David R Olson

Dave Olson was drawn as a young boy to waterborne enthusiasms in Minnesota s Land o Lakes. Family movement to Southeast Alaska in his mid-teens attracted him to life at sea. Moving up from deck hand jobs in his late-teens on commercial fishing vesels, he was captain of an Alaska cannery tender at age 21. Following college, he went to work for CIA as a maritime operations specialist leading to assignments at bases on small islands off the China coast during the Korean War era. On return, he left the Agency for a successful career in business. Transferring to the San Francisco Bay area in 1970 allowed him to pursue Bay sailing and extensive small boat cruising from Puget Sound up through the Inland Passage to the northern boundaries of the Southeast Alaska panhandle. His fascination with the underwater world led him into scuba diving. He and his wife Betty actively pursue community volunteer pursuits while enjoying life on the bank of a wild whitewater river outside Seattle.