Following the website lead Rick provided I found I can tie up reasonably
close to a school, upgrade to 200 ton and Oceans with a minimum of fuss.
One choice of course is in Seattle with a prep course and an on site USCG
test. The other I found is in Florida where everything is done at the
school. Full boat deal including radar, towing and advanced firefighting,
perhaps also GMDSS requires no more than a month. I'm sure there are more.
You were right that my current time counts. The weekend work I'm doing now
and did up in Virginia works in there. The only question is if the new
license will be 200 Ton Master or 100 Ton Master and 200 Ton Mate. Either
way with the full 'Oceans' designation I will move from the many to the few
who are legally able to deliver boats over 150 miles offshore. With the
more expensive yachts that's a major plus and solves a big insurance problem
for them. Above that level, especially 1600 tons and above the STCW
requirements hit you full force. That's more like 8 plus weeks but for 1600
and above it's not just worth it, it's mandatory. Two more things. It
appears the coasties MAY be phasing out 200 and keeping 500 ton licenses.
Second, a lot of what you get on a license depends on which REC you use.
Appy at Long Beach and its pretty much a screw job. The best I've found so
far are Boston and Portland, OR especially the latter. They all recommend
applying in this manner: Review and award all endorsements and levels for
my documentation and license for which I have qualified. If you want
something very specific, for example, AB Sail listed along with AB Limited
you can still ask for it. What are licenses good for? Well, in the
Chesapeake doing pick up work here and there I made double my tuition and
school costs back. Here's two funjobs. Catalina Island company driving the
glass bottom boat for the tourist trade or Laughlin NV driving the taxi boat
across the river from AZ. Jobs are where you find them and what you make of
them. I suspect bringing boats back from places like Mexico, Hawaii, or
even the Bahamas for those that didn't make it past a one way attempt is
another source. The major reason I found for going through the training was
it smoothed out the dips and bumps in my abilities. But having gained the
knowledge . . .the next step is to use the knowledge. Since the US doesn't
have anything approaching the Competency Certifications as do, say the
British, getting a 100 ton license is the best thing available.

Cheers and fair winds

MST