Eight

Today, those of us at Eight would like to take a moment to remember Paul Tompkins, a member of our diving community whose passion for exploration, learning, and adventure left a lasting impression on those who knew him.

Paul passed away in 2022 while doing something he loved...diving. While his loss is still felt by family, friends, and fellow divers, his legacy continues through the people he inspired and the opportunities being created in his honor.

In recognition of Paul's contributions and love of exploration, the MIT Small Satellite Collaborative Fund was established to support future innovators and explorers. Recently, the fund surpassed $75,000 toward its long-term goal, a testament to the many lives Paul touched!

Whether you knew Paul personally, shared a dive with him, or simply appreciate the spirit of curiosity and adventure that drives our diving community, we invite you to join us in remembering him today.

Fair seas and following currents, Paul. You are missed, but not forgotten.

❤️

This is one of the most common questions we hear at Eight, and our answer is probably not what some people expect...

"When should I take the next class?"

The best reason to continue your training is NOT because it's been six months since your last class. It's NOT because your dive buddy signed up. And it's DEFINITELY NOT (or shouldn't be) because you want another certification card in your wallet.

The best reason to continue your training is when you're READY for the next challenge!

Maybe you've started wondering how experienced divers make everything look so effortless. Maybe you're looking to improve your buoyancy, become more efficient with your gas, or feel more comfortable and confident in the water. Or maybe you're curious about deeper dives, longer dives, or exploring new environments and want to build the skills to do it safely.

A lot of divers think advanced or technical training starts with depth. But really, it starts with control. Control of WHAT you might ask?

Control of buoyancy. Control of trim. Control of propulsion. Control of awareness. Control of yourself.

The thing that's important to us at Eight is that training isn't a race. We're not interested in handing out certifications like stickers. We're interested in building confident, safe, and capabledivers (and let's not forget fun!). Who doesn't want a solid dive buddy that has your back?

Getting there might mean taking that next class. More often than not, it means spending a season diving, practicing, and refining the skills you already gained. A diver who is comfortable, capable, and confident in their current training is often more prepared for the next step than someone rushing to check another box.

The goal isn't to get the next card. The goal is to become the kind of diver who's READY for it.

Many of the skills associated with advanced and technical diving such as trim, buoyancy, propulsion, situational awareness, and team communication make recreational diving easier and more enjoyable long before a diver ever exceeds recreational depth limits!

🐙 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙨 "𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼𝙧𝙢"

(this is a longer read, but who doesn't love reading about one of our favorite PNW residents!).

Have you ever noticed one Giant Pacific Octopus reaching a single arm toward another octopus while keeping the rest of its body at a respectful distance? Guess what? It might be looking for a date 💗

Male Giant Pacific Octopuses have a specialized arm called a hectocotylus (heck-toe-COT-uh-lus). Look for the third arm on the right side; it is used to transfer packets of s***m to the female.

During mating, the male carefully extends this specialized arm into the female's mantle cavity. In some cases, he may keep most of his body tucked safely away while stretching that arm surprisingly far!

Considering that female Giant Pacific Octopuses are often larger and stronger than males (you go girl!), maintaining a little personal space might not be a bad strategy 😂

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙧"

This is fascinating stuff! Many males become senescent after mating. Senescence is the final stage of an octopus's life, when their bodies begin to break down naturally.

During senescence you may notice things such as:

lighter or washed-out coloration
cloudy eyes
missing arm tips
scars from a lifetime of encounters
reduced coordination
spending more time exposed and wandering instead of hiding

Some of our Eight divers recently encountered two male GPO's hanging around a den with a third GPO tucked in...they were watching a pretty important moment in the life of a Giant Pacific Octopus.

The male in the photo had already lost two arms, a reminder that life in the ocean isn't always easy. Giant Pacific Octopuses can regenerate damaged arms, but older senescent animals often don't fully recover before the end of their life cycle 🥹

This is one reason we sometimes encounter males wandering out in the open during mating season. Their focus shifts from feeding and avoiding predators to finding ONE last opportunity to reproduce.

Did you know? The word hectocotylus comes from Greek roots meaning "hundred-cupped," referring to the arm's modified structure.

Nature is amazing! A little strange, and sometimes a little bittersweet.

🧦✦ ✧༺ ✦ 𝙏𝙤𝙚-𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙄𝙩 ✦ ༻✧ ✦🧦

Some people buy fancy cars and/or expensive watches...

But us cold water divers? We get excited about REALLY WARM SOCKS! And not just "my feet are comfortable" warm but more like:

A) "standing on a cold boat ramp or cold parking lot" warm
B) post "dive toes still work" warm
C) "I can still feel my feet after an hour in Puget Sound" warm

How many times have we all spent an entire dive wishing we had warmer feet? This is exactly why cold water divers become slightly obsessed with socks!

These Warrior alpaca wool socks are ridiculously warm, incredibly soft, and make a great addition to your drysuit layering system, and can mean the difference between a GREAT dive and a miserable dive!

💡Today's trivia: Alpaca fiber contains microscopic air pockets that help trap heat while remaining lightweight, making it a favorite material for staying warm in cold conditions.

What's the first thing that gets cold on a dive?

