Hello Everyone, Needing a Little Guidance, Please

[SomeOkie]

Hi, I am an early 20's male and although currently landlocked here in Oklahoma, I was raised near the ocean in SW Florida. I am curious as to how you come about becoming certified/trained to work on a sea vessel. I have always loved the ocean and the vastness of it, and have always wanted to be in the middle with no land in site, to just take it all in... so I stumbled across your site and thought I would ask. I'm looking at relocating to SW FL, near St. Pete to at least be close to the water but want more, so I would really appreciate any help/guidance that you have to offer on how to get training or certification to travel/work and maybe even one day own and operate a vessel. Thanks in advance and hope to hear from you all soon.

[rebel heart]

You can check out gcaptain.com; they have some more of the "professional mariner" types over there.

In short no matter what you do, you'll need a lot of sea time. I'd get a job as fast as you can working as a deckhand, line handler, or something of that sort on a boat somewhere. There are a lot of different options as far as captain, mate, engineer, radioman, etc. But for any qualification you'll need (roughly) a few hundred days of sea time. 4-8ish hours represents a day, but it doesn't mean 16 hours = two days, unless you were doing something like 6pm-6am, if you get my meaning.

You can even just drift on a fishing boat to pick up some hours. Keep a log book tracking your hours and have the registered owner or operator sign off on your time.

So no matter what you do, start clocking in sea time pronto.

[St. Elsewhere]

Uncle Sam might help you get there. Try this: Maritime Industry Merchant Marine Training Federal Grants | Federal Grants Wire

[St. Elsewhere]

List of schools here: Maritime Schools