Mike Wallace wrote:

> I'm curious as to how you actually find these sites. You have so
> MUCH water and places that look great from the surface. So
> many sites, so  little time.. :-)

True.  Southeast Alaska contains about 1,000 islands and 15,000 miles of
shoreline within an area about 500 miles long and 100 miles wide.

What makes a dive site really spectacular?  You look for sheer walls,
pinacles, and reefs that provide lots of relief and habitat.  You look for
areas with lots of water exchange and flushing as that means more nutrients
and therefore, more life.  You also look for areas of good visibility which
means avoiding areas where large rivers or glaciers are dumping out silt.

You sit around the kitchen table and look at charts.  Then go out and check
out likely new sites.  Sometimes you hit a total dud and sometimes you hit
an absolutely fabulous new site that maybe no one has ever seen before.  I
have a long list of spots I want to explore just to see what's there.  The
question is always whether you go back to a site you know is beautiful? or
do you go explore someplace new?  Each summer we do a little of both.

For example, I took one trip this summer with a couple friends. We chose to
dive the outer coast of Yakobi Island which borders the open Pacific on the
northern end of SE Alaska.  We spend about 4 days just wandering down about
40 miles of coastline and hit about 15 different dive sites that just
"looked" good on the chart.  About 3 of them turned out to be world class,
most of them were pretty good, and a few were total duds with crappy vis and
nothing to see.  The more you do it the more you learn what to look for in a
potential new dive site.  As it turns out diving the outer coast, the best
sites are usually the most exposed and risky because that's where you find
the biggest surge and nutrient exchange.  The beautiful little bays that are
totally sheltered are often much more stagnant and don't have anywhere near
the same amount of life.

In any event, that's part of what makes it fun.  The fact that we don't have
any guide books telling us where to go and what to see.

-Kent-





> > I have often wondered if a liveaboard dive charter boat would be
> successful
> > up here.  The diving is certainly good enough and the scenery
> and wildlife
> > above the surface is without equal.  But the season is pretty short and
> the
> > weather can be unpredictable.  There are a lot of mini-cruise ships and
> > liveaboard charters that do ecotourism, kayaking, whale
> watching, fishing,
> > birdwatching, that sort of thing.  But I don't know of any that
> have ever
> > specialized in diving.  Maybe when I burn out working in commercial
> > fisheries management and decide to retire!
>
> I would think the short season would be the downfall. Hard to
> recover enough
> from the investment in that short of a season. You should approach one of
> those mini-cruisers and work out a deal to test the dive charter for a
> season.....
>
> Mike
>
>
> >
> > -Kent-
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: SouthEast US Scuba Diving Travel list
> > > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Mike Wallace
> > > Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2000 6:18 PM
> > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > Subject: Re: [SCUBA-SE] UBS stick?
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Kent Lind" <[log in to unmask]>
> > >
> > > > Strike wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Kent!  Sorry to be so slow in the uptake on this, but what method
> > > > > do you use
> > > > > in mixing your own nitrox?  (The reason that I ask is that I'm a
> nosey
> > > > > bastard!)  :-)
> > > >
> > > > I have a RIX SA-6E oil-free compressor in my garage along with a 5
> > > cylinder
> > > > HP storage bank.
> > >
> > > You suck!  :-)
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> >
>