An avid SCUBA diver named Andrea Humphreys was on a dive with friends in kelp forests off the coast of British Columbia when she got closer to an octopus than she ever thought she would. Ironically, Humphreys and her friends were hoping to see a giant Pacific octopus that day, but what she got instead of a simple sighting was a hug—a full face hug.
With eight arms lined with hundreds of powerful suckers, giant Pacific octopuses are the largest octopuses on Earth. They’re often about 16 feet long, but they can be even bigger. When one of these animals came straight for Humphreys on her fateful dive in October 2022, she embraced the moment (quite literally).
In the video, you see a giant Pacific octopus swimming slowly and curiously toward Humphreys’ camera, which she’s holding out in front of her. Humphreys backs away as the octopus comes toward her, keeping a distance between them, until the octopus closes that distance, opening its arms wide and going straight in for a hug of epic proportions.
Next, all you see is octopus as Humphreys lets out little squeaks of delight. She told The Guardian: “It was just crawling on my camera, crawling on my lips, giving me a hug.”
The octopus’s suckered arms were locked on her face mask, too. “Every time I backed away from it, the octopus just kept coming towards me,” she said. “And it was just so amazing and inspiring.”
Watch a giant Pacific octopus “hug” a diver here:
Why Octopuses ‘Hug’
Octopuses use their arms and suckers to explore the world around them. They can even “taste” with their suckers. In reality, while this may look like a hug, it’s just a curious octopus wanting to understand its environment (and everything/everyone in it) better.
What would you have done if this happened to you? Would you panic, or would you be able to enjoy the moment?