The requirements sound a lot like the European ones. We had to hire a captain in Croatia, but the customs and practices in the Med (not to mention the language) are so different to what we're used to in the US and Caribbean that we were glad to have done it.
The Moorings dismissed it as a small thing to get an ASA 104 qualification. (They neglected the fact that you have to have completed the prerequisites, commit the time to take the course(s), and pay $$$ to do it.)
Meanwhile, those of us who have plenty of experience without the official credential would be locked out.
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