by Tyler Zetterstrom

So after my wonderful experiences of the morning, I feel as though I am sitting on the moon at ease. Whatever the day has for me next is just fine by me. Haluk expresses interest in going to a beach club to get some sun. Fine by me... especially since there is water to explore. That being said, this spot is rather dull in general and does not get deeper until a couple kilometers off shore. I have previously explored this area twice and was hard pressed to find interesting life.

Arriving there we pick a spot and Haluk decides to take me to the onsite dive shop. The owner, Asim, is a friend of his and will maybe able to take me out for some freediving. Immediately Haluk was greeted with a warm welcome and I was introduced between the mix of Turkish sentences. After they conversed for a while, Haluk tells Asim about my diving interests and tendencies. Asim turns to me and says something about 45m deep and how deep do I go. I shake my head earnestly that I am interested and attempt to explain that I like to dive in general between 25-40m. Haluk and him are back to chatting and I am a little unsure of how Asim has taken my interest. A few moments later Haluk turns to me to explain. Asim welcomes me to go on his boat. Haluk has asked what it would cost and Asim has explained that since I have no equipment and do not require assistance such as the scuba divers, I can go for free. I know I said I freedive but I did not mean for it to be take literally. Asim explains that I can come by any day of the week and if the boat is not full, then I can go out with them. My, oh my. I imagine this was in part due to the friendship between these two men. I am overly grateful for this unexpected offer as we depart back to our beach chairs.

Can this day get much better? I sit for a few moments with Haluk to chat but quickly am drawn back to the call of the underwater world. I decide to swim out of the bay and along the shoreline and maybe for a swim out to the deep if there is not too much boat traffic. As I leave the bay I quickly realize that the largest danger to myself at this point is the jet-boats and jet-skis that are constantly rocketing past. I am even quite wary hugging the shoreline, constantly looking up to check for an unaware jet-ski operator. These guys/gals do not seem very thoughtful or interested to limit themselves to deeper waters. I am at most a mere 30 feet from the shore and sometimes when in doubt I follow the bottom until I surface against the rocks. Even then I am not feeling too confident as I imagine one of them recklessly losing control and exploding on the rocks as in some action movie. Well maybe that is going a little far.

So I content myself with exploring the close proximities and am gifted with a rugged underwater terrain that is up to 7m deep. The rock formations are sharp and pitted, sometimes forming underwater archways and tunnels. Actually, I believe much of what I am taking to be rocks are a type of coral. Amongst these earthly formations lurk many variations of little fish, with odd occurrence of some larger dwellers. One of these types of fish appears to have a fascination with playing chicken. I dive down to an underwater tunnel and this 10cm long fish takes a stand at the opening. I move towards it and it does turns away but as a second thought circles around to come closer towards me. I approach it closer yet with my mask being the closest proximity. It maintains its position poignantly. I am surely not going to be beaten by this snot nosed punk. I make the final move to increase my approach with no stopping in sight. Finally, the little fish turns and finds a more appropriate position. Yet, as soon as I slightly back off in triumph, right back it comes. I toy with it a little further and eventually move on.

As always when I am diving in salt water areas, my mind is operating with a small hidden agenda; locate the octopus. My fascination with these creatures is immense. This leads to my attention constantly being drawn to little enclosures, caverns, and overhangs for the possibility of detecting an octopus. Notice my choice of words, detecting. I did not say finding because that seems to imply locating the position of an octopus. Whereas the reality is that many times you are probably at the location of the octopus; it is a matter of whether you can detect it. I have followed octopus before but turning away for a second was enough to lose track of where they lie. Their camouflage of color is remarkable and their ability to change their shape to a form that compliments their surroundings is almost out of this world. They are surpassed by none. They are the changelings/shapeshifters of earth.

While peering around in one minute cavern I suddenly notice something peering at me from the outer walls. The walls of this area are filled with little holes smaller than a fist. I recognize the creature to be a .... sorry I was just momentarily distracted by a cockroach rummaging along, tickling the side of my foot. Anyhow oh yes, the creature was an eel and had an olive green color to it (of which, as I will state in Weekend Five, I was assured was not possible). It partially comes out to give me a good looking over. These creatures always present me with an interesting experience of mixed emotions. My interest is strong to explore these adept predators but my mind throws up warnings and attempts to flood me with fear. I always challenge this fear and succeed in leaving my interest satisfied.

As I begin to prepare to head for the surface the eel retreats back into the hole it is hanging out from. I wonder whether it will be there when I return. As I reach the depth again I am saddened to see that the eel is no longer in the hole. It surprises me slightly as I imagine it leaving the hole to find some other hiding/hunting location. It strikes me that it would be a bit unusual for it to leave the safety of its lair while a potential predator (myself) lurks nearby. Sure enough moments after this thought, I see the head poking out a few holes over. It ends up being that behind this wall must be an interconnected series of tunnels or openings, allowing this creature to pick and choose where it can spy on the outsiders. Each time I return the eel has chosen another hole to watch from.

