Where to stay in Sitka before we board the Nautilus Swell?

[bjd001]

OK, not really a specific dive-related question, but it's related to a dive trip...

Does anyone have info on the Super 8 Motel in Sitka versus the Shee Atika Totem Square Inn? We need to stay somewhere one night before a trip on the Nautilus Swell in June. The Inn costs more but I haven't seen great reviews of the Super 8.

Actually, I always wonder about asking the locals about the local hotels... I mean, you likely never stay there! I guess I can also look at the travel forums...

Anyhoo, my local dive club here in San Jose (the San Jose Flipper Dippers) was volunteering at the recent Santa Clara Dive & Travel Expo and I won one of the door prizes. A trip to Alaska/BC on the Nautilus Swell. Yahoo! (I'm SO excited!) When I found out I could pick ANY trip I wanted, I signed up for the 11-day Alaska trip in late June. I did a trip on the Nautilus Explorer to Alaska in 2006 and it was one of my favorite trips, so I'm looking forward to this! (And now I have real incentive to fix that little leak in my drysuit...)

Also, does anyone have experience diving both the Explorer and the Swell? How do they compare? (I know the Swell is smaller.)

Thanks!

 

[akscubainst]

Just stay at the Shee Atika, it's the nicer of the 2 and what the heck you are on a free trip! But in reality, its Sitka either would be fine you'll only sleep there anyway.

 

[Herb-alaska]

OK, not really a specific dive-related question, but it's related to a dive trip...

Does anyone have info on the Super 8 Motel in Sitka versus the Shee Atika Totem Square Inn? We need to stay somewhere one night before a trip on the Nautilus Swell in June. The Inn costs more but I haven't seen great reviews of the Super 8.

Actually, I always wonder about asking the locals about the local hotels... I mean, you likely never stay there! I guess I can also look at the travel forums...

Anyhoo, my local dive club here in San Jose (the San Jose Flipper Dippers) was volunteering at the recent Santa Clara Dive & Travel Expo and I won one of the door prizes. A trip to Alaska/BC on the Nautilus Swell. Yahoo! (I'm SO excited!) When I found out I could pick ANY trip I wanted, I signed up for the 11-day Alaska trip in late June. I did a trip on the Nautilus Explorer to Alaska in 2006 and it was one of my favorite trips, so I'm looking forward to this! (And now I have real incentive to fix that little leak in my drysuit...)

Also, does anyone have experience diving both the Explorer and the Swell? How do they compare? (I know the Swell is smaller.)

Thanks!

Well i think I can answer this one because I live in Sitka and just drove past all three places 10 minutes ago.

If I was coming for a dive vacation and $50.00 a night made no difference to me. I would not stay at the Super 8 to save the money. The super 8 Sitka is the same as the super 8 anywhere. It will be clean no frills place it is that is about 15 years old. It sits about 3 blocks from the Harbor / down town area.

Westmark. about 25 years old remodeled and 5 years ago. Good restaurant across the street from the best coffee place in town. Parking is hard as they only have on street parking and that has city limitations. If you stay there with a car plan a parking ticket or 2 into the price of the room. This Hotel is on the main street 2 blocks from super 8 one block from the water.

Shee Atika Totem Square INN is on the other end of the down town dist./ It is on the water and is probably 2 blocks to where you boat will tie up unless they take you on at the fuel dock in which case you will be just out the front door. They are owned by a native corporation who has money to burn and they are dumping BIG BUCKS in to this hotel. New restaurant on the water new coffee shop (one week old) and is looking pretty nice. They are across the street from the fisherman's bar that is a little famous in SE .( Pioneer Bar) Ask for the water side of the hotel and look out over the channel.

As a local. and if money was not a part of the equation./ I would choose Totem Square INN. If money was small a factor I would stay at which ever West Mark or Totem Square was cheaper. If money was a big factor I would not be afraid of the super 8.

