well you could make contact with us Alaskans and come up and dive anyway. I live in Sitka and the Nautilas Swell hung out in the same harbor as my boat. We also dive at
Saint Lazaria National Wildlife Refuge as well as many other great sites. Alaska has not closed up shop, I would personally say that SE Alaska has much better diving than northern areas.
No, we definitely still dive up here. =)
I live in Anchorage, and I'd agree with Herb about Southeast. Sitka/Juneau/Ketchikan are all much better diving than Resurrection Bay or Prince William Sound, and it's all a lot more accessible. PWS and Res Bay both have a lot of glacial runoff; compared to the large tidal exchanges in Southeast. Invertebrate life is MUCH bigger and more plentiful down there, though it's decent up here too. Unalaska and Kodiak also both have fantastic diving, but it's more difficult to get out there and weather can be an issue.
There's one shore diving site in PWS accessible from Anchorage, and a couple of mediocre sites in Seward. The rest you need a boat for, and the only commercial option is in Seward on Dive Alaska's Bottom Time (which has recently been making trips into PWS as well). And they only operate the boat in the summer. Contrast that with a dozen or more shore diving sites in each of the larger Southeast communities, which are (mostly) accessible year round.
Finding fills or rental gear can be tricky. There are dive shops in Anchorage (
Last Frontier Diving and Adventures & Dive Alaska), Kodiak (
Scuba Do), Ketchikan (
Wind & Water), and Juneau (
the Scuba Tank). Fairbanks also has a dive shop (
Test the Waters), but there's no ocean for 6 hours in any direction, so I'm not sure they count for the visiting diver! If there's not a shop in the area, there may still be divers out there that you can hook up with. While I was living out in Unalaska (Dutch Harbor), I met up with and took several Scubaboard members diving and we had a blast. There isn't a dive shop for 880 miles, but I guarantee you the dive community is alive and well.
If you're not an experienced drysuit diver, most of the shops offer drysuit classes. Be realistic about the time commitments - it's going to take at least two days. Some of the shops (especially in Juneau and Ketchikan; the cruise ship ports) have had problems with cruise ship passengers showing up wanting to dive in Alaska; today; like right now dude, but weren't prepared to do so and didn't understand the time commitments involved. Please don't be rude about it.
Anyone who's planning a trip up to Alaska is always welcome to shoot me a PM for more info or trip planning advice. I've been diving up here for just over a dozen years and love it. =)
-B