PGO and Other Critters at Wall Beach

[Tom Hlavac]

See earlier posts for description of Wall Beach's geographic context. This video has a clip of a PGO in it's den, deep at around 100 fsw if I remember right.

Not an octopus video, these guys are a predator of octopus (and pull your fins, reg hoses, etc). I was diving solo, so easy for them to sneak up. I like the straight on collision course hello one of these gave me Good thing I use a wetsuit ....

 

[DWhatley]

Loved the "barking" the camera picked up. Do they do that in the water or is the noise from one with its head above?

 

[Tom Hlavac]

I think that was me yelling at the thing for p00ping right in front of me. Foul mannered beasts

 

[Tom Hlavac]

I just listened to the video again, they were barking underwater (the pair engaged in mating behavior in the distance), then I yelled again at one sneaking up behind me. My breathing rate was higher than normal, because I was on alert mode, not relaxed fully. The sea lions have a pullout on the log booms a ways along the shoreline, usually they ignore divers but sometimes come to check us out, or pull on fins. I don't wear a snorkle because the sea lions sometimes pull at that (don't want to lose my mask so easily).