One of my last fun adventures before I had cervical spine surgery this last September. This has been a bucket list dive trip for me ever since I saw the video of the salmon sharks that Alaska Sharks posted on the internet. I was lucky enough to see the owner of Alaska Sharks at a dive show for a second time and get a open spot with Big Fish Expeditions last July.
The trip to Valdez, Alaska involves hopping on a little puddle jumper after you reach Anchorage, AK. Then to get to Ravencroft Lodge we had a 2 hour boat ride. The lodge is in a remote area on private land with only 2 ways in or out, water plane or boat. I had joined on this expedition to see the beautiful salmon sharks, which are the closest relative to the great white shark.
Every morning, we got up… ate breakfast and ran to the boats to see if we could see this elusive animal. Afterwards, we would go back, have lunch, then head out for an afternoon dive or two. The diving was interesting compared to the diving in the Pacific Northwest. Here, we have tons of life, but low visibility. In Alaska, the temperature was the same… the life was the same, but less of it. On the other hand, the water was crystal clear, except where the river ran into the sound.
We struck out on sharks up until the last 2 days. Sadly, the visibility snorkeling at the surface for the sharks was horrible because it was right in that mixture of salt and fresh water. I was able to get only one poor video of a single shark. I wish I was lucky enough to get a better photo.
On the other hand, the most phenomenal part of the diving experience there was the moon jellyfish blooms. The blooms were as big around as a small house and went down past 100 feet deep. Occasionally, you would find a single lions mane jellyfish in the mixture of these moon jellyfish. I had only ever seen photos and videos from the lakes in Palau and never thought I would see something similar in Alaska.
Overall, I cannot wait to do another similar trip. The jellyfish, the sharks, the people, and the location all made this a phenomenal excursion.
emeraldseamermaid 