Location: Princess Sophia and Princess Kathleen, Lynn Canal, Juneau, southeast Alaska.
Comments: It is always a pleasure and a good time having Captain Phil Sammet, his lovely wife, beautiful daughter and all his friends onboard the Nautilus Explorer. Through his many scuba diving charters on the Nautilus, Phil has steadfastly stuck to 2 traditions (a) he will paint the toenails of any anybody that he is able to sneak up on if they are having a nap on a couch in the main salon (b) every trip must conclude with a game of Nautilus Jeopardy with questions based on the many (interesting?) facts presented during my various dive and natural history briefings throughout the trip. It is always a lot of fun and a great tradition and the finalists are usually quite surprised by the rules for the final “quick answer” round if they haven’t been onboard before. I don’t want to give any secrets away and am only willing to say that one should always be careful in telling people what your favourite animal is. Especially if it is something like a nudibranch.
Congratulations to James Negris for correctly naming the 3 “A B C” islands and winning a $500 gift certificate on the Nautilus Explorer! The ABC islands are Admiralty, Baranof and Chichikof by the way – and notable for large populations of grizzly bears (coastal brown bears) and a complete dearth of black bears. Today’s scuba dives on the Princess Sophia and Princess Kathleen were outstanding although the Sophia is spooky as always with the ghosts of all 366 passengers and crew who perished on the ship.
–Captain Mike
Weather: A nice sunny and calm summer’s day in Alaska. Air temperatures mid 70’s.
Water: Water temperature 46°F, visibility 20 – 30 feet.
