wasn't expecting when I went diving that afternoon.

This is my original footage from the encounter. I have a longer 4K version here if anyone wants to see the whole thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJaHm1LZ0Lo

Filmed off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. [OC]

Was doing a solo dive near Nanoose, Vancouver Island, looking for giant Pacific octopus. I was down around 100 ft and had just turned to start making my way back when I looked over and saw this massive bluntnose sixgill coming toward me out of the darkness.

It came right up to check me out, then calmly cruised along the bottom beside me for about three minutes before disappearing back into deeper water.

I believe it was a female, roughly 10–12 ft long. Definitely scared the crap out of me when I first saw it, but it turned into one of the coolest encounters I've ever had underwater.

This is about 36 seconds from the encounter. I have roughly three minutes of 4K footage in total.

There's also a potentially interesting connection between this shark and another recent sixgill encounter in the area, but I'm still trying to determine whether it's actually the same animal.

I filmed this young giant Pacific octopus on our dive today off Vancouver Island. It was quite curious about my presence and we hung around each other for about 15 minutes and then parted ways. On my way back in it was still hanging out on it's ledge and curiously watched me swim by.

Many people are surprised to learn that there's a Boeing 737 resting on the seafloor near Chemainus. The aircraft was intentionally sunk in 2006 as an artificial reef and has become home to an incredible variety of marine life.

On a recent dive, I spent time exploring and filming the aircraft in 4K. It's amazing to see how the plumose anemones, sea stars, and rockfish have transformed the aircraft into a living reef.

This trailer is from a 50-minute ambient dive film I created exploring the wreck in detail. If anyone is interested in the full version, it's available on my YouTube channel, ScubaBC.

This is the Boeing 737 artificial reef near Chemainus on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The aircraft was intentionally sunk in 2006 to create a new marine habitat and dive attraction in the Salish Sea.

At roughly 100 feet (30 m) long, it's an easy wreck to explore on a single recreational dive. The plane lies in about 90 feet of water (depending on tide) and the fuselage is supported about 10 feet off the bottom. The cockpit, cabin, wings, and tail are all accessible from the outside, and over the last few years the wreck has become increasingly covered in plumose anemones, sea stars, and other marine life. Rockfish are common, and it's a fun site to revisit as it continues to mature.

You can dive it from shore with scooters (about a 20 minute run I hear) but most of us dive it from a dive boat.

I recently spent a dive filming the wreck in 4K and turned it into a 50-minute ambient underwater film. If anyone is interested, it's on my YouTube channel (ScubaBC).

Snailfish are a neat but rare little fish we find diving at night in shallow, sandy bays around Vancouver Island. These little ones are only a couple inches long. They can be found at depths from 20 feet (like these) down to 27,000+ feet!

If you look closely at its face, you can see tiny "pores" on its chin. Those aren't blemishes, they are sensory pores! Because many snailfish live in absolute darkness, they use these pores like a built-in radar system to "feel" vibrations and water pressure. Even in shallow water at night, it helps them hunt and navigate in the dark.

If you're interested here is 2 hours of ambient 4K marine life from the Salish Sea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTrQHtj7Px4

Snailfish are a neat but rare little fish we find diving at night in shallow, sandy bays around Vancouver Island. These little ones are only a couple inches long. They can be found at depths from 20 feet (like these) down to 27,000+ feet!

If you look closely at its face, you can see tiny "pores" on its chin. Those aren't blemishes, they are sensory pores! Because many snailfish live in absolute darkness, they use these pores like a built-in radar system to "feel" vibrations and water pressure. Even in shallow water at night, it helps them hunt and navigate in the dark.

If you're interested here is 2 hours of ambient 4K marine life from the Salish Sea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTrQHtj7Px4

We found this very large female wolf eel on our dive today in about 70 feet of water. She was out for a cruise across the sandy bottom. Typically the females are more grey or darker brown, this one however, was a very beautiful orange color.

I film a ton of PNW marine life, if you want to see more underwater footage from our local dives, check out my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@scubabc6701