To get a captain’s license in Florida, you apply to the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center for a federal Merchant Mariner Credential. The work involves documenting enough time on the water, passing a medical exam and a drug test, obtaining a TWIC card, clearing a criminal history review, and either passing a Coast Guard exam or completing an approved course. Most applicants finish the process in several months, and the sea time requirement is usually the slowest piece.
Choose the Right License for Your Plans
The credential you need depends on how many passengers you’ll carry and how large the vessel is.
OUPV (Six-Pack)
The Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels license, known as a “six-pack,” lets you carry up to six paying passengers on an uninspected vessel under 100 gross tons. This is the entry point for most Florida charter captains running small fishing trips, dive boats, or sunset cruises. It comes with a route endorsement for either inland or near coastal waters, depending on where you logged your sea time.
Master
A Master license covers inspected vessels carrying more than six passengers, issued at 25, 50, or 100 gross ton ratings based on the size of vessels you’ve operated. Master credentials carry route endorsements for inland, near coastal, or Great Lakes waters. Larger tour boats, party fishing vessels, and water taxis require a Master.
Endorsements
Either license can be expanded. A sailing endorsement allows commercial operation of sailing vessels. An assistance towing endorsement is required to tow disabled vessels for pay and can be added to any credential of 200 gross tons or less, including the basic OUPV. Each endorsement requires its own course or exam.
Sea Service: The Biggest Hurdle
Documented time on the water is what stops most applicants. For an OUPV license you need 360 days of vessel operating experience. If you want the near coastal endorsement, at least 90 of those days must be on ocean or near coastal waters; without them, your license will be limited to inland waters. You also need at least 90 days of service within the past seven years for recency.1U.S. Coast Guard. OUPV Checklist
Master license requirements are steeper. Inland Master requires 360 days in any position.2U.S. Coast Guard. National Master of Self-Propelled Vessels Less Than 100 GRT Checklist Near coastal Master requires 720 days in the deck department, though up to 360 may be on inland waters. Your tonnage rating depends on the size of vessels reflected in your service history.3U.S. Coast Guard. National Master of Self-Propelled or Aux Sail Vessels of Less Than 100 GRT Upon Near Coastal Waters
Sea time is recorded on Form CG-719S. If you own the vessel, you can attest to your own experience and provide proof of ownership. If not, you’ll need letters or other documentation from the vessel’s owner or a licensed operator.4United States Coast Guard. Small Vessel Sea Service Form
Other Eligibility Requirements
Age and Citizenship
You must be at least 18 for either credential.5U.S. Coast Guard. National Master of Self-Propelled Vessels Less Than 100 GRT Checklist Federal law requires the master or officer of a documented vessel to be a U.S. citizen or noncitizen national.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 8103 – Citizenship and Navy Reserve Requirements Permanent residents do not qualify for captain positions on documented vessels, and virtually all commercial passenger vessels in Florida are documented. Plan on proving citizenship with a birth certificate or passport.
Medical Exam and Drug Test
A licensed physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner must complete your medical exam on Form CG-719K, covering vision, hearing, blood pressure, and general physical and mental fitness.7U.S. Coast Guard. Application for Medical Certificate You also need a negative result on a DOT five-panel drug test, which screens for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opioids, and PCP.8U.S. Department of Transportation. DOT 5 Panel Notice The test must comply with 49 CFR Part 40, come from a SAMHSA-accredited lab, and be dated within 185 days of your application.9United States Coast Guard. DOT/USCG Periodic Drug Testing Form
TWIC Card
Every applicant must hold a valid Transportation Worker Identification Credential from the TSA. Without one, the Coast Guard will deny the application.10National Maritime Center. Transportation Worker Identification Credential Getting a TWIC involves a security threat assessment and biometric enrollment at a TSA center, and the fee is paid separately to TSA. Apply early; processing can take several weeks.
