It’s a drizzly and grey day here in Wrangell. But that didn’t stop this year’s first cruise ship explorers from stepping off Hurtigruten Expeditions’s Roald Amundsen anchored away from the dock on May 8. The visitors had to get in a much smaller boat to step foot in Wrangell though. The addition of about 500 visitors didn’t make much of an impact in some of the local stores, but the island and wildlife tours brought joy to many of the tourists.
Most of the tourists are matching with their cruise ship supplied blue rain jackets, walking the sidewalks downtown, including Matthew Edwards from Essex, England.
“It’s been very enjoyable and it’s been very nice to learn about local customs and legends,” he said.
He and his wife Jenny are on a 12 day cruise and were in the Misty Fjords right before sailing to Wrangell. They started in Vancouver, Canada and will end the trip in Seward. But here in Wrangell, the couple just came from Petroglyph Beach and are now heading to the museum.
Jenny said seeing bald eagles was a highlight so far on this trip. Bald eagles aren’t really a thing in Essex.
“Jenny wants to see bald eagles,” Edwards said.
“We’ve seen a couple yesterday,” Jenny said. “We’ve seen whales, but not very close, but we did see them spouting and coming up.”
Another English tourist, Judith Chilvers, is walking with her friend to the museum as well. She said this trip makes her want to live in Wrangell.
“It’s just completely different to what I live in at home,” Chilvers said. “I love the sea, I love fishing, I love mountains. I just think…not very practical, obviously, but it’ll be a dream that I’ll take home and think of my wonderful visit here.”
She lives in Devon, England, which is also a seaside town. As for the current drizzly weather in Wrangell, she’s not really that bothered by it.
Chilvers said, “There’s no such thing as bad weather is there? You just need the right clothing.”
Chilvers said she bought some souvenirs, but just small gifts for friends and family, like shot glasses and magnets.
“The shot glass is in blue glass, and it’s got the stars of your Alaska state symbol. I thought that was quite tasteful,” she said. “The fridge magnets are sort of anything that looked like where we’ve been, really.”
One shopkeeper, Kimberley Szczatko, is tending Cooper’s Corner, an eclectic store. She said the day is less hectic than what she thought it would be like.
Szczatko said, “I was a bit scared coming up to this day, and then I realized that everything’s gonna be alright.”
She said the cruise tourists who’ve stopped by bought yarn, t-shirts, crochet hooks, books and a lot of kitchen items.
“It wasn’t as good as Midnight Madness, maybe. But, yeah, it was okay,” Szczatko said. “The ship isn’t that large, so it was a good one to start out with.”
Midnight Madness is when Wrangell shops have a one-day sale during the Christmas Tree lighting. Regardless, Szczatko said it’s been a really enjoyable day.
Another business, Alaska Charters and Adventures, just got done guiding a wildlife tour by boat. Brenda Schwartz-Jaeger said today was a good one.
“The weather was super challenging,” she said. “We were on a marine wildlife tour, which typically operates west of here. It’s blown a gale out there today and it was raining so hard, but we had a great gang, full tour load from the boat, and we watched marine mammals.”
She said their tour ship is science-based. There’s even a science lab on the ship, so her guided tours align well with their interests.
“This ship in particular loves this marine wildlife, science-based tour mixed with some spectacular local seafood,” Schwartz-Jaeger said. “It’s kind of a combo tour.”
Today they had 10 guests on board, which is the maximum number for the tour. Schwartz-Jaeger said they did some photography, watched sea otters, sea lions, whales, served food and shucked local oysters.
She said, “One thing that was really awesome today is we were eating shrimp from the Mandi J local shrimp boat here in town, and we actually were able to pull up next to them while we were eating shrimp that they caught yesterday and watch them in action today.”
She said that was a perfect way to experience the seafood right in front of them, from the sea to their bellies.
