Lack of diving infrastructure in Alaska ...

Just wanted to start a threat and I am hoping that Alaskan locals can contribute in this as much as possible.

I have never dived in Alaska but my feeling is that Alaska has some of the worlds best cold water diving. This has not been marketed to the rest of the world because (I am guessing here so please help me out)

1) Cost of setting up a business in Alaska is very high
2) Alaskan locals are not convinced that in the long run their investment will generate enough tourism
3) Alaskans are weary of tourism because tourism industry commercializes wilderness
4) Alaskans have no way of advertising outside Alaska
5) Investors outside Alaska do not want to invest there so investment opportunity is restricted to Alaskan businesses only

I do know that Nautilus Swell started a liveaboard in Alaska and it got filled up so fast. How come we do not see more land based resorts and opportunities? Has anyone experimented with developing diving tourism? Id love to know about your experiences and your challenges.

Mike did the alaska liveaboard for years this is just his new one, and there are many places to dive there.

? sinbad, you are into coldwater diving, have you done so in all the threads you have started, do you have a trip report.

VooDooGasman: I am starting to get into cold water diving after the purchase of my first drysuit. I cant tell you how much more I have enjoyed this than tropical diving. I wish I could do more cold water. Alaska is on my dive list for this year.

CAPTAIN SINBAD:

Just wanted to start a threat and I am hoping that Alaskan locals can contribute in this as much as possible.

I have never dived in Alaska but my feeling is that Alaska has some of the worlds best cold water diving. This has not been marketed to the rest of the world because (I am guessing here so please help me out)

1) Cost of setting up a business in Alaska is very high
2) Alaskan locals are not convinced that in the long run their investment will generate enough tourism
3) Alaskans are weary of tourism because tourism industry commercializes wilderness
4) Alaskans have no way of advertising outside Alaska
5) Investors outside Alaska do not want to invest there so investment opportunity is restricted to Alaskan businesses only

I do know that Nautilus Swell started a liveaboard in Alaska and it got filled up so fast. How come we do not see more land based resorts and opportunities? Has anyone experimented with developing diving tourism? Id love to know about your experiences and your challenges.

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Let try to answer your question from an Alaskan Prospective. First I live In south east Alaska and we have some of the best cold water diving around. Our tourists come in on cruise ship and by plan to fish.

Sitka Is like the 5th largest city in Alaska and we have 8,300 people Try making a dive shop work with only 200 divers in town( if that) we only need so many lessons and so many air fills. Gear we cap out after we buy one set. We have a dive shop in town it is for sale and is closed. It did like 4 different tour related business out of the one shop and it appeared to work until divorce split the shop and it closed for want of a dive instructor/ DM. We have a lot of tourists come into town and I think a few of them dive however not many dive dry and they are not really around long enough to get a dry c card. The shop did very well selling dry snorkel tours again until divorce killed it.

# 2 and #3, 4 we have a lot of tourism and we love showing our State to guests but you have to have a business model that works. Alaska advertises as a state as well as by business we have a lot of fishing charters but how many of you are willing to come to Alaska drop ( average price for a week fishing charter) $5,000 for a week of diving when you can sun yourself and dive for a week in Coz for $1,200.00

Now to move North to Anchorage. You have the people to support a shop and I believe that there are actually 3 shops running full charters lessons and sales. You also have to also understand what the geography looks like they, have water however it is actually a silted inlet and to get to dive able water you have to drive a 3 hour very busy ( lot of Motor Home) hwy so there are actually more divers in SE AK than there are in areas where 89% of the population is.

There are a few live aboard boats that come through but they are based out of WA area and cover all of SE Alaska so that they have the option of doing trips to other areas. I don't think that they can fill the boat with enough people that want to dive cold consistently to base out of SE.


Allow me to tell you we have some great diving here. The best time to dive is the fall and winter for the clarity. How many are willing to come dive when a July warm day will have a 52 water temp and I typically dive with 32 to 38 degree water temps. I love it and if you ever come to SE PM me and we will dive. I can be wet a 5 minute walk from my house

@ Herb Alaska:

That was an extremely enlightening post man. It answers a lot of questions.

I was talking to a Virginia based dive business owner. She was telling me that there should be approximately 1500 certified divers in our Northern Virginia area. But there are seven dive shops competing for their business! In Sitka if there are 200 divers and one dive shop to go to then ratio wise it comes down to the same.

