Here's how the crazy day started: On June 19, I woke up at 4:30 AM in order to be at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City by 6:30. Traffic on the Turnpike Extension caused me to miss the first Water Taxi trip but I made the second boat at 6:55. Once in lower Manhattan, it was an easy walk through Battery Park along with the other early-risers: NYC Parks Department employees, street vendors, and pigeons. I was headed to the United States Coast Guard's Regional Examination Center for an appointment with Petty Officer Wilkins at 7:30. How did I get there and why? Read on....

Soon after I began working here at Hackensack Riverkeeper and learning to handle our 28-foot "Robert H. Boyle," Capt. Bill had me take a Coast Guard Auxiliary Safe Boating Course at Secaucus High School. Not only did I enjoy the course and my instructors, I also passed with flying colors. It didn't take Capt. Bill very long before he started saying things like, "Hughie, you should go for your Master's License" and "All it takes is study and practice, practice and study."

Practice was no problem since during the 2000 and 2001 boating seasons, I had logged over 130 hours aboard the "Boyle" either as Capt. Bill's mate or helmsman and this year I expected to get even more opportunities to weigh anchor. Those of you who have come out on the River with me have enjoyed yourselves and (more importantly) have returned safely to shore. Yes, practice was easy. And fun. Study was something else again.

I knew that there were institutions where one could take courses to prepare for Master's Exams but they are expensive and are geared to a higher level than I required. I was applying for credentials as a Limited Master of Inland Waterways, same as Capt. Bill's, but unlike him I didn't have a lifetime of boating experience to fall back on. I needed a book—a big one. Fast. I found what I needed (and then some) in January at West Marine on Rte. 17 in Lodi. Written by Charlie Wing and entitled Get Your Captain's License (how's that for optimism?), the book has every possible question and answer one could possibly be asked on any possible Master's exam—more than 5000 of them!

For six months that book was my constant companion—at the dinner table, in the office, at my son's band practice. I learned how to fight fires in chain lockers, what kind of navigation lights submarines use, how to evacuate injured crewmen by helicopter, what the penalties are for failing to report oil spills and much, much more. So much more that I began to worry that I wasn't retaining enough information, or that I was retaining the wrong information. If you ask them, both my family and my coworkers can tell you what a state I was in as my exam date – June 19 – approached.

I graduated high school in 1976 and college in 1980 so it had been twenty-two years since I took my last meaningful exam. Fortunately though, I've always been a pretty good test-taker. I don't choke. Plus, I had passed my physical, submitted a complete application, studied for six months and had two sharpened Number 2 pencils in my possession. What more did I need? So when the doors opened at 7:30, I was good to go. So... after two hours in the exam room, I looked down at the sixty black dots made by my Dixon Ticonderoga® #2 pencil and decided I was done. All that was left was for Petty Officer Wilkins to score my test.

Captain Hugh Carola

With military precision, my exam proctor took the exam booklet from me and sent (ordered?) me back to my seat to await my score. Offering a silent prayer as I sat, I thought, "Oh great, you're supposed to pray before the test, not after." Finally I heard his chair push back from the desk and Petty Officer Wilkins announced, "Mr. Carola!" I tried to read any expression at all on the man's face but his training was too good. All I could do was ask, "Well, how'd it go?" In response, he smiled, shook my hand and said, "Congratulations, Captain."