Octopus Hole (Photo Source: www.seaotter.com)
Location: Hoodsport
Drive along Highway 101 until you are about three miles from Hoodsport. You will know when you are there when you see a bunch of cars (most likely most of them will have Oregon license plates) parked along side the road for no apparent reason.
There is a steep bank down to the water and a rocky beach. You can set up on the beach. I thought it was easier to gear up at the vehicle and walk down to site. It's not that far. The dive site is a steep rock ledge that starts in about 20 to 30 feet of water and descends down to about 60ft. Occasionally, you will see octopus here (unfortunately I have not seen one of them). Maybe in the olden days there were a lot more, hence the name. The times I have dove here I did see numerous crabs and many of them large (mostly likely the ones that are really enjoying the lack of octopus here). I usually swim out towards the branches over hanging the water before descending, I found that area to be the most interesting.
- John Syre
Trying not to get run over as you are crossing the road is one of the bigger hazards here. Usually, you can't park on the side of the road because of the dive vehicles already there. That's okay for newbies to this site, because if the vehicles hadn't been there I would have drove right past the site the first time I dove it. Once you have been there you will be cursing the lack of diving.