Alaska 1

We recently took a cruise from Vancouver, B.C. up the inside passageway to Alaska.  We sailed on the Regatta with Oceania Cruise Lines. https://www.oceaniacruises.com  Oceania is a mid-size cruise line, the Regatta and her two sister ships hold 684 passengers and about 450 crew members.  They do a very nice job, up-scale without being terribly expensive.  We got into Vancouver late and boarded the ship abut noon the following day.  Vancouver is a popular embarkation port for cruises, particularly to Alaska, and sports a very nice cruise terminal.  Sailing away from the terminal:

 

A happy cruiser, my roommate for the trip:

 

It was a beautiful evening sailing away from British Columbia toward Alaska.  Some pretty sunsets:

 

 

 

 

The next day was spent cruising at sea, eating and relaxing around the ship.  One of the problem with cruising in general and particularly on Oceania is the temptation to eat way too much.  The ship features a “formal” dining room, two speciality restaurants, Italian and a steak house, and a informal buffet style restaurant.  There is also a poolside snack bar where you can get simple fare like hamburgers, salads, etc.  The food was excellent and the service impeccable.  

The scenery sailing up that day wasn’t terribly exciting, but hanging out on the ship and relaxing was what the doctor ordered, or at least what he should have ordered.  We woke up the next morning to the snow-capped peaks of southeast Alaska.

 

Standing on the top deck watching the ship approach Wrangell, I took this shot of the pool deck on the Regatta:

 

The big town of Wrangell, Alaska has a  population about 2,000.  Some information on the history of Wrangell: http://alaskaweb.org/cmtys/wrangell.html, http://alaskaweb.org/cmtys/ftwrangel.html

 

Near the dock where we disembarked for our exciting walk around Wrangell was an abandoned skiff.

 

One of the first things we did was to visit Bob’s IGA Supermarket.  This was really good.  Noticed this guy walking his canoe down the street.  I can understand walking your dog.

 

Wrangell did have a nice  museum celebrating the history of the town and surrounding area.  The museum shared a building with the community center.  There was a small “flea” sale going on, and I bought a photographic print called Quiet Reflections.  The young lady, named Charity, had quite an eye.  You can find her on Facebook as AlaskaCherry.  We then walked up to Petroglyph Beach, where there were carvings on stone by ancient Alaskans.  Unfortunately, the tide was in, and the carvings ere covered.  I did take this sweet shot:

 

On the walk back, we heard a warning that a giant crab had escaped his trap.

 

We managed to avoid injury.  A nice visit to Wrangell over, we returned to the ship.