Well The Gulf of Alaska will be a good merit badge for you. Crossing the gulf is the furthest you have to be exposed to the sea, with nowhere to run in North America.
You can always to choose to cruise off shore in other places, but in the Gulf of Alaska you have no choice.
210NM from Yakutat bay to Hinchinbrook entrance. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. If you call for help on the radio, nobody will hear you. Its an eery feeling.
Here's a post I made on another forum, in real time while crossing the gulf at night. It describes my feelings to a tee.
I have to admit, its been a long time since I operated a boat at night.
Imagine this...You're in a sea that is safe but moves the boat around quite a bit.
OK you can imagine that. Now take away all of your visual references. You cannot see. You do not know when a wave is going to hit. But you learn. You get a feel for the rhythm. You begin to anticipate the next set.
This is a time when you live by your radar and your chart plotter, because this is really all you have between you and danger. Unimaginable danger. The primal fear danger of not surviving. Right now this is my world. This is night shift on the MV Lisas Way.
Right now at this particular moment I am very happy that my Furuno Manual looks old and tattered. Why...Because I've read it. Not once, but many times, over a period of years.
I know that equipment. I know that when the radar shows something it really exists. I know that when it shows nothing thats because nothing is out there. Because when your equipment is all that separates you from the darkest of times, having confidence in that equipment is all that keeps you sane.
Right now I'm in the middle of my 4 hour watch. Jamison is asleep in his bunk, and I am at the helm. I can see the tip of Kyak Island that we just passed. I can see a couple of shower cells on the radar. Other than that all is quiet on the MV lisas Way.