Date: 07/22/2011
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Weather: Sunny and Hot
Title: Day 5 of STCW-95

All day today was our First Aid and CPR class. The instructor was very nice and very good at his job. But the curriculum itself did not come up to par with what I was taught through the Red Cross. The Red Cross takes the same amount of time but it is much less talking and video and more hands on.

Then in the late afternoon, we took our final test and we all passed. I think I got one question wrong. Our STCW Certificates were issued and we said good-by to the IYT staff, Kathy and Amanda.

Tonight a lot of us made it over to the Lauderdale Grill for some drinks and discussed where we go from here. I look at these youth and think they have their whole life ahead of them. I was there once too, but I chose the Navy for my adventures. These youth are trying to break into a very competitive career path of working on Mega Yachts and as glamourous as it may appear, it will be a lot of hard work to make it in this business.

Was this two weeks of IYT training worth it? I think it depends on how you look at it. I think the chances of me getting a job on one of these magnificent yachts is very slim and I'm not going to put a lot of time trying to get one. So from that perspective, the last two weeks were probably not worth the money I spent. However, it was another great adventure for me and I accomplished a lot of confidence building tasks. I have gained the respect of my young fellow students because they can see that I have a lot of practical experience that they have yet to gain and that I can still meet the physical challenges. So from a personal satisfaction point-of-view, it was well worth the effort and the money.