Hands
Feet
Face
My entire body 😅 (and we've got solutions for that too!!)

If you're ready to have toasty feet while diving, grab a pair from the shop on your next visit!

Let's talk about visibility 👀 (a hot topic right now...)

Every year around May and June, Puget Sound starts doing its thing. Plankton blooms take off, the water gets greener, and suddenly that 20-foot visibility day feels like a distant memory.

And while we all love those crystal-clear days, lower visibility has a few benefits too!

For one, it forces us to slow down.

You pay more attention to your buoyancy. You stay closer to your buddy. You communicate more (lots more). You become more aware of what's happening around you instead of focusing on what's 20-30 feet away.

It also turns every dive into a bit of a treasure hunt because you never know what's around the corner or what's going to suddenly appear right in front of you!

When visibility drops, us divers tend to spend more time looking closely at what's right in front of us. That's usually we you start noticing the cool stuff:
🐙 little octos
🦀 decorator crabs (especially the ones that love to go all out with their decorating skills)
🐌 nudibranchs
🦑 stubby squid
🦐 all the cute little shrimp!

Some of our favorite critter dives have happened on days when the visibility wasn't great. Lower visibility can make a lot of marine life feel a little safer. Critters that might normally stay tucked away often venture out to feed, explore, and do critter things.

If you can navigate, communicate, and stay comfortable in 4 feet of Puget Sound visibility, that 60-foot tropical dive starts feeling pretty darned easy.

Did you know?
Some of the biggest plankton blooms of the year are exactly why visibility drops in late spring, and they are also one of the reasons Puget Sound supports such an INCREDIBLE amount of marine life!

You know what’s easy on land? Doing multiple things at once.

You know what’s suddenly NOT easy underwater?

Doing literally anything while:

maintaining buoyancy
watching depth
monitoring gas
staying with your team
navigating
avoiding kelp
operating gear with thick gloves
aNd TrYiNg To ReMeMbEr WhAt YoUr DiVe CoMpUtEr JuSt BeEpEd AbOuT

Welcome to task loading 😅 One of the biggest things divers learn over time is how to slow down and prioritize. Because underwater, small things stack up FAST.

That’s why experienced divers spend so much time practicing basic skills until they become automatic:
✔ buoyancy
✔ trim
✔ propulsion
✔ communication

The less mental energy those take, the easier everything else becomes!

Every diver (yes, EVERY diver) has had at least one moment underwater where their brain completely blue-screened (aka lizard brain:survival mode) while trying to do something simple.

Fun fact: task loading is one of the reasons even experienced divers practice foundational skills regularly. Reducing mental workload underwater helps divers stay calmer, safer, and more aware of their surroundings.

What’s the most “my brain stopped working underwater” moment you’ve had on a dive?

Some underwater camouflage is subtle. Howeverrrrr...

Decorator crabs apparently chose absolute chaos instead 🤡

These little crabs cover themselves with sponges, algae, hydroids, and whatever random stuff they can find, basically turning themselves into tiny walking reef debris.

And guess what? It works REALLY well.

Half the time you don’t even realize you’re looking at a crab until the “rock” suddenly gets up and walks away. Cold water diving is full of weird critters, and decorator crabs are definitely near the top of the list.

Tiny underwater cryptid.
Tiny moving junk pile.
Tiny marine arts-and-crafts project.

We love them. Each and every one of them!

Fun fact: decorator crabs use tiny hooked hairs on their shells to hold decorations in place like underwater Velcro.

What would YOUR camouflage strategy be?

A: Blend in perfectly
B: Maximum chaos
C: Bright colors anyway
D: I’d get eaten immediately

And we are pretty sure the decorator crab in the photo could use some tips on decorating or feng shui 🤗

🐙💙🐙💙

Scientists have formally identified a new octopus species they first found more than a decade ago — a bright blue, golf ball-sized creature. http://www.king5.com/article/news/nation-world/tiny-blue-octopus-species-discovered-galapagos-islands/507-b8831596-e075-4094-bcbe-f624862116d7?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_KING_5 (Charles Darwin Foundation)

🎉 Wrapping up our May birthdays with Kyle, the quiet professional, problem solver, and somehow-already-finished-it-before-you-even-asked guy. 🎉 Happpppy birthday!!

Kyle may not always be the loudest person in the room, but somehow the second he starts talking, everybody pays attention.

As part of our instructor corps, he has this calm, steady way of teaching that makes people instantly trust him. No drama, no ego, just experience, patience, and the ability to make even difficult skills feel manageable.

But around the shop, Kyle has also earned a bit of a reputation for being the guy who can do basically anything!

Need help moving equipment? Kyle’s already doing it.

Something broken? Kyle probably fixed it yesterday.

Need an extra hand with a class, a trip, the shop, the fill station, or literally anything else? He’s somehow already three steps ahead and halfway done before anyone else realizes there was a problem. 😂

It feels pretty fitting to us that Kyle is closing out our May birthday celebrations — steady, reliable, and quietly making everything around him better.

Happy Birthday, Kyle! 💙🤿
We’re pretty sure the shop would descend into complete chaos at least twice a week (maybe three times) without you!