Coming back to Alaska diving after two years since our last Nautilus Explorer trip was everything and more that we were expecting! The Swell is a great boat and a perfect liveaboard platform for our 12 Wetpixel.com divers. In fact, on our second dive on the Princess Sophia, we had a welcoming party of 4 steller sealions. After several close passes, sealion x369 (really had a tattoo) nibbled on my fins. The third dive on our first day was on the Princess Kathleen and featured wonderful macro opportunities including sea squirts and well-camoflauged Cabezons (giant marbled sculpin). A tremendous start to our 12-day adventure!
-Lee from Cleveland, Ohio
So here we are on day two, and I honestly hesitate to say this because I don’t want any of the crew to get a big head, but the crew, the food, the attention to detail, and the friendly attitudes have already made the swell one of the best dive operations I’ve experienced. Now if I can just fix my gear problems by tomorrow and dive the rest of the trip, the Swell’s Alaska to Juneau trip may go down as one of my favorite.
-Jason Bradley www.BradleyPhotographic.com
My first trip to Alaska – it’s the light that gets you. Oh look – I’ll go to bed when it gets a little darker… Huh? it’s midnight? What the…??? That first sunset was gorgeous. Beautiful colors, the sky and water… niiiice. The first day was great, though it took most of the day to learn to not smack my shoulder against the screwheads that open the salon door port… But so far, the food has been great, the crew great, the boat great. Me happy. 😎 I liked the Sophia a lot, but I must admit that I didn’t really think about it’s history. I was concentrating so hard on getting bouyancy and shooting the mossy-head warbonnet that the history of the wreck was not foremost in my mind. I’d go back again – great viz, cool site… let’s go back!!
-Andy Wallace, Davis, CA
