Stan Stephens has run charter boats out of this port town for 20 years, but this is the first season Bligh Reef rated a mention on his tourist brochure.
A growing number of tourists want a look at the site of the nation's largest oil spill, even though only a buoy marks the spot where the Exxon Valdez rammed the reef."We're including that in our new schedule to make sure we swing by it because it has become part of the history of the sound," Stephens said. "Everyone last year asked. We had thousands of oil questions."
Inquiries from prospective tourists for the summer were up 30 percent over winter, the Valdez Convention and Visitors Bureau said.
Marilyn Mitchell of the Valdez Chamber of Commerce chalks up some of the interest to "morbid curiosity."
"I think it's human nature," she said. "People want to see where things happen. There's been a lot of interest in people wanting to come and just see where the ship went off the reef."
It's too soon to know how many people actually will visit, but bookings at some motels, bed and breakfasts and charter companies are going strong, said the visitors bureau director, Gary Kranenberg.
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Cleanup continues
Exxon has begun applying fertilizer to the shoreline to speed the breakdown of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The company got the go-ahead from the state to use the chemicals after a debate over whether they would cause even more harm to the environment. "Our key objective is to achieve the appropriate level of cleanup with the least amount of stress on the environment," said Bob Mastracchio, Exxon's manager for the cleanup.