octopi & super-tide

Last Saturday we had a super-tide, they only come at certain times of year, & I thought it was just Spring. The moon was full and we went to the beach at 4p.m. to swim & play. The tide was very, very low and we could see our neighboring Molken Sea Gypsies collecting something in string bags, at least 14 or so people. We left on our shoes and began walking, splashing, & wading to see what kind of sea-creatures we could see. We found a lot of big black sea-cucumbers; if you pick them up they may spit out their poisonous intestines. We saw large sea-urchins, mostly dark purple with long, poisonous spines; they are fun to roll around, just don't get poked. Lots of schools of tiny fish, nurseries just waiting to grow up and explore the sea. We saw different seaweeds, sea anemone, crabs, clams, hermit crabs, weird looking flounders ( I think that's what they were) with both eyes on top of their head, with a cartoon-like mouth and a flat underbelly resembling a slug. Then I saw my big thrill...an octopus! It looked like a tiny mound of jelly at first, but when I looked closer I saw it had a bulbous little head, and tentacles. I was so excited! I played with it and the light tan/grey pattern would suddenly turn dark brown, flashing its pigments. After a while it gave up flashing me and just kind of hunkered down and held on to all the rocks and pebbles around it. Strong suckers! I wondered what all these Molken folks were gathering, so on the way back I asked, and looked in his bag...long tentacles. He said, "Pla Muk Saay" or "octopus."

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