I dont know if anyone has experimented with this but I thought I should still throw an idea up there.

If you have a boat and a compressor to fill tanks, this can be used as a base to start a business that is targeted towards outside tourists. I know a lot of people in Virginia who would love to dive Alaska. But Nautilus Swell and liveaboards etc are an expensive way of doing it. 3000 dollars plus another 1000 for airfare makes up for a an extremely expensive 4000 USD vacation. If someone in Sitka can offer a bunk to sleep and 2 boat rides a day with only tanks and weights for a cheaper price then I think that a lot of people who can not afford Nautilus would like to come and dive.

Just to give a comparison Discovery Diving Co.- NC's Diving Headquarters - Discovery Diving Co. is a North Carolina based operation that gives you a bunk to sleep in for 20 bucks (group of 6 minimum) and a two dives a day for 115 USD! Thus for 675 USD you could do 5 days of diving and your stay is included. Its a few bunks under a roof but most divers are adventure seekers and they are not looking for 5 star accommodation anyway.

Some dive operators in NC also let you sleep on their boats. Its nothing luxurious, and you bring your sleeping bag and pillow but for 15 - 20 bucks a night a lot of people like my self do not seem to mind at all. Just something to think about:

One major advantage that Alaskans have is the No Visa / passport requirement. Bermuda and Bahamas are much closer to me and flights are cheap too. But because the group that I dive with has a few people who are Permanant Residents and some are international students they have to apply for Visas. Alaska being within USA saves that hassle. Its the same as Puerto Rico and Hawaii ya know.

I am personally very excited about diving Alaska man. I will definitely get in touch with you when I come and then we will go diving. I just hope that that dive store finds a new owner so that we can have air fills when I get there.

Cheers -

Sinbad

Sinbad. The problem with the ultra cheap plan that you came with is two fold One 20 bucks buys ya nothing here. Motel super 8 is 150 a night and can be hard to book if you don't plan ahead. Second is insurance a person would be crazy to take money for a bed or a ride on a boat unless you had big insurance and that costs big money. Now we do have a youth hostel which is exactly what you are talking about. 20 bucks a night 4 night max. Airfaire from Seattle is 500 ( only one carrier no choice ). I can find ya air I joined the fire dept the day the dive shop closed so the air would flow. Walk in dives anywhere ( we are an island ) boat dives a little more because ya got to rent a charter fishing boat and they think they are something special and charge accordingly I have a sailboat not great for diving but it gets me there. I could not imagine trying to fill a charter dive boat enough to make it pay because everyone has a boat not many of us will pay to go for a boat ride and if your boat isn't working 12 monthes a year your going to loose money. I am sure it could happen but ya better have deep pockets to get it all started

@ Herb Alaska. 150 USD for Motel 8 is approximately three times of what Motel 8 would cost in Virginia so I see what you mean. Still Eight nights in Motel 8 for two people come out to be 640 USD each and that is a lot cheaper than some Alaskan liveaboards which run in thousands. Can you tell me how much does a boat charter for 6 people cost on a daily basis? Just curious.

Well in Southeast Alaska there isn't much of a selection of hotels, its also strictly drysuit diving and you would have to be nuts to dive wet. I doubt you could get a tourist off the cruise ship to slip into some real cold waters. Secondly our dive season doesn't work with the cruise ships, we dive in the fall and winter, the ships are in during the summer and are already have their things days booked with whale watching, charter fishing, and spending money on trash. Im not trying to shoot your idea down but from my own experience we are self sufficient divers and already have our own boats and fill stations or are saving up for it. Regulations are tight up hear about what you can and cannot do. Yeah you can go whale watching but you cannot dive with whales, and if you did it could be your last. Also spearfishing wouldn't work out well since that falls under the Fish and Game Sport Charter Fishing and that is expensive to get the licenses and requires real deep diving.

For a water taxi its around 50-300$ round trip and they just drop you off in a bay or on an island. There are dive charters and they charge about 300$-600$ per person and it is guided. Secondly the skill set is above the vacation divers and it isn't a walk in the park like with tropic warm water diving. This idea might service a few people, but its not a money maker and I doubt a hundred people a year will cover overhead and turn a profit.

