Hi everyone,
My apologies if this topic has been posted before (I missed it if it was). In Virginia, they will soon be requiring (by the year 2012) ALL boaters to have a Safety Education Certification, phasing it in over each of the next 3 years.
To that end, it was recommended by the State, that we could take an online (approved) safety education course (website run by a private business but is certified by the State), that takes about six hours to complete, and once you successfully pass it, pay only $30~ to receive your certificate.
Ok, so I tried it. Was very nice taking it online as you could stop anytime you wanted to and come back to it right where you left off. There was a lot of information provided, and while I pretty much knew a lot of it, there were a few "gotcha's" that I didn't know (we all keep learning don't we?).
Once I successfully completed it, I paid via credit card (you don't pay unless you pass), and was able to print out my temporary Virginia Boater Safety Education Certificate (the perm one will be mailed to me from the State in 5-7 Days).
I found that they offered this course for most all the states (42 out of 50) and thought I'd share the link with you, especially for you Virginia boaters.
Anyhow, here's the link:
http://www.boat-ed.com/I am in no way affiliated with them and I hope it's ok to list the link. Just wanted you to know my personal experience with it.