Photo of our elegant dormitories at the school. $60/night - not bad for a living room with a chart table, kitchenette, and nice bedroom plus a spare bunk in the hall.
Mrs. BD and I spent 8 days in salty Port Salerno, Florida (a suburb of Stuart) to take a couple of powerboating certifications at The Chapman School of Seamanship.
First thing, we can recommend them for all levels of seamanship education, from beginner to commercial Captain. Half of our classes were military guys and gals, and were from all over the US and Europe too.
The best thing about their classes is that half the time is spent in classroom, half on the water practicing with whatever size and type boat you want to master. They have the dormitory right at their own marina on Manatee Pocket, which was perfect. Classes are from 8 am to about 4 pm. You need to study for an hour or two after you go out somewhere fun for a seafood dinner.
Wish I had a pic of that lovely narrow lagoon, but I was usually too busy with boat handling to take a pic.
Yes, there are tricky paper exams but the practical water components are useful. Lots of boat traffic to deal with down on the intracoastal waterway in Florida.
A few observations about food, masks, etc below the fold, with a couple of pics.
- Florida seafood. Just great. Grouper is my thing in the south. The shrimp bores me. except for shrimp and grits. Yummy. Tons of seafood places of all sorts, but the marina restaurants are the most lively.
- Charts and navigation are an endlessly cool topic of study
- Handling power vessels in wind, currents, and manatees is a true challenge. Good life skill.
- Our long-time pals in Miami drove up for supper. They were amazed that our waiters spoke English. Stuart is not Miami.
- In Florida, there are churches every mile of the road. No, every half-mile.
- Masks? Nope. They would look at you as if you were mentally-ill. Bars and restuarants packed. Happy people for sure.
- I was never a Florida fan, but it has its virtues. Winn Dixie and CVS sell beer and wine. We did breakfast and lunch - if lunch - via Winn Dixie but always out for seafood at night.
- The freight trains from Jacksonville to Miami ran past our dorm. Train whistles all night - wonderful. 50% of Miami stuff arrives by train, I am told.
- Southern oysters? Terrible things. We did some from Virginia though. Not half bad, but not Wellfleets.
- As I said, certification exams required nightime study. I hate exams, but Mrs. BD and I are good with exams. We study together. It works. However, paper exams are not the same thing as real life. I am best with paper exams of all sorts.
- Mrs. BD knows Palm Beach, but not me. We have pals there. I don't think it is my kind of place.
- When you turn a powerboat hard to port, your stern swings out to starboard. Unlike a car. Woops. Yes, I knew that but not as much as I do now.
- Two engines are good, one engine is bad. Esp. for tight maneuvering.
- Do not hit a f-ing manatee with a prop.
Oh - here's a pic from our lagoon. Forgot I took that snap.
Nice houses out on Henderson Island