Eventually the eel eludes me and I decide to continue along my way. Fortunately enough I stumble upon a huge octopus (relatively speaking for this area I suppose) caught traveling out in the open. It spotting me, almost as quickly as I spotted it, quickly moves into the small valleys formed in the rocks, which will provide more potential for its camouflaging techniques. I can not believe my fortune. This is the largest octopus I have yet seen, looking to have a body of about 2 feet in diameter when flattened out (not including tentacles). I swim quickly to locate myself above it. I don’t want it to have an easy time choosing which way to flee, if it decides to. Immediately the octopus changes its color to the surrounding rock. I am afraid to look away for fear of it leaving unnoticed or of plainly not being able to detect it again. I watch it cautiously breathing and holding its place. I dive down close to it and am warned off with a brilliant display of bright white flooding over its body initiating from its head. The tentacles retain the rock color and the octopus shuffles them slightly in preparation to move if need be.

I continue studying the creature and regularly loose sight of it for a few seconds as I frantically try to locate it again. You must understand that this is much like being in your own kitchen and suddenly losing sight of the toaster because it changed color. The environment that surrounds this animal is not very distracting or complex yet I still lose track of it. Every time I dive down it performs a change to solid tones and as I back away it returns to a state of rock camouflage. Sometimes it tried a little red tone when it did not appear to be able to deter me with the whites. If you have never studied an octopus closely you may not be aware of the magnificent organs that are easily visible at the side of its head. There is an opening which contains soft tissues and a long tube that regularly opens and closes as though it is for breathing. I am sure there is much more I have yet to notice as well but this particularly fascinates me. This tube of the octopus is much like a turbine and you can feel water being forced from it when you put your hand a short distance in front.

Eventually I decide to disappear from its sight for a few moments to see if it will attempt to move on. Sure enough shortly after I leave it begins to move deeper into the rocks. I swim back into sight and the octopus makes a dash for a nearby rock covering. I was a little disappointed that this might be the end of my interaction. I could still see a small amount of the octopus within but it definitely did not compare to the previous moments. Eventually I decided to try again leaving it alone and wait for the possibility that it may leave the protection of those rocks in the interest of a more comfortable den or to continue hunting. Fortune shines again. Two minutes later the octopus pulls its way out into the open. I come out as well.

Settling against the open rocks the octopus holds its position. I approach slowly and decide to try to show my harmless intentions towards it. I decide to see if the octopus would be interested in some sea urchin. I don’t think they eat them but I figure if I open it for the octopus then maybe its interest will be peaked. I drop a few pieces toward the octopus but it does not flinch. I proceed to dive down towards the octopus. As I get within close proximity the octopus begins to twitch, reading itself to flee. I slow down and attempt to display a lack of interest towards it. This works and allows me to approach close and closer. The rocks under which the octopus had previously hid were one feet away from its current position, so I used them to hold myself down next to the octopus. My hand was so close to the animal and yet it did not flee. It constantly fluttered with anxiety and demonstrated its colored warnings. I persisted to fixate my attention slightly away from the octopus and set the urchin down next to it. As my hand came within four centimeters of the tentacles of the octopus it flared with white extending right down the tentacles as well. I could also feel the sudden pressure of water forcing itself against my hand as the octopus’ turbine jetted water towards me. I suppose this was to push itself further against the rocks and/or maybe to attempt to dissuade me from my course. Still the octopus held its position and I set my hand one centimeter next to its tentacles. It appeared on the verge of fleeing so I let go and floated to the surface.

I continued to watch and dive around the octopus and eventually I held back and let it move on a little. It began quite rapidly heading back to where I had initially spotted it. Then continuing past there it made its way towards the deep where the rocks ended and sandy bottom extended seemingly forever into the distance. As it made it to the edge of the rocks, I quickly pursued so as to have the opportunity to witness it possibly swim over the edge. The drop over the edge was about twenty feet. As it made it over the edge all the tentacles lagged behind as the octopus formed itself in preparation for a swim. All the tentacles straightened out behind it and suddenly this pliable creature no longer appeared so unstable and jelly like. Shooting over the edge the octopus reaches the sandy bottom in moments. I had followed it as it plummeted, witnessing the splendor of this animal in such a beautiful display of diversity. Reaching the bottom the octopus immediately attempted to camouflage and as I approached closely to it, I was presented not only with a color change but also a texture change. The surface of the animals skin was suddenly covered with little extensions of skin looking rather like spade-shaped razors. This is a common sight on pacific octopus but I did not realize they could change the shape of these as well. I am almost certain that the whole time up until that moment, this octopus had rather smooth skin. Unless this as well was hidden through its use of camouflage.

As I returned to the surface the skin regained its normal texture and the octopus moved on along the floor following the line of the rocks. It ended up finding a deep and narrow cut in the rocks where it quickly settled into. I persisted to check it out and was interested to see that it was now adding a green hue to its white display. It seemed like it was attempting different variations in the hopes of finally deterring my interest. Well it was only intriguing me more but now it was fairly hidden from me and I had been out for quite some time. I decided to let the animal to its own and move on my way. I was overjoyed for this experience.

I made my way back to the beach where Haluk was just losing his interest in sun bathing. I had not lost my interest but I did need a break. From there, the day tapered off into a series of conversations, eating, and sleep, all the while my mind replaying the events of the day.

One day down... tomorrow Karpaz, supposedly one of the world’s best beaches.