Amazing Scuba Diving at Inian Island

By on June 22nd, 2008 in Archive

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.

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A Mentally Unbalanced Humpback Whale?

By on June 21st, 2008 in Archive

Anyways, we saw one young adult today who defied any description of humpback whale behaviour that I have ever observed. Bob (which is what we named this guy) was hanging out with stellar sea lions instead of other humpback whales. Not only was Bob hanging out and interacting with 10-20 sea lions at a time, but he also seemed to be mimicking their behaviour. Twisting and turning on the surface and throwing himself from side to side. Bob was even doing barrel rolls and swimming along on his back. Even more oddly, Bob approached the Nautilus Explorer a couple of times with his head out of the water – just like a sea lion. All I can say is that never before have I seen a humpback whale that so clearly wanted to be a sea lion. 

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Exploratory Alaska Diving and 5 Grizzly Bears!

By on June 20th, 2008 in Archive

Today’s exploratory secret dive site is a spot that I have wanted to dive for some time and it does indeed have excellent potential. Divemaster/engineer A.J. trumped the scuba diving by taking a group of guests out in the inflatable for a shoreline exploration and discovering 5 grizzly bear in the process! We steamed back in the Nautilus Explorer later in the day and had a grand time watching a grizzly (coastal brown) bear rummaging around in the sedge grass on the beach. It was almost equally entertaining when a young fellow in a Boston Whaler zipped past us, beached his skiff beside a small glacier, and started shovelling ice from the glacier into the front of the Whaler. That’s truly ice cubes Alaskan style!!

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Icebergs Bigger than Houses!

By on June 19th, 2008 in Archive

Some of the ‘bergs were at least 3 times the size of the Nautilus. Our scuba divers had a fabulous time regardless under a clear blue sky without a breath of wind in the nice warm sunshine. As always, our guests got to go kayaking in the ice and splash around in their drysuits and climb up the smaller bergs. Our lovely hostesses are taking our service levels to new heights with the delivery of “adult beverages” by kayak to divers sitting on icebergs!! Now that would be a great promotional image!

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Scuba Diving on the Alaska Border

By on June 18th, 2008 in Archive

Started today off with a “mystery dive” on a pinnacle just north of Green Islet lighthouse. There was a wee bit more current than I expected but the divers reported that the diving on the wall and tumbles on the backside of the pinnacle was excellent with loads of white plumose anemones and other typical pacific northwest life. Other divers wandered onto the flats and investigated under and around the large boulders with less success.

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Our First Alaska Expedition and Dive Trip of 2008

By on June 14th, 2008 in Archive

We are enroute now for 2 days of scuba diving at Port Hardy (Queen Charlotte Strait, Browning Pass and Dillon Rock in Shushartie Bay), 1 day diving the wreck of the Transpac at Butedale and then it’s off to Alaska!

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The Start of our Cold-Water Diving Season

By on June 5th, 2008 in Archive

Our British Columbia and Alaska scuba diving adventures are among my  favourite trips of the year and I am anxious to get going. We were up very late last night and all the staff made one heckuva an effort to wrap this year’s intensive and extensive refit and overhaul in time to board our guests at noon.

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