Searches

HTTP://www.bwss.com

Blue Water Sailing School is a site for those interested in learning Sailing Techniques. Arriving at this site, users will notice a very clean basic site. The site has a brochure feel, with the advantage of hyper-links. Following the very clearly described and intuitive links will take you to where you want and expect to be. The Blue Water Sailing School site is very complete and does a spectacular job of giving web users a homogeneous experience. Whether looking for a charter, course descriptions, School locations, Class Schedules, and more… Users will never feel lost, confused, or over stimulated by non-relevant information and bells and whistles. There is one link on the site which will actually take a user out of the Blue Water Sailing School pages; however, in doing so the new page (in this case, the ASA -"American Sailing Association"-) will open in a new browser.

Overall, the content and absence of pop-up ads makes Blue Water Sailing School's web site a place to visit when you are looking for a Sailing School. In my case, I will bookmark the site, as I am more interested in obtaining a Captains License, and not ASA Certification.





HTTP://www.capt-roys.com

Searching for a USCG Captains License course or school on Searchbug.com took me to Captain Roy's Captains Training pages. The site contained information on a Home Study version of the USCG 100-Ton Captains License course. Because I performed the search using a "Home Study" search phrase I was not taken to Captain Roy's main page, but after reading about exactly what I was searching for, at the bottom of the page I saw the link to go to the "Main Page."

Captain Roy's site is very basic and probably not professionally developed. The content of the site is very specific and specialized around USCG Captains licensing and courses. Captain Roy does have a "Favorite Links" page and except for the "Favorite Links" page, all links seem to keep the user on Captain Roy's site.

Captain Roy's is the place one would want to go, if they are interested, as I am, in obtaining a USCG 100-Ton Captains License. The only issue one may have regarding Captain Roy is that his exact location seems to be a mystery. Users are able to call him on the telephone, leave him an e-mail message, or even order a home study course, or have him teach a course on-location, but you probably will have some trouble driving to his class room, if you had to rely on the site alone.






HTTP://www.chesapeakemrineinst.com

My quest for a web site offering not only USCG 100 Ton Captains license training, but the option to take the course on-site or home study proved fruitful on this site; however, I felt as though the site did not give up the fruit willingly. The Chesapeake Marine Institute web page is mostly just that, " a web Page." After clicking no less than six times to find the bottom of the page I was exposed to a number of tables with course names. The page contained two internal site links. One of the two links gave me decent information relevant to the "Resident Training" program where the user is taken to course descriptions accompanied by tables of available dates. A caution to users of this site, with respect to the few links in the body of the web page, if you click a link, you might not be offered a option to go back to the main page. The eight or nine links at the bottom of the page, take users off the Chesapeake Marine Institute site, and in one case is old.

In general, the Chesapeake Marine Institute web page, though not very professional, gives those looking for Captains License training good relevant information about what they have to offer. The only problem is you will need to work for the information and you will likely get only limited information at best.









http://www.nemaritime.com/courses.html

NorthEast Maritime dot COM, is a clear and concise sites with the most pertinent information located near the top of their home page. Leaving the user with no question as to their purpose Maritime dot com gives visitors links to information about themselves, their courses (complete with descriptions, dates, locations, and possibly most importantly their cost.

I was looking for a USCG 100-ton Captains License course with a home study option. www.nemaritime.com gave me exactly what I was looking for on this site, and more. The detail in which each course is described leaves me with no question whether the course is for me or not.

The homogeneous feel, navigating the site assured me that I would not get lost by the next click. The site is very specific, regarding boating and even more specifically, licensing and certification. If you are interested in obtaining a certification or license in the maritime industry, nemaritime.com is well worth the visit, especially if you happen to live in the Hyannis, MA area.








HTTP://www.seaschool.com/indexRight.htm


Sea School dot COM is a very basic and "to-the-point" web site; however, it serves its purpose well for those looking for a place to get information on maritime certifications and licenses. With navigation buttons whose color changes depending on which page you happen to find your self on, you will always know where you are. Each click of the navigation buttons will take you exactly where you would expect to go, as the buttons are named very well.

The information on each page is very clear as to its purpose. Though I came to this site looking specifically for a "home study" option for the USCG 100 ton Captains License, the owners (Sea School dot COM) did not offer the course in "home study" version. The people at Sea School dot COM did however, offer a link to a place I could get the course delivered in that fashion. The site owners may have done better to have links open in a new frame inside their site, to maintain their excellent navigation bar. For now I will not hold that one minor flaw in planning against them because the content on this site, otherwise is well written and they even have a bookstore.