The Keys · Tavernier
Upper Keys ASA school running liveaboard course-vacations from Tavernier, with certifications earned on multi-day cruises through the Keys and out to the Bahamas. The owner-instructor is a six-time ASA Outstanding Instructor of the Year.
Captain Jennifer MacLean owns the school and teaches it: a USCG 100-ton Near Coastal Master with a sailing endorsement, instructing since 1999, with six ASA Outstanding Instructor of the Year awards between 2009 and 2023 and ten years captaining for the Boy Scouts of America before that. She teaches in English, French, and Spanish.
The format folds the certification into a cruise. Basic Keelboat (101) runs two days on a 19-foot O’Day; from there the cruising courses go liveaboard on a pair of Morgan Out Island 41s or a Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40 catamaran, and courses combine into week-long liveaboard vacations that mix the curriculum with snorkeling, fishing, and kayaking through the Keys, with Bahamas runs and Gulf Stream crossings on the far end. Advanced Coastal Cruising (106) is five days; Cruising Catamaran (114) scales from three days to nine.
Classes cap at four students, three for the advanced course, and the specialty formats are the tell for who this school suits: a couples course sized for two, and a women-only week. Veterans get ten percent off through ASA’s Veterans Sailing Education Program.
The Keys · Key Largo
ASA school on Buttonwood Sound, teaching from the Key Lime Sailing Club cottages at mile marker 99. Courses run on demand 363 days a year; stay in a cottage, learn on Florida Bay, and keep sailing the club's Catalina 22s free after you certify.
The Keys · Marathon
Middle-Keys ASA school running the full coastal-cruising pathway from Basic Keelboat through Advanced Coastal Cruising out of Marathon.
The Keys · Key West
Catamaran charter operation at Stock Island Marina Village with an ASA school built in, teaching Basic Keelboat through catamaran cruising on multi-day training cruises. Courses run as customized liveaboards toward the Dry Tortugas, the Marquesas, or the Bahamas.