The smartest of the mollusks, the octopus is a lot of fun to watch on the reef. When you’re alert enough to find one. They’re generally pretty shy and masters of disguise. They can change colors as they shuffle across the coral and sponges and can quickly disappear into an impossibly small cranny within the reef. And they’re more apt to be out and about after dark.

But we were lucky enough to find this large one out on Hot Springs reef during the early afternoon, on our third dive of the day. Once he curled up in this hole he must have felt pretty secure. A couple of us spent several minutes shooting close-ups. The octopus made no attempt to escape.

Mercifully for this guy, we moved on fairly quickly.