Criminal Record
The Coast Guard reviews criminal history on every application. Convictions trigger mandatory “assessment periods” before a credential can be issued, ranging from one year for less serious offenses up to 20 years for voluntary homicide. Alcohol and drug-related convictions carry additional obligations to demonstrate rehabilitation.11National Maritime Center. Mariner Applications and Criminal Records
The Coast Guard defines “conviction” broadly. If a court required probation, treatment, fines, or rehabilitation, it counts, regardless of any later expungement or dismissal promise. The only exception is an expungement issued because the original conviction was erroneous.11National Maritime Center. Mariner Applications and Criminal Records Failing to disclose a conviction can be treated as fraud and carry a separate one-year waiting period, so disclose everything, even old or minor matters.
Exam or Approved Course
You have two ways to satisfy the examination requirement.
You can sit for the Coast Guard exam directly. It covers navigation, rules of the road, general seamanship, and safety procedures. The rules of the road section is dense, and the navigation problems require real chart-plotting skills, which is where self-study candidates tend to struggle.
The more common path in Florida is a USCG-approved captain’s license course. When you complete an approved OUPV course and present the training certificate with your application within one year, the certificate satisfies the exam requirement entirely; you never sit for a separate Coast Guard exam. The same works for approved Master courses, assistance towing courses, and rules of the road courses.12U.S. Coast Guard. Approved Courses A typical OUPV course runs about 64 classroom hours, and an OUPV-to-Master upgrade adds roughly 24 more. Florida has numerous approved providers, concentrated in coastal cities.
Each course certificate is good for one application and expires one year after completion, so hold off finishing a course until your sea time and other documents are ready.12U.S. Coast Guard. Approved Courses
Assembling the Application Package
The main form is CG-719B, which captures your personal information, the credential and endorsements you’re requesting, and your desired tonnage and route limitations.13United States Coast Guard. Application for Merchant Mariner Credential A complete package includes:
- CG-719B, the core application with your details and requested endorsements
- CG-719K, your medical certificate from a licensed practitioner
- CG-719S, your sea service form listing every vessel, date range, and waterway
- CG-719P, drug test results from a SAMHSA-accredited lab
- Proof of citizenship (birth certificate, passport, or other acceptable documentation)
- Your valid TWIC card number
- The original training certificate, if you completed an approved course
- Your Pay.gov receipt showing the required fees are paid
Gather everything before you submit. Incomplete packages are the most common cause of delays, and the Coast Guard will pause your file until missing items arrive.
Fees and How to Submit
For an original OUPV or Master under 100 tons, Coast Guard fees total $240: $100 evaluation, $95 examination, and $45 issuance. All fees run through Pay.gov, and a copy of the receipt must accompany your application.14National Maritime Center. Frequently Asked Questions: Fees Those are only the Coast Guard’s charges. Once you add the TWIC fee, medical exam, drug test, and course tuition, total out-of-pocket costs typically fall between roughly $1,000 and $2,000, depending on your course provider and local medical prices.
The Coast Guard’s electronic portal, ASAP (Application Submission and Additional Information Portal), is now the primary way to submit new applications and upload documents. You can also submit by mail to the National Maritime Center or through the Regional Exam Center in Miami.15National Maritime Center. National Maritime Center
How Long It Takes
Processing times for original credentials vary. The Coast Guard has reported no major systemic delays, but industry reports to Congress have documented individual wait times stretching to six months between submission and credential receipt.16United States Coast Guard. Merchant Mariner Credential Processing Incomplete applications are the biggest driver of long waits, which is why a clean, complete package matters more than anything else. You can check status through the National Maritime Center’s online tracking portal after you submit.15National Maritime Center. National Maritime Center
Renewing Your License
A captain’s license expires after five years. To renew, you must meet at least one professional requirement: at least one year of sea service during the past five years, an open-book comprehensive exercise, an approved refresher training course, or qualifying employment in a maritime-related field for at least three of the past five years.17eCFR. 46 CFR 10.227 – Renewal of Credentials A refresher course for credentials under 100 gross tons typically runs about eight hours. You’ll also need a current medical certificate and drug test at renewal.
You cannot legally operate under an expired license. There is an administrative grace period during which you can renew without starting over; if you let that lapse entirely, you’ll retake the full course and exam as a new applicant.