[vc_row bg_style=”stretch”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1510908424132{margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-radius: 5px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1585931638059{padding-bottom: 25px !important;}”]By Simon Lorenz
Diving with the great whites off the coast of South Africa definitely produced adrenalin in levels I have never experienced, but diving around tiny venomous critters puts a cognitive twist on this thrill. “Should I be fearing you, you tiny little thing?” you find yourself asking the first Blue Ring Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata) you meet: 12-20cm in length, it is lethal to men, carrying enough venom to kill 26 adult humans by causing respiratory depression and paralysis. If you didn’t know anything of it, you’d just go about your dive, but knowing it, and seeing how fast these tiny ones move, does create that nice thrilling rush in your body.
I have seen some silly dive guides provoking the Blue Ring Octopus with a stick (normally brownish yellowish color, it’s blue rings come out only when provoked), and one that even took it in his hand (!), explaining that right before it bites you, the blue rings expand, so they can recognize that point and let the octo go… YICKS! Unsafely scary!
Critter diving in Philippines is an incredible opportunity to encounter some of the rarest, most incredible critters. Atlantis Resort in Dauin (Dumaguete) is a beachfront dive resort, situated in a lush tropical garden with rich fauna and flora; specializing in an all inclusive dive vacation, with excellent meals at Toko’s restaurant, Atlantis offers up to 5 boat dives a day. Small dive groups, climate controlled camera room, and new boats.
Read on about one dive site with so many octopus we nicknamed it Cephalopod City![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9708″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
