attn: polar bears

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beezwax

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
300
Reaction score
1
Location
Alaska
# of dives
200 - 499
In a month or so I'm loading up a truck and moving to Alaska. This is actually a return for me (I lived there for most of the 1990s and went to school at UAF), and I'm headed back to start building a cabin on some land I have just outside of Fairbanks. But when I lived there before I wasn't a diver, that's something I stumbled into three years ago, so I need to get connected to underwater AK.

I know most folks in this group will be from SC or SE, but I'm hoping for two things: meeting people from these milder regions who'd be willing to take a dip with me when I do make it down to the coast, and meeting any interior divers who want to go jump in something (anything?) closer to home.

I've amassed a ton of scuba gear in the short time I've been diving, and I don't know how much I'll be able to bring with me on this trip since my truck will be pretty loaded with construction stuff. And I'll probably be pushing over trees for most of the summer anyway--I'm really just putting some feelers out here for the future.
 
The local dive shop in Fairbanks is Test the Waters. www.testthewarters.com
They can hook you up with the local dive spots and clubs. There is at least one club up there, but i forgot the name. Also, there are pleanty of us that dive in Anchorage, so if your in the vicentity, just shoot out a email.
Myles
 
Hey thanks that shop wasn't around when I lived there last. I will definitely check in with them, they are probably the only local.
 
I figured out the typo (but I didn't know they were around in the 90s-- of course, as I mentioned I wasn't a diver then so it could have easily remained unknown to me).
 
In the Los Anchorage area (to use the term popularized by my end-of-the-road, cabin-dwelling-without-indoor-plumbing friends in Fairbanks), the most popular diving spot is Whittier. I find that the best diving in Whittier is actually in times other than the summer. There is a regular group of people who dive there nearly every weekend and they are the most welcoming group of people it has ever been my pleasure to dive with. Some of them would even give an out of town diver a place to stay for the weekend. They are the most unassuming group of divers I have met and just all around real good people who just want everyone to go diving. So keep us in mind when you need a buddy.
 
"Los Anchorage"..hilarious, I haven't heard that one before, although I have heard it described as "the nearest city to Alaska". But I think the folks in Squarebanks have much to be jealous of, and not just the hot and cold running water.

I've been to several places in SC/SE, but never actually made it to Whittier. They were still finishing the road there when I left. But I will definitely do so in the future, thanks!
 
I must be special, I live in Fairbanks AND have hot and cold running water :)
Give a shout when you get here, there is a large group of divers up here.
I have not been diving long, but plan to do alot this summer right around town.
 
You have done well for yourself! I don't even care about running water so much, I just wish my property had electricity. It's a ways down Murphy Dome (Cache Creek) and they haven't run the grid out that far yet. You don't have any pull with GVEA do you?

I will definitely give a holler when I'm in town, thanks!
 

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