On the 7th of March of this year, just before the world went into a Covid induced tailspin, I got married. It was a great day, great weather and I was marrying the woman I love. It does not get any better than that chum!
Although it can and did get better, because we had a unexpected guest. An Octopus!
We were married in Kalk Bay in the Western Cape at stunning old house that I used to live in and now live in again (in a flat attached to the house) I am not sure how old the house is but I do know that in 1910 a British Lord build a tidal pool so he could take his disabled daughter swimming. The house is on the rock, right on the water on the False Bay coastline. For my money it’s the best place to live, or just be, in Cape Town.
Roberto and me. In my fantasy, this is us. In reality I saw her twice for a few seconds then she got eaten
The tidal pool attracts lots of different types of marine life as you would expect, but sadly none last to long in there as the locals soon spot them and take then out. I have seen fish, large and small Starfish (even a pink one like Patrick from Spongebob) and we have even had a Cape Fur Seal in there and on my wedding day, we had an Octopus.
I heard excitement and walked to the steps that lead down to the pool, and then the Octopus, a big brown one, started climbing up the steps to see me! I mean this guy came up 3 or 4 steps and we had a moment. He was waving his tentacles around and I was smitten. Then he went back into the water
Kalk Bay Tidal Pool in False Bay
I called him Roberto and it was the best thing ever. Getting married was awesome and so was this. Evelyn who has lived and worked at the house forever and who is very well known told me that he had been there for a while, she also told me she had eaten some of her babies.
Right, kill the motor dude.
I made Evelyn promise me that that she would not eat Roberto. It could be her wedding gift to me and she agreed. She did warn me though that the locals were aware that Roberto was there.
Then I knew that the game was up
See, Roberto was really big. Times are hard. That Octopus is worth at least R200 to the locals or even just a decent meal. The bottom line was that Roberto was money, a lot of money to a lot of people.
I saw him once or twice after that. Then he disappeared. I like to like she swam out to the open sea, found another boyfriend and had a nice happy family and who knows, maybe she did. People are often in the tidal pool looking for sea food or anything they can sell or eat. I would do the same if my situation demanded it. It’s not a criticism, it’s just life.
Roberto will always be my friend though and I will never forget her. She came to my wedding and that made me very happy. She will live forever
Cape Convoy 