This is from the State of Alaska when they looked into it:

What challenges are we faced with?
• Many recreational divers are accustomed to warm water
diving and are not prepared for Alaska’s cold diving
environment.
• Many recreational divers are not familiar with the local
tides, currents, and dive equipment used in Alaska.
• Access to mixed gases is limited and there may be
quality control problems.
• Remoteness and communication problems.
• Conflicts with fishing vessels dragging gear.
• Dive groups unfamiliar with each other.
• Resort course divers unprepared for solo dives in Alaska.

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You have to look at this from our perspective, I don't want some tourist diving my waters. Hell would have to freeze over for me to show an outsider my dive spot and if did freeze over bust out the chain saw were going ice diving.

Tristan.ak:

Well in Southeast Alaska there isn't much of a selection of hotels, its also strictly drysuit diving and you would have to be nuts to dive wet. I doubt you could get a tourist off the cruise ship to slip into some real cold waters. Secondly our dive season doesn't work with the cruise ships, we dive in the fall and winter, the ships are in during the summer and are already have their things days booked with whale watching, charter fishing, and spending money on trash. Im not trying to shoot your idea down but from my own experience we are self sufficient divers and already have our own boats and fill stations or are saving up for it. Regulations are tight up hear about what you can and cannot do. Yeah you can go whale watching but you cannot dive with whales, and if you did it could be your last. Also spearfishing wouldn't work out well since that falls under the Fish and Game Sport Charter Fishing and that is expensive to get the licenses and requires real deep diving.

For a water taxi its around 50-300$ round trip and they just drop you off in a bay or on an island. There are dive charters and they charge about 300$-600$ per person and it is guided. Secondly the skill set is above the vacation divers and it isn't a walk in the park like with tropic warm water diving. This idea might service a few people, but its not a money maker and I doubt a hundred people a year will cover overhead and turn a profit.

This is from the State of Alaska when they looked into it:



You have to look at this from our perspective, I don't want some tourist diving my waters. Hell would have to freeze over for me to show an outsider my dive spot and if did freeze over bust out the chain saw were going ice diving.

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I agree with the challenges listed above however in SE I think that we have a little different perspective about showing where we dive.

I would love to show you my favorite dive spots. I love my waters and we have some great diving. We have a group out of Seattle that come up and stay in a couple of local's homes and then we all go diving. I don't think that it would work for a charter situation because the demand would not meet the cost break point.

Cost of a boat. Well this is all theory because to the best of my knowledge there is not a operating Dive Charter boat to be rented in Sitka AK the one we had was attached to the shop but you can read my prior post to learn that history, I think that you could find a charter fishing boat that you could hire for the day to take out to some great dive spots. I imagine it would run about $600 for the day boat only. But that is just a guess. I can tell you for you to jump on a charter boat and fish for 4 hours it is going to cost about 200 and it would be a 4 person minimum. That is why I was thinking you may get it for 600.

Now if anyone wants to come to Sitka for some great diving just PM and I would love to show you some great walk in spots But be prepared.

The water will be between 30 and 52. The warmest dive I have done at home was 53 in July on a 78 degree day and those happen about every blue moon.

The sea Lions will be around and the first time a 600 lb sea lion comes to play you will need to take a second to remember to not hold your breath.

Please do not come to Sitka to Dive During March and April as the spawning and the bloom can make visibility near black water and you wont have much fun.

Best diving is October to march but the surface intervals can be rough

If you have a lot of money and want to set up a dive operation. PLEASE come to Sitka. I would love to dive and have access to a quality dive shop. It bites having to send everything out for service, In fact I am having to plan a weekend trip out of town to get my Visuals done on my tanks. Load all the tanks into the back of the truck take the ferry ride to Juneau drop them off and then go shopping with the wife while the shop opens special for me to do my inspections. You can imagine how costly that is going to be the shopping alone is going to be a nightmare, but add 2 nights Hotel (remember our room rates ) food and the ferry tickets for the car two adults, Stink I think by the time I am done it may end up costing about 150 a visual for each of my 8 tanks. I am not sure what I'll do when I need Hydros because that will mean 2 trips out of town one to drop off and one to pick up.

So again come to Sitka and set up a Shop Ill be there the minute you open the door

The dive shop in jnu closed. Does the welding supply place do tank vis?