The creator and owner of the Swashbuckling Seafront restaurant, 63-year-old Samson Prentice, admits that he was willing to close his restaurant within the next year and happily retire due to previously declining numbers of customers.
“Maybe I could’ve gotten more tourists on the East Coast,” Prentice admits. “But I was born and raised here … I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be, or rather spend my adult life. Even if ‘here’ is the middle of nowhere!”
But regardless of the location, hordes of tourists are finally flocking to dine here—or even just to ogle—not because of anything the restaurant has, necessarily, but more so who it has attracted. And this isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill Kardashian, or even a Hemsworth—nay, not even a person! The star of the Swashbuckling Seafront’s show is, unbelievably, a benevolent kraken. The octopus (we think) stands far taller than the restaurant itself, although Prentice isn’t sure of her exact height, and is decked out in resplendent purple-blue skin that swirls like a galaxy moving at light-speeds. A vote was held within the neighbourhood to name her, and the result was “Sophie”, so Sophie she is. Which is possibly the most normal name I’ve ever heard of for a giant octopus the size of a house.
Prentice leads me towards a vantage point. From this outlook with its quaint wooden railing, the bay is fully visible: golden sands, crystal-clear blue water, and the usual assortment of families with pool noodles and floaties creating pops of colour between these two backdrops. But further out, amid an outcrop of rocks partially hidden beneath the waves, rests the giant cephalopod herself, like a particularly large egg in an unconventionally rocky nest.
“How did you find out her sex?” I ask, bemused.
“Oh, I called in a favour from my Perth days. You will not believe how interested biologists can get about a large purple octopus,” Prentice chuckles. “So, we had some guys swim around, and since all her tentacles are the same, she’s female.
As far as we know.”
Frankly, I feel like anyone would be intrigued by Sophie’s sudden appearance, but I refrain from commenting on that.
“Oh, and I know what you’re going to ask next,” Prentice adds. “Why can’t she change colours, right? Camouflage herself with those rocks, scare the bejesus out of people?”
“…It was definitely on my mind,” I admit.
“Truth is, we have no idea,” the restaurateur shrugs. “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline”
“Does she … does she interact with people?”
“Not really, honestly. She stays away from the shoreline.” Prentice rests his tanned arms on the balcony, smiling over at his latest unexpected promotional material. “But she likes splashing the water about, and … you see that over there?”
I follow his pointing finger to a small bright yellow object bobbing up and down in the sparkling waves, just past Sophie’s curled tentacles.
“Is that a giant rubber duck?” I ask incredulously, to which Prentice nods gleefully.
“Yeah, it is! Yesterday, I filled it with shrimp that was about to go off, and towed it out to her in a dinghy,” he explains. “I thought it would be like one of those dog toys, you know, where they have to fish out treats?”
“And was it?” I am almost too bemused to get the words out. A more pressing question has invaded my mind: Why did he even want to do that in the first place?
“Oh, she was all over it in two minutes tops,” Prentice guffaws, grinning like a kid at Christmas. “I know octopi are smart, so I don’t really know why I didn’t see that coming. But she seems to like the duck!”
As we watch, Sophie unfurls a tentacle and taps the large plastic bird one way and then the other, sending it back and forth but never letting it out of her reach. It’s remarkably reminiscent of how a dog, or particularly energetic cat, might act with a ball.
Of course, many more people have now flocked to the beach to gaze upon and photograph its newest star attraction, and business at the Swashbuckling Seafront is currently booming. Or, well, booming by Bunbury standards.
“Do you think we should order in some art of Sophie as decor?” Prentice muses. “Maybe we could set up a colouring competition for the kids.” Considering the restaurant already features a sea life mosaic on its floor and shoals of patterned fish on the umbrellas protecting its outside tables from the shining sun, adding even more sea creature theming might even be overkill. But then again, what business wouldn’t want to capitalise on such a unique promotion for tourism in their area?
Prentice seems entirely sanguine about the possibility that, like every hype-based marketing strategy, Sophie’s time in the spotlight will come and go, forcing the Swashbuckling Seafront back into its planned retirement. “I’m not going to be the one to try and keep a giant octopus in one place!” he laughs again, loud enough to startle one of the many seagulls that linger around the restaurant for an elusive chip. “If she wants to migrate, settle down and raise a family, I’m not gonna stop her. Hell, maybe she’ll go on a seafood tour of Australia!”
The Swashbuckling Seafront may have been his child once, when he was “a fresh-faced lad back home from Perth”, but it seems that this child has now grown up, and Prentice is willing to let it go once this newfound popularity dies down. And if that is the case, then at least until that time comes, Sophie will have given as many customers as possible a new reason to come and enjoy the seafood of this charming Bunbury restaurant.
Read Next: The top five best places in Sydney to see next Sunday’s blue moon!
Aldwyn Wise
Aldwyn Wise is a biology student at UWA who has a fondness for the written word, and the fantasy genre especially. He can be found in small and quiet spaces, not unlike a mole, but if a mole was into TTRPGs and digital art. This is his first published narrative work.
I honestly can’t fully express how deeply your story impacted me. The way you write is so immersive, emotional, and visually striking that every chapter felt alive in my mind. Your storytelling has an incredible cinematic quality, and while reading, I could easily imagine it transforming beautifully into animation, comics, webtoons, manga, cover art, or even edited visual projects. As a professional commission artist, I truly admire stories with this level of potential and would love the chance to share my work with you. If you’d ever like to explore bringing your vision into visual form, feel free to connect with me anytime on Inst@gr@am: elsaa.uwu or Di$c0rd: elsaa_uwu.