If you want to do a shore dive before you leave send me a PM and we maybe we can work something out. Our dive shop is closed but I think I can cover you with tanks


Welcome to SE Alaska I hope that you have a great time and tell your Friends .

---------- Post added May 18th, 2012 at 12:05 PM ----------

I forgot to say this . I would go camping before I visited our Historic Sitka Hotel In case you had that on your list.

 

[bjd001]

Wow, Herb, thanks for all of the info! (Love your comment about the Sitka Hotel... That fits with the impression I got from other online reviews...)

We decided to go with the Inn. If our flights go as scheduled, we'll get there Monday afternoon and board the boat Tuesday evening, so I don't think we'll be able to fit in a shore dive. But thanks for the offer!

Any recommendations for what to see and do (and where to eat)? We've never been to Sitka before. Thought we'd be tourists for a day... Check out the Alaska Raptor Center, Sitka National historical Park, Russian Bishop's House, Isabel Miller Museum...

 

[Herb-alaska]

Wow, Herb, thanks for all of the info! (Love your comment about the Sitka Hotel... That fits with the impression I got from other online reviews...)

We decided to go with the Inn. If our flights go as scheduled, we'll get there Monday afternoon and board the boat Tuesday evening, so I don't think we'll be able to fit in a shore dive. But thanks for the offer!



Any recommendations for what to see and do (and where to eat)? We've never been to Sitka before. Thought we'd be tourists for a day... Check out the Alaska Raptor Center, Sitka National historical Park, Russian Bishop's House, Isabel Miller Museum...

That is a Great start for the trip that you have going, first skip any tour that they will sell you you do not need it. If the weather is nice and you are bikers then go across from the Harrigan Centennial Hall (3 blocks from your hotel) to Yellow Jersey bike shop and rent a couple of Bikes you will be able to get anywhere you want to go quickly and easily on Bikes. If you are not bikers it is a easy walk and you can set a loop that will be about 2 miles total and hit everything on your list, if you don't walk then we have a public Transit system (small one) that stops at all the places you want and if you look in the bay and see a big ship in then we have a visitor transit bus Looks like an old trolley that will Shepard you to all the places with on and off for like 10.00


Eat well the Dock Shack Cafe in the Totem Square Inn does a great burger they have a few other items on the menu that are good as well if you are into that one. If you want to go a little more upscale right across the street is Ludvig Bistro Greek food. A lot of the Locals and guests love the place. it is not Not my idea of good as it is very small and they have a tendency to rush you out the door. IF you want dumpy but good taste the Kenny's Wok Teriyaki Chinese food.

Just past the church / Radio shack you will find Little Tokyo some of the best Sushi you will find anywhere and I mean any where.

Just before the Russian Bishop house on the second floor of the Bay view Building is a the Bay view Pub a sports bar with a nice assortment of local brewed beer great food Nice harbor view and all the games on.

Dinner. Call the Channel club for a nice steak house. They have a free shuttle back and forth. They are about 2 miles out of the center of town and the evening view if the weather is clear is actually better than the dinner and the dinner is pretty darn good.

WIFI is covered all over town with a city free Wifi signal but if you want coffee with that then you head to Highlinner espresso bar . You will go up lake street from the Traffic light ( we only have 2 and you wont see the other one until you are heading to dinner at the channel club) toward the fire station at the fence to the fire station that separates it from the bank parking lot is an alley way walk down it 50 feet to Highlinner

finally if we have great weather (big If) we have some great kayaking as we are an island and are surrounded by little islands You can have a great time paddling around and get up close to the water before you start your trip.

OMG I almost forgot if you are a golfer you have to play a round at the Sea mountain golf course. It is a 9 hole course that is so mountainous that you have to use a cart for it (it also helps to be able to leave the area quickly if you have a uninvited guest wander through. Also you can not take a mulligan if a bear walks out on the fairway when you are set to drive.

if you have any questions PM and Ill get you as straight an answer as I can. I have no ax to grind here and I am not employed in the visitor industry, it is just that I grew up in Sitka and love my town although it gets very claustrophobic.

