Bob wrote:
....
I can not agree with your opinion that Neal's "...Master Mariner
ticket is the highest and
most coveted of any seaman...."

I do not belive a 25 GRT NCW license supports your claim regardless if
it his 2nd Issue. To paraphrase the USCG licensing site, one day sea
service over 5 GRT will qualify you for a 25 GRT license. So the the
guy self certified he had 360 days NC in 18' skiff and one day getting
drunk on a friend's 6 GRT stinkpot. Not what I would call "most
coveted" nor capable ability............................ :/


This raises a question I've wondered about for a while: Although Neal
clearly doesn't qualify for "near coastal" in the normal sense, even
given the slight laxer rules for the Gulf Coast, how does "sea time" at
anchor in the Bahamas count? Its clearly outside the line for coastal
US waters, but anchored in sight of land really is not the same as
outside the sea buoys (about 15 miles offshore) as most of the the East
Coast requires.

I'm sure that when Neal "self certified" he mis-read the regs as "near
postal," which clearly he qualifies for.