California Two Spot Octopus Encounters

California Two Spot Octopus by Andre Navarro

I love observing Octopuses ! They are such amazing marine life with all their camouflaging abilities and cool space alien like appearance. For years I've always kept an eye out for them on my many constant dives. However, it's been rare to ever come across one. In fact, I've only come across 2 in the last 4 years of constant diving. But this last year of 2022 was different for some reason. I don't know if it was just lucky coincidence or if local California Two Spot Octopuses flourished this past year. I came across some awesome encounters when I least expected them.

I hit California Two Spot Octopus gold at Newport Beach Harbor and Oceanside Harbor of California. I'm going to start off with my Oceanside Harbor encounter first, where the octopus came out from it's hiding place to actually make contact with me and my camera. Then I'm going to end with my Newport Beach Harbor encounter where I got to observe up close, an octopus capture a large rock crab and run away with it right towards my camera, almost knocking it over.

On a trip to Oceanside Harbor to film the deeper harbor entrance at the end of the jetty's, we took a slight detour. The waves and current turned out to be too big and strong, kicking up lot's of material resulting in horrible visibility. I was not happy to say the least, more like extremely pissed. So rather than just leave, after making an hour drive to this location, we decided to swim into the inner harbor and explore around a bit. We found a secluded location, along the docked boats, filled with oysters on the shallow rocks. While checking out all the cool oysters which was a cool find in itself, I saw a nearby California Two Spot Octopus watching me from the rocks.

You can identify a California Two Spot Octopus by the two large eye shaped rings under it's eyes. One on each side. Usually these rings are fluorescent blue and bright, but often change quickly. These cool octopuses can change color and shape with the environment. They can also squeeze themselves into tiny crevices to conceal themselves. And if you scare them, you'll get a squirt of ink as they take off to hide.

I placed a camera a couple feet away from the octopus and moved away in hopes the octopus would come closer. As soon as I moved away, the octopus quickly came out from the rocks and began cautiously touching the camera with it's tentacles. After a touch, it would move away and wait a minute and come back even closer to touch longer with more of it's tentacles. Until finally, it jumped onto the camera and explored it all over. This octopus was not shy and probably more curious of me and my camera than us. Shortly after, the octopus disappeared back into the rocks.

Next, I was planning on a warm sunny day of hanging out with huge Black Sea Hares in the Newport Beach Harbor. It's been over a year since I've observed them and captured them on camera. And they are big, like basketball size big. So just imagine a black slug the size of a basketball roaming around on the ocean floor. But to my surprise, the area that was filled with them in the past was now filled with something else. And the environment had also changed. This inner harbor area was filled with kelp and algae creating a shallow lush underwater garden. Now it was barren of kelp and seaweeds and just flat sand. However, along the rocks there were close to a hundred California Rock Crabs walking around and wedged in the crevices.

Many of these crabs were wrestling sumo wrestler style, trying to move their opponent out of the way or pluck them out from the rocks and take their place. It was fun just watching all these crabs dueling it out but confusing to why they were doing this. Which brings me to my second Octopus encounter. While watching and videoing these crabs, I noticed some eyes watching me from under a nearby rock. I went for a closer look and was surprised to find a California Two Spot Octopus watching me. It was slightly sticking out from under a pile of rocks and as I got closer, instead of hiding, slowly came out to get a better look at me. I moved away for a couple of minutes in hopes It would come out in the open. to my surprise when I returned, it had captured a large rock crab and was standing out in the open.

Two Spot Octopus captures Rock Crab by Andre Navarro

The rock crab was barely moving and unable to get lose. The octopus was holding it upside down with what looked to be minimal effort. Slowly the Octopus changed it's grip on the crab, engulfing more of it's body under it's arms and tentacles. This crab was as big as the octopus, yet the octopus was able to almost entirely engulf it, completely controlling it. As this went on for several minutes, many fish came over to watch the show. At one point, a medium sized Calico Bass who had been watching from nearby, came in close to start pecking at the defeated crab. The octopus was not deterred and the Bass could not move the crab and left.

Calico Bass, Rock Crab and Two Spot Octopus by Andre Navarro

After the Calico Bass challenge, the octopus appeared to be looking around to possibly move locations or to watch out for other predators wanting it's catch. Then it did something very cool. It stood up on it's tentacles, at vertical as possible while further engulfing the crab under it's body, almost beyond sight and ran away. It ran straight at the camera, bumping into it and almost throwing it down. All while carrying the crab away. It ran towards deeper water where it disappeared as I went to gather my camera.

California Two Spot Octopus with Rock Crab by Andre Navarro

I'm hoping 2023 will be Two Spot Octopus fabulous with octopuses flourishing all along the coast, in their rocky habitats. Observing octopuses has taught me to slow down and be more detail oriented when seeking ocean life. Not to expect the past, but look to the current environment and what lives here now. It's good to have a plan, but be flexible and be ready to record anything at any moment as our amazing ocean is filled with surprises.

The accompanying Youtube video is first hand footage captured by Andre Navarro while observing the California Two Spot Octopuses and California Rock Crabs. The second video is the "Travel Explore & DIve" series diving the best Southern California locations.  Subscribe and sign up to our Newsletter to not miss future adventures !

Published by: Andre Navarro of Ocean Earth Green

I’m Andre Navarro, Southern California freediver and underwater videographer. I create ocean life adventure videos to connect viewers to our amazing underwater world to motivate stronger conservation and ocean life awareness. You can follow my ocean adventures here at OceanEarthGreen.com and view all my current and past videos at Youtube.com/OceanEarthGreen.

California Two Spot Octopus Encounters

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