Quest for the octopus!

Well, today was full of surprising sea creatures...We began with a gratitude circle at the tide pools since it was a very low tide. We heard someone’s friend had found an octopus a few days ago, so I challenged the group, “If we only find one thing here, let’s find an Octopus!” 

We searched for hours, mostly being content with the sea stars and hermit crabs which captivated us for a long time. A beautiful abalone shell showed up. And some of us jokingly put our finger under a rock overhang when someone suddenly noticed a large rock crab right there. We challenged each other to lift it, since it had an enormous pincher. I finally picked it up by the pincher so it couldn’t pinch and we admired it’s colors. 

Eventually, we headed up to a sheltered spot for lunch. While eating, we saw a dad on the beach with a bucket and his daughter was looking into it with excitement. We sent some scouts to take a look and soon they were waving at us to come see...an octopus! It was red and fast, darting around the bucket by propelling itself with its tentacles. The friendly dad told us we could take it over to one of the enclosed tide pools and let it go to watch it change colors. He explained that lifting large rocks is the best way to find an octopus. 

It crawled up someone’s hand and for a moment changed to match his skin color! We made it to the tide pools and let it go. Its sleek body suddenly developed a rough texture and developed light spots, imitating the coral on the rocks. Then it turned dark red as it entered the shadow under a rock. We lifted it out gently and watched it crawl across the land, raising its eyes bulging to the left and right as it decided which pool to enter. The suction of its tentacles felt really sticky and its body was slimy. It was so amazing that after setting an intention as a group to see an octopus, we actually did! 

After lunch, we headed to the marsh to look for the Talking Tree. On the way we found another large rock crab, and we gathered some yarrow and learned to effectively identify poison hemlock. We tracked rabbits in the thicket, finding their ‘coco puff’ scats and rushes clipped at 45 degree angles. 

We listened to the talking tree for a long time, each of us hearing something different, before we climbed all over its low-spreading branches. As we prepared to leave, we saw two birders who let us borrow their binoculars to watch the Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons nesting in the distance. (This is one of the largest local heron rookeries I know of). 

On the way back, we followed raccoon tracks to a large heavy log. 

As always, there were too many moments to write down all of them here. Our day was filled with interesting discoveries and sightings, but at a deeper level, our agility and courage was being tested (by slippery tide pools, crabs, the parking lot climb, and the octopus). My highlight was to see once again that when the group sets a unified intention, after sharing gratitude together, synchronicity undeniably rules the day. And one slimy thing proved this to be true once again...the Octopus!