Charter a Whole New Experience with an Alaska Yacht Charter
When it comes to a luxury yacht cruise, most people think of tropical islands like those in the Caribbean, or along the coasts of France, the Mediterranean or even Thailand. However, contrary to popular belief, a yacht charter can be a lot of fun, even without as much sun. And the perfect way to experience this is with an Alaska yacht charter. Most people presume Alaska to be little more than ice and water; however, the south-east tip of Alaska, known as the Panhandle offers a refreshingly new take on cruising. With its splendid green and white landscape made up of ice-fields, glaciers and lush National parks and forest reserves, the majestic Coast Mountains, grizzlies and humpbacks, unique culture and quiet towns, the Panhandle offers a string of surprises.
The Alaska Panhandle is a pseudo-archipelago, or an archipelago of archipelagos, one might say. It's on the south-east tip of Alaska, bordering the Yukon and British Columbia provinces of Canada. It's largely made up of the Tongass National Forest, a few large islands, and numerous small islands. The large and small islands together make up the Inside Passage, Alaska's premier cruising and canoeing route. A cruise along the Inside Passage takes you to some of Alaska largest national parks and reserves, national monuments, through glaciers and along ice fields, with some whale-viewing, halibut-fishing and hot spring-dipping along the way.
Your yacht charter along the Inside Passage could begin at Juneau or Sitka, both of which are accessible by air. Juneau is home to about 30 glaciers, the most famous being Mendenhall Glacier. Your cruise will take along the glacier's visitor centre. Juneau is also home to Tongass National Forest. Tongass National Forest has some spectacular cruising locations like the Misty Fjords National Monument. Cruising along Chatham Strait (and hopefully catching a moonrise) you can arrive at South Baranoff Islands on Sitka. While Sitka itself boasts of many tourist attractions including the Sitka National Historic Park, the Baranoff Islands are famous for their warm springs. The Baranoff Islands are a popular kayaking site, and a photographer could spend hours capturing grizzly bears, sea lions and eagles.
Sitka also offers many tourists attractions like St. Michael's Cathedral, The Historic Museum, Sheldon Jackson Museum, the Summer Music Festival and the Jazz Festival and Whale Feast. Sitka's mountainous terrain and wildernesses are popular for organised hiking and trekking. From Sitka, you can steam towards Frederick Sound and Petersburg on Kupreanof Islands. Frederick Sound offers great whale-viewing opportunities, while Petersburg has an old-world sea coast town charm. Petersburg is home to the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness and Hazy Island Wilderness, giving you some great trekking and hiking trails and the LeConte Glacier.
On the way back to Juneau, you can visit Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier. Steaming through Tracy Arm fjords is a treat with its lush rainforest valleys and waterfalls. Along Sawyer Glacier, you can catch sea lions lounging on ice floats. The last day of Alaska yacht charters is made quite memorable in Juneau. You are sure to depart with vistas of the Coast Mountains and Alaska's glaciers etched firmly in memory.