Capt'n Tom

Tom's New Office!

Yes he is Capt'n Tom!
As of yesterday at 6 pm Tom passed the test to acquire his OUPV Captain's USCG license.
What the means in KW terms.... he will have his 6 pack license or be a charter boat captain.
What that means to me is that he can take people out in a boat AND GET PAID FOR IT!!!! With an added bonus of being out from under my feet everyday (although I will miss my man-slave and all the work he does).
What it means to the Coast Guard is that he will be an Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessel of no more than 6 paying passenger for Inland or Near Coastal waters (up to a 100 miles off shore) on a boat up to 100 gross tons.

So what is this all about you ask..... no, not just something I had him do to get him out of the house for 6 days..... but something that he was asked to do to help out with a friend's business.
Chris (who owns the Lucky Dog and I have blogged about before) has taken an Investor Relations position with Mel Fisher so Tom has been helping out as a dive master as you know. Now Chris has asked Tom to captain his boat. This means that Tom will be taking over some of the Lucky Dog charters that Chris books. Chris will remain the owner and Tom will work for him. Most of the work for the Lucky Dog is taking MF investors out to dive the treasure site (yes Tom still gets to treasure dive) but when it isn't booked for that then there are charters out for dive trips (independent of the treasure work), fishing trips (Tom will take a fishing guide with him), dolphin watching, back country travels or custom charters. Tom will now have the pleasure of spending many of his days out on the water.

There are still a few items he has to complete and send in for his license which he will be working on this week (official logging of previous boat hours, drug test, physical and so on that the Coast Guard requires). He and Chris continue to work together to teach Tom how to run the business and the boat. Tom is learning the water routes out to the treasure site (30 miles off shore), dive and snorkel spots out on the reef, routes to take in the back country and so on.

So when Chris called a few weeks ago and asked Tom if he would get his 6 pack and captain the Lucky Dog boat we were both shocked. Now Chris has known us ever since we have been involved with MF but with all of the other people in KW (and Chris knows a lot of them since he has been here 10 years) that already have their 6 pack it is an honor to be asked to help out with someone else's boat/business.

So this is part of the amazing Adventure that we weren't expecting. Tom is getting to do something he hadn't ever thought of or planned on. Being here has opened up a lot of opportunities that you just never know you can do until you follow your dream!