The Incredible Tale Of A Man Who Formed An Unlikely Bond With An Octopus

(CNN) — Craig Foster was diving, bare-chested, in bitterly chilly waters off the southern-most tip of Africa when he noticed her — an octopus hiding beneath a cloak of shells and stones.

Enchanted, he started following this extremely shy creature, attempting to show he wasn’t a predator by staying very nonetheless in her presence. For weeks she evaded him: hiding in her den, camouflaging herself, or pushing her liquid physique into the closest crack to flee.

After which, after 26 days of close to obsessive wooing, she reached out and touched him.

Within the new Netflix documentary “My Octopus Trainer” this tender second strikes you in a manner you by no means thought an octopus tentacle wrapped round a human hand might.

Filmed in 2010, “My Octopus Trainer” chronicles the yr Craig Foster spent cultivating a singular bond with a rare creature. The character documentary has obtained eight nominations for the Jackson Wild Media Award and received Finest Function on the EarthxFilm Festival.

Foster was in a position to seize intimate moments of this octopus’ brief life by spending as much as two hours following her each single day for a yr.

“If you happen to achieve the belief of that animal over a interval of months, it is going to truly ignore you to a sure diploma and keep it up with its regular life, and let you step inside its secret world,” Foster tells CNN.

We see her outwitting a shark by hitching a trip on its again, rising a brand new tentacle after surviving a shark assault, and eventually losing away after laying a clutch of eggs.

“The octopus confirmed me many behaviors that had been utterly new to science, as a result of this animal trusted me,” he says

“My Octopus Trainer” was directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed and produced by Craig Foster.

Craig Foster/Sea Change Challenge

Essentially the most highly effective second for Foster was when she allowed him to observe her on a hunt.

“It is not like you might be in a Jeep and arrive upon a searching scene on land,” he explains. “Within the water it is intimate. When she chooses to allow you to into her world … it is a very, very particular second of not simply being accepted, however that your presence to her additionally feels pure, such as you belong in that area together with her.”

Foster has spent the final ten years diving in a kelp forest in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of South Africa the place water temperatures can drop as little as eight levels Celsius.

Often called the “Cape of Storms,” he describes this patch of ocean as “essentially the most treacherous coast on the earth.” Whereas some swimmers concern sharks or different predators, Foster says the best menace to his life is being thrown onto a rock by an enormous wave.

The therapeutic energy of the ocean

Foster started this each day diving routine as a manner of coping with a despair that had left him uncooked and disconnected. “I used to be struggling. My solely approach to heal felt like I wanted to be within the ocean, my go-to pleased place as a toddler.”

Immersing himself on this underwater world has calmed his thoughts, he says. Over time different animals have reached out to make contact, together with otters, whales, cuttlefish and even sharks. “They’ve chosen to come back to me and make that contact, exhibiting a second of belief and vulnerability,” he says. “Each time it is breathtaking and therapeutic.”

However nothing has in comparison with his “once-in-a-lifetime” bond with the octopus, he says.

Foster says the best lesson she taught him is that people are a part of the pure world round us, and never merely guests.

“Your individual position and place within the pure world is singularly essentially the most treasured reward now we have been given.”

Source link