On our way from the Uncharted Bay north Nuku Hiva we trolled a line and as we rounded the point near the airport we caught another 40 lbs yellow-fin tuna. During the last tuna canning session outside of Anaho Bay we defrosted the freezers and realized we had a lot of space, so we cut the tuna into steaks to freeze. As we approached the Haahopu Bay we were greeted by dolphins and once we anchored we saw two large manta rays. We saw that Josh was already in the water hunting for octopus. We quickly dropped the dinghy and joined him. We both thought that once we part from Josh the chances of us spotting an octopus is slim to no way. We swam along and admired the coral, black-tip reef sharks, and pretty fish when suddenly Wade spotted his first octopus sitting on a rock. Wade used his hand sling to spear the octopus and then hovered above the water waiting for the next strike. He came up for breathes, but went down to apply more pressure and twist the octopus and make sure that it did not get away. Suddenly Sara got excited because she saw another octopus that had a head the size of her own. She tapped Wade and said there are two! Wade was a bit preoccupied, so Sara looked around for Josh. She shouted his name and he came over. At that time Wade had his octopus out and asked Sara to pull the spear from his octopus and he took it to the dinghy.
Sara hovered over the big octopus as Josh arrived. She asked for his assistance to help her in case she missed or caused unnecessary injury and not a quick death. Josh suggested hitting the octopus at an angle that would not let the octopus escape back into it’s hole. Sara armed the spear and fired with one hit through the head of the octopus. Ink started to fill the water and Josh came in with his spear to hit him a second time. We let the ink clear a bit and then Sara went in to grab the octopus. She got all the way to the octopus that was stuck in the rock opening and chickened out to grab it by it’s neck. Josh went down and pulled it out of the hole. He wrestled the largest octopus either he or us have caught approximately weighing around 10 lbs. The octopus kept trying to bite Josh and not only had his tentacles around his arms up to his neck but around his legs. Josh fought him and finished him with his mortal combat super move.
We are so stoked to have octopus in the freezer because we have perfected a wonderful recipe of butter, garlic, and cooking cream over pasta. Yum Yum!
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Haahopu Bay Nuku Hiva Marquesas Anchor Coordinates: 8° 49.419′ S, 140° 15.010′ W 4
