MT California (Crowley Alaska Tankers) was in Long Beach Harbor on February 2, 2026, as Queen Mary 2 made her historic return to Southern California for a Royal Rendezvous with RMS Queen Mary. The tanker has a personal connection to Ocean Liner Photography: my son previously spent part of his 2024 Cal Maritime commercial cruise aboard California, making this unexpected meeting of familiar ships especially notable.

TS Golden Bear was docked at Mare Island in Vallejo on March 12, 2026, during a temporary relocation from the Cal Poly Maritime Academy campus. The nearly 500-foot training ship had been moved to Mare Island for the spring 2026 semester while work continued on the academy’s pier, allowing cadets to continue their hands-on shipboard training before the vessel’s final Summer Sea Term later that year.

California (Crowley Alaska Tankers) provided the setting for my son’s Cal Maritime commercial cruise from May through July 2024. His time aboard took him to Valdez, Alaska, Port Angeles, Washington, San Francisco, and El Segundo in Los Angeles County. These photographs document the crude oil tanker and the ports surrounding his experience, offering a closer look at the working ships connecting Alaska’s oil industry with the U.S. West Coast.

TS Golden Bear returned to Cal Maritime in Vallejo, California, on July 7, 2023, following her summer training cruise across the Pacific. The cruise included Los Angeles, Cabo San Lucas, Apia, Hilo and Astoria, along with a Golden Shellback crossing at the Equator and 180th meridian. My son was aboard for his first training cruise as a Cal Maritime cadet.