Diver’s magical 'date' with octopus leads to the discovery of a 'mysterious' underwater shrine

Australian scuba diver and photographer Jules Casey (@onebreathdiver on Instagram) is passionate about exploring underwater life. She has captured rare sights of water animals, including photos of pufferfish pooping white ribbons. Recently, she emerged out of the sea with the memory of an unusual encounter with an octopus she will never forget.

During one of her latest diving trips, a gigantic octopus wrapped its long tentacles around her arm and began swimming away, as if taking her along to show something. “He reached his arm out to me as if asking me to follow him. So I followed him to this location and I was a little shocked at what he wanted to show me,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

Later, Jules posted a second update about her encounter with the octopus and gave it a dramatic title, "A date with an octopus." The clip shows the huge Maori octopus swimming and pulsating, taking Jules to a spot where she discovered a headstone. The arched headstone was studded with a picture of a young man holding a small white dog.

"This encounter happened towards the end of my dive. I don't know if I found him or if he found me," she said in the caption. She revealed that the last time she met the octopus, he had lost the tips of most of his arms and had a few white patches. "I'm guessing that he's been mating and is getting close to the end of his life," she predicted. 

In a third post, Jules said that the headstone was a part of the mystery she had been trying to solve herself. She said that several weeks ago, she had stumbled upon a few metal pickets. The trail led her to find other objects like some statues and pipes. When the octopus led her to the headstone plaque, she got to the final piece of the puzzle. 

Upon further investigation, she found that the artificial reef is called 'Lorenz's Loop.' While chatting to a man at a local dive shop, she discovered that it was built as a dedication to the man in the picture named Lorenz. "I couldn’t believe it. But he showed me a little map he’d drawn of the structures in a loop for his friend, Lorenz, who’d passed away," Jules told News Australia. While she had never been on an exploration with a critter before, Jules said that close encounters with this species are not rare, given the animal’s nature. "They’re very curious, and I find more often it happens around their mating season. They’ll reach out and touch you. They’re amazing creatures. It’s so cool when one of them wants to come and explore you."

According to the National History Museum, octopuses are known for their remarkable intelligence. They have even been seen solving mazes and complex tricks. These creatures also have a good capability to recognize people and human faces due to their large optic lobes.

The news of Jules’ date with the intelligent octopus invited dozens of comments on social media. People were intrigued by the strange encounter and said that Jules discovered a new friend.

Apart from Instagram, where most people kept up with the updates, the story was also shared by r/AnimalsBeingGeniuses on Reddit. Here too, people were as amazed. “Incredible intelligence from a 'lesser' species. Thanks for showing us empathy from the octopus that surpasses that of too many humans,” commented u/miracleworker5175. u/phoenix7805 exclaimed, “So amazing! I hope one day I am lucky enough to encounter an octopus!” The thalassic life may hold more secrets than humans will ever be able to know. 

You can follow Jules Casey (@onebreathdiver) on Instagram to watch more of her fascinating underwater adventures.