Alaska in the clear
by Capt. Allen D. Alloway, NAUI 18832, Wind & Water charters and Scuba, NAUI T47

This is day one of our open water checkout dives. Clear blue skies, bright sun and a 12-knot wind coming down out of the Wrangell-Saint Elias Mountains, over the Stikine River Delta, across Zimovia Straits and directly at our beach. This breeze augmented our 18oF/-8oC ambient temperature to bring the "wind chill" down to around zero (-180C). Alaska's famed Inside Passage was "severe clear and severe cold" on this mid February morning. Seldom do we, as divers, need to get in the water to warm up. But at 41oF/5oC the salt water was absolutely balmy, and there was no wind under the mild chop.

Wrangell, a small island community in Southeast Alaska is located about 200 miles/320 km south of Juneau, the state capital. There is no dive shop on the island and very few certified divers.

Mike Kurth is the driving force behind the Dive Rescue Squad, which is part of the Wrangell Fire Department. In August 2002, Mike had approached us at "Wind and Water Charters and Scuba" in Ketchikan, with the idea of our teaching an entry-level diving class in Wrangell. The plan was to certify some new divers and generate interest in scuba as a whole-with some of the new divers becoming enthusiastic enough to continue their training and eventually join the rescue squad. With this thought in mind, the Fire Department was willing to provide a classroom for the academics, supply cylinders and air fills, and allow us to use their facility to wash and store our gear.

An advertisement was placed in the local newspaper, and a flyer was put out to promote the upcoming class. Surprisingly, the class filled very quickly. We have a limit of eight students in any single class. The students ranged from a 12 year-old sixth grader to a 41 year old teacher. So we have seven open water students and Mike Kurth, a Divemaster candidate.

While I worked out logistics for gear: Regulators, BCs, drysuits, and backups, the students collectively bargained for the time needed. By mid-October the training schedule was inked in. The plan called for me, and the gear, to make two roundtrips from Ketchikan to Wrangell. Ketchikan is on an island about 100 miles/160 km south of Wrangell. the trip takes close to six hours each way on any of the Alaska Marine Highway state ferries. That meant there would be two days of just travel time. On the first trip I would spend four days, and we would take care of the academics and confined water training. We would also deal with the drysuit classroom session. Also, having never dived our chosen "check-out" dive sites, I needed to look them over, both above and below the water. I would return home for five days and then ferry back north for another five days. One day more than necessary for the class due to the ferry's winter schedule. First thing on my return, we then could, and did, deal with the written final and our drysuit confined water session.

All that was behind us now. Here we stood on the brink of certification.

Our dive site "8-Mile", just off the Zimovia Highway, was before us. As we assembled and checked our gear the wind continued to build and so did the waves. We went through 15 gallons/57 liters of hot water thawing regulators, BC inflators, and deflators! Igloo cooler chests filed with hot water were used for dipping our hoods and gloves-this is to thaw and warm them between dives.

By the time Mike and I finished weighting the students, getting them through the skills and having a quick glimpse at the underwater world, it was blowing 25 knots. The wind was dragging along with it three-plus foot/meter high waves right up onto our beach. And it hadn't got any warmer! This was a bit much, not only for the open water students but also for the instructor and divemaster.

It proved very easy to convince everyone to pack up their wet, freezing gear and head to our alternative site at "2-Mile". Lucky for us it was right where we left it a mile 2 on the Zimovia Highway. there are about 14 miles of paved roads on the island. "2-Mile was, on that day, flat calm. It is a great little cove with about a dozen telephone pole size wooden pilings. They range from about 20 to 50 yards/meters off shore with from 10 to 20 feet/3 to 6 meters stick out of the water. It is the site of the "Old" Wrangell Docks, unused for over a century.

With better than 35 feet/11 meters of visibility, dive two was uneventful when compared to dive one. There was no wind in the little cove, and by the time we had finished dive two and were ready for our snorkel dive, the temperature had sky rocketed to a blistering 25 degrees Fahrenheit/minus 4 degrees Celsius! Life was good! finally, the sun was bringing us some warmth. However, it was beginning to dip low in the western sky. The days are short in Alaska during the winter.

Back at the Fire Station we rinsed our gear and broke the icicles off our tanks. The students were having water fights with the hoses-still in our drysuits of course! Playing in the water like kids, everyone had a great time. We debriefed and logged the dives, filled tanks and made ready for tomorrow's dives. Then we descended on tons of food for everyone.

For Open Water Day Two everyone was on time or even a little early. The weather was a carbon copy of the first day. We did dives four and five at "2-Mile" cove. With awesome visibility, we all marveled at the vast amount and array of life the little cove held. We checked out squat lobsters, nudibranches, anemones, sea stars, crabs, rockfish, and much, much more.

Mary Kurth, Mike's wife and an accomplished diver in her own right, was fort of the class Dive Mom. She was always there with a helping hand and word of encouragement. On dives four and five she provided us with photo documentation in the form of a well done underwater video. Captured on tape were the students and coaches alike, at work and play underwater in the "Great Land".

For those who shudder at the idea of cold water diving, "don't knock it if you ain't done it." True enough, it does take a bit more effort to don and handle the extra gear. But the rewards far outweigh the work. As for teaching here, well I live here. By design not by default, as do many others. Here in Southeast Alaska we have some of the best diving in the world-right out our front doors. Few things can compare with being down 60 feet/18 meters in the Alexander Archipelago, seeing things most people will never see, watching your students have a close look, at "Alaska in the clear."

Sources - Second Quarter 2004 copyright 1996 NAUI. All rights reserved.

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