A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end he eventually wins the animal's trust and they develop a never before seen bond between human and wild animal.—yusufpiskin
In 2010, Craig Foster began free diving in a cold underwater kelp forest at a remote location in False Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa. The location was near Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula, which is exposed to the cold Benguela current of the Atlantic Ocean. This particular place is known as the cape of storms. His bungalow at the edge of the beach would fill up with water every time the storm created an ocean surge.Foster had seen native trackers finding hidden animals in the landscape of the Kalahari by being one with nature. They could see every small little detail and follow it for hrs. 18 yrs later, Foster was struggling with his life and decided to be one with the ocean and started free diving. The water is 8-9 degrees, and it pushes a flood of chemicals to your brain. The entire body comes alive. After a yr, Foster gets used to the cold.
He started to document his experiences and, in time, met a curious young octopus that captured his attention. The film shows Foster's growing intimate relationship with the octopus as he follows her around for nearly a year. At first the Octopus is shy and hides from Foster in a slippery piece of Algae that she wraps all around her. Foster brings a camera, and the Octopus starts playing with it. The caves next to the octopus were filled with pajama sharks that were her most serious predators. Striped skin, incredible sense of smell and very aggressive.By Day 26 the fear subsided. She started to come out and be very curious. One day she reaches out with one tentacle and contact happens. Eventually she starts coming out of the den and she trusts Foster completely.Foster sees her walking on the ocean floor. An octopus is a snail that lost its shell. It has no parents to teach her anything. It only lives for around a year.
By Day 52, They form a bond where she plays with Foster and allows him into her world to see how she sleeps, lives, and eats. One day Foster drops a lens scaring her, and she swims away. Foster approaches her too fast and she leaves her den never to return there. Foster learns how to track an Octopus. He finds her again after a week. This time she grabs her hand, and doesn't frighten even when Foster rises to the surface to breathe.She has 2000 suckers and 2/3rd of her cognition is in her arms, outside her brain. She is a common octopus, species Vulgari. The octopus starts playing with Foster as the boundaries dissolve.Day 104, Foster goes in at night as Octopus as supposed to be nocturnal. Whales are in the water. He finds her catching fish in shallow water, where the sharks can't come.
Day 125, She frequently has to defend herself against pajama sharks. In one attack upon her, the octopus loses an arm, and retreats to her den to recover, slowly regenerating the arm over three months. Foster feeds her during this time. By day 250, her confidence is back.Day 271, the octopus hunts a crab and Foster films the entire sequence. She starts using Foster as part of her strategy to hunt lobsters. Foster starts to understand how the entire kelp forest ecosystem works.Day 304, In a later shark attack, she shows an incredibly improved creativity to survive (she hides in the canopy of the kelp forest, and later comes out from the surface to escape the attack), including sticking on the shark's back. Day 324, After mating with a male octopus and producing a large number of eggs, she dies naturally while tending to her eggs. Later, a shark scavenges her dead body and carries it off.
Foster describes the effect of this mentor-like relationship the octopus provided him, teaching him a lesson on the fragility of life and humanity's connection with nature. This transfers to Foster creating a deeper bond with his son Tom Foster as his son develops as a diver and marine biology student.
