 Summer cruising in Alaska starts mid-May and ends mid-September.
However within those months, your choice of what dates to pick for a crewed yacht charter depends more on what you want to see and do rather than what you think will happen with the weather.
In researching Alaskan weather online, you might see that August and July are drier than June. And, most people think that August will be warmer than June.
In actuality, date choice for yacht chartering in Alaska is not about weather, including wetter versus dryer months or warmer versus cooler months. Your dates for crewed yacht charter in Alaska during the summer charter season should be based on the wild and marine life that you might want to see, and the activities you might want to do.
Weather in Alaska from mid May to mid September can change from 50 degrees Fahrenheit to 80 degrees Fahrenheit at any time, including during the same day! If you are up under the calving face of a glacier, it may feel colder as well, as the glacier ice slices through the air into the water below, sending a rush of cooler air and water your way.
 At anytime during the summer cruising season in Alaska it may be cooler, warmer, drier or wetter, and again, all in the same day. Some reports state that June is drier and cooler, and July and August are wetter and warmer. However this varies from summer to summer, with no rhyme or reason. If you don’t like the current weather during your crewed yacht charter in Alaska, stick around 10 minutes and the weather will change.
Dressing for Alaska summer weather requires thought, and recommendations are to dress in a series of layers that can easily be peeled off or put back on as the weather changes minute by minute.
What is more predictable and can make an impact on your choice of when to charter in Alaska is the migration of the wild and marine life, which could influence your charter date choice if you have particular wild or marine life that you want to see, or if you have particular activities you want to do. For the summer season in Alaska, the wise person charters around their interests, versus the weather.
 The summer salmon run in Alaska is famous. Salmon are anadromous, which means that they are birthed in fresh water, make their way to salt water to live and return to fresh water to spawn and die.
At the end of their life span, salmon return from salt water to their natal stream, which is the stream in which they were born, to fight up that stream to spawn dozens of eggs for new life. Both males and females return to their natal stream, as the female carries the eggs, which the male must fertilize.
This ritual marks the life span of each salmon, which is ended spawning in the natal stream from whence that salmon emerged.
This ritual of returning up the natal stream for spawning starts in the beginning of summer, with the salmon gathering in the salt waters off of the mouths of many fresh water streams in Alaska.
At this point, in May and June, there are plenty of salmon for deep water trolling for fishing, and the bears and sea lions that dine on this fish are patrolling the beaches and shorelines for dinner. As the salmon enter their natal stream in July and August to fight upstream, the bears will move up stream with them, and away from the shoreline and inland.
Therefore, if one of your purposes for charter in Alaska is to see bears, better to go in June, while the bears are along the coast fishing for the salmon in salt water, and before the bears disappear inland to follow the salmon upstream, and fish for dinner in more inland locations.
Fly fishing is a great sport in Alaska; however the species fished for in Alaska when fly fishing varies throughout the summer, based on the migration pattern of the species.
While in June the Steelhead and Cutthroat Trout will pack the streams heading up river for excellent fly fishing, in July and August, the fly fishing will be for salmon. Some trout are able to survive this fight upstream for spawning and return again to salt water, however for salmon, this is the end of the line, and they show it.
July and August are great for fly fishing for salmon, but those salmon caught, are not the best for eating, as they have begun to deteriorate pending the end of their lives. Eating salmon are caught in salt water, and there are always salmon in the salt waters of Alaska in various stages of life.
Even as the bears retreat up the stream banks to fish for salmon in July and August, the moose, wild goats, and deer will come down from the mountains as the ice and snow melt as summer progresses, and in later summer can more readily be seen closer to shore.
 Whales are back in Alaska beginning in mid May to June, and stay in Alaskan waters feeding throughout the summer, in pods, with a bubble net feeding pattern, that must be seen to be believed.
Grey Whales return first in April and May, just passing through to their summer home in the Bering Sea.
Humpback Whales begin to appear in Alaska in May. A good charter yacht captain will be keeping track of the various pods of whales as they move throughout the summer, to be sure to cruise in whale areas for each charter.
 The famous American Bald Eagle returns to Alaska as early as April and stays around all summer nesting. There can be as many as 100 or more Bald Eagles in any given anchorage, and watching these magnificent birds fly is a treat.
And of course, no matter when during the summer season, you choose to charter, there are always virgin forests to visit, which are only a myth in most locations, and shoreside towns to visit, each with their history and culture.
So, whenever you do a crewed yacht charter in Alaska during the summer season, there is plenty to see and do.
However, if you have a particular must do activity, time your charter, not for the weather, but for the migration of wild and marine life.
written by Missy Johnston
© 2009 Missy Johnston |