Welcome to Sitka, I hope you have the time of your life

 

[levergun]

+1 on Kenny's wok, good place for lunch, great food for a hole in the wall
+2 for the Japanese Sushi bar,
The have a deep fried cream cheese filled roll that is to die for...

 

[bjd001]

Thanks again for all of the info! I'm really looking forward to this trip!

 

[Herb-alaska]

SO BJD tell us about your trip. Where are the pictures. Hope you enjoyed the diving our weather has been a off year so I am sure you saw a lot of rain .

 

[bjd001]

Hi Herb,

The trip was FANTASTIC!!! One of, if not THE, best ever! We actually had about 2-1/2 days of sun (which is 2 days more than the last time we were up there!) The Captain was able to alter our itinerary so we got to play on the icebergs in Tracy Arm in the sun.

I’m writing this from memory instead of consulting my logbook and trip journal, so I may not be remembering everything exactly right…

We enjoyed our one day in Sitka. We ended up eating at Agave Mexican Restaurant, which we enjoyed quite a bit. (We were intrigued by the fact that they serve pizza too!) Breakfast was at the Dock Shack at our hotel. Dinner was served on the boat after we boarded on Tuesday, so we only needed to find one dinner in Sitka. We enjoyed the Alaska Raptor Center, castle hill, some nature centers, a couple of museums and walking around town.

I can highly recommend the Nautilus Swell. The accommodations, food, crew and diving were all wonderful, as expected. (We’ve been on the Nautilus Explorer 4 times previously.) There were seven divers on-board, and two non-divers so we had plenty of room. And everyone was really nice! (On many trips, we’ve often encountered one or more annoying people who just don’t fit in…) On the second day with this group, there was talk of planning a group trip next year.

We asked the divemaster if we would be doing any night dives. She said no, because it never really gets dark (with the sun rising around 4 am and setting around 10 pm…) But we did a couple of dives that were really dark! Flashlights were a must. Viz was so-so on most of the dives, but we did have at least one where it was 50 feet or more. (I forget which dive site that was …) We dove several shipwrecks, including the Princess Sophia, the Princess Kathleen and the State of California.

We had shore excursions to Elfin Cove and a place with hot springs (Baranof?) and one other town I forget the name of. For “Ice Day” we motored up Tracy Arm to get close to the South Sawyer Glacier and then backed out a bit to where the icebergs were not so thick and got to swim around and climb on the icebergs in our drysuits.

On the surface we saw humpback whales, orcas, seals, sea lions and sea otters. (The sea lions checked us out underwater as well.) Underwater we saw octopus, many fish (my favorite being the grunt sculpin), lots of anemones, nudibranchs, shrimp, crabs, etc. A couple of the divers were new to cold water diving (first trip in drysuits) and a few others had never been to Alaska before, so it was fun to share their enthusiasm! For us, since we’ve been to Alaska and BC before, and dive in kind of similar conditions in Monterey all the time it wasn’t such a “unique” experience this time. But we definitely had a great time and would consider going again. [But one of these days we’ll have to try a warm water trip, just to do something different.]

I’m not sure how to post pictures, so I’ll post this, and then see if I can do the pictures.

---------- Post Merged at 11:02 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:33 AM ----------

OK, let's see if I can add pictures... I only have access to a few of them right now.

Our home-away-from-home, the Nautilus Swell, with the dive skiff, Inde, tied alongside.



We saw a lot of these:



South Sawyer Glacier:



Lots of these guys on the icebergs:



Me on an iceberg:

 

[Herb-alaska]

I am so glad you had a great time in my backyard. It is really a Kick for me personally when folks come up and have a great time and then go home Thanks for the wright up I enjoyed hearing the excitement of the trip in your writing
.