Hooked up with SteveKL yesterday for a couple of shore dives in Seward. Turns out it was his birthday and diving is the traditional celebration. On the 2 hour drive from Anchorage, we talked about (well - he educated me 
) about Alaska shipwrecks, what the '64 earthquake and subsequent Tsunami did to the shoreline and how to find the stuff that's turning up as the mud erodes away. He also explained how to dig stuff out of the banks without breaking it.
We arrived at the SeaLife Center, checked in with security and hit the water. We followed the outflow pipe from the SeaLife center down to 121' - not much to see down there. We ascended a bit and found the wash-out areas where the mud has eroded away and exposed the debris. I found a couple of old bottles and some chips of plates. The excavation stirred things up a bit, so the plan was to move upslope and keep the silt behind us.
During the 2 hour SI, had a deco burger at the Breeze Inn and went back for round 2. I knew I was low on Argon, but figured I would have enough for a shallower dive. WRONG!! I got a couple little shots near the surface, then nothing. At 60' the squeeze was enough to start getting pretty uncomfortable and I couldn't move enough to even reach the rear dump on my wing. OW!! So I managed to make my arm turn enough to thumb the dive. Changed out the DS hose to work from my main tank and tried again. Note to self - get Ar bottle filled before trip!!
This time we dropped to 104' and right off I found a neat brown bottle (so I thought). Steve glanced at it and indicated nah - not worth keeping. Oh well. I did find an old square medicine bottle and a piece of plate with a logo on it. Steve found another piece of plate and an old pop(?) bottle. When we surfaced, I asked Steve about the bottle he told me wasn't a keeper. It had the "Federal Law Prohibits Refilling" on it, which apparently means it was probably a beer bottle from the 1920's. Ah, well. Steve said next time we'll "Bring it up for a closer look."
Viz, until the excavations began, was about 30' and no sea lions bothered us.
Got back to Steve's house and he invited me for some dinner, which was yummy! I knew as soon as I saw the Wolff stove in the kitchen that this family knows about food preparation
. He also gave me a whole small plate with the Alaska Steamship Company logo on it that had been collected from the same site we dove (he has lots of these). All in all - a good day.
) about Alaska shipwrecks, what the '64 earthquake and subsequent Tsunami did to the shoreline and how to find the stuff that's turning up as the mud erodes away. He also explained how to dig stuff out of the banks without breaking it.We arrived at the SeaLife Center, checked in with security and hit the water. We followed the outflow pipe from the SeaLife center down to 121' - not much to see down there. We ascended a bit and found the wash-out areas where the mud has eroded away and exposed the debris. I found a couple of old bottles and some chips of plates. The excavation stirred things up a bit, so the plan was to move upslope and keep the silt behind us.
During the 2 hour SI, had a deco burger at the Breeze Inn and went back for round 2. I knew I was low on Argon, but figured I would have enough for a shallower dive. WRONG!! I got a couple little shots near the surface, then nothing. At 60' the squeeze was enough to start getting pretty uncomfortable and I couldn't move enough to even reach the rear dump on my wing. OW!! So I managed to make my arm turn enough to thumb the dive. Changed out the DS hose to work from my main tank and tried again. Note to self - get Ar bottle filled before trip!!
This time we dropped to 104' and right off I found a neat brown bottle (so I thought). Steve glanced at it and indicated nah - not worth keeping. Oh well. I did find an old square medicine bottle and a piece of plate with a logo on it. Steve found another piece of plate and an old pop(?) bottle. When we surfaced, I asked Steve about the bottle he told me wasn't a keeper. It had the "Federal Law Prohibits Refilling" on it, which apparently means it was probably a beer bottle from the 1920's. Ah, well. Steve said next time we'll "Bring it up for a closer look."
Viz, until the excavations began, was about 30' and no sea lions bothered us.
Got back to Steve's house and he invited me for some dinner, which was yummy! I knew as soon as I saw the Wolff stove in the kitchen that this family knows about food preparation
. He also gave me a whole small plate with the Alaska Steamship Company logo on it that had been collected from the same site we dove (he has lots of these). All in all - a good day.
