Location: Inian Island, Icy Strait, southeast Alaska
Comments: Ok, first of all, who in their right mind would want to go diving in a place called Icy Strait? I staged our first exploratory scuba dives here 3 years ago and while it took a little while to get dialed into the dive sites, I have to say that the diving here is among the very best that I have ever seen. The coral, anemones, nudibranchs and other invertebrates are amazingly prolific – even more so than Browning Wall at Port Hardy.
There is a large population of stellar sea lions around Inian Island that are always interested in scuba divers and the Nautilus Explorer – to the point that they hang around between dives and sometimes come half out of the water to try and look in the portholes of the ship! Fish life is great. Humpback whales and sea otters swim back and forth past the boat all day long. The scenery is absolutely spectacular although that is a pretty lame description compared to the reality of the vista across the strait. It would be more accurate to describe the mountains to the north as imagining what it would look like if a scaled down version of the Himalayas extended to the water’s edge!! There are even rumours of salmon sharks (ie. imagine a 10 foot scaled down version of a great white shark) in the area and you can bet that we are keeping our eyes open for those guys. It’s an amazing place and unquestionably worth diving and continuing our explorations.
–Captain Mike
Weather: High overcast, air temperatures in the high 50’s, calm seas, calm winds
Water: Water temperature 45 degrees, visibility 25 – 25 feet and better deeper.
