Greetings from Alaska!
I work up in Juneau as a captain on a 78 foot catamaran doing whale watches and have been trying to add to my MMD. So far, I have my 100 ton master towing endorsement, , OS, Wiper, and Food Handler endorsements on my MMD. I also have a TWIC card. I have a little under 720 days of sea time currently.
I have taken my AB course and gotten my certificate but the past two years the college that i have been using has not had enough people in the class for proficiency in survival craft to actually run it. That put me in quite a pickle. I submitted my paperwork anyways as i was running close to the expiration of my AB certificate to buy me some more time about 4 months ago. Unfortunately I have started working and it took this long for them to deny me and they are giving me 90 days to show them that i have had 24 abandon ship drills (i have and have the logs to prove it) completion of all practical assessments (how do i get signed off on this? the CG office said that if i got signed off by someone with a 2nd mate license or higher that would be ok), course completion of first aid element (i have cpr and first aid certification)
Is it possible for me to get this done by myself or do i need to take a course? If i have to take a course, it will mean that i spent the money on this class for nothing and will have to do it again during winter as i only work 6 months out of the year and cannot miss work right now.