OUPV (Six-Pack) and Master credential paths for charter boats, tour boats, and passenger-for-hire operators in Arizona.
It isn't a state license — it's the same federal USCG Merchant Mariner Credential with an OUPV or Master endorsement, used nationwide.
Arizona is landlocked; OUPV Inland is the typical credential for guide services on Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and Lake Havasu. The nearest REC is Long Beach, CA.
The nearest USCG Regional Examination Center is Long Beach, CA. Compare centers and appointment rules in the USCG REC locations guide.
Major Arizona charter hubs
Three of Arizona's four charter waters are not really Arizona's. Lake Powell is shared with Utah, Lake Mead and Lake Havasu with Nevada and California, and all three are Colorado River impoundments — one continuous body of water with a state line drawn across it and one federal credential governing both halves. Only Roosevelt Lake, on the Salt, is wholly in-state. None of it is in the Mississippi system, so the Western Rivers provisions at 33 CFR 83.09(a)(ii), 83.14(d), 83.15(b) and 83.24(j) never apply here, and Part 80 draws no line anywhere in Arizona: it is plain Inland Rules water under 83.03(q), start to finish. The practical consequence is in the paperwork rather than the rulebook — a Lake Mead day logged as "Arizona" and the identical day logged as "Nevada" are the same sea service, and REC Long Beach reads the vessel and the water, not the shoreline the boat left from.
33 CFR Part 80 draws no demarcation line in Arizona. Its 106 sections cover the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the Pacific islands and Alaska; a state with no coast has no section, which is itself the answer.
This decides which rulebook you steer by, not where your credential may operate: the route limit is the 46 CFR Part 7 Boundary Line, and the two lines are not drawn in the same place. How the two lines differ · International Rules · Inland Rules
33 CFR Part 80 and the Part 83 definitions above read from eCFR on 12 Aug 2026. Any specific water is a determination for the cognizant Coast Guard Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection.
Not sure the trip needs a credential at all? The captain's-license trigger guide.
Inspected small-passenger-vessel authority — that is a Master.
Master requirementsDocument your sea service
Pass the medical & drug test
CG-719K and CG-719P — medical certificate guide.
Get a TWIC + CPR / First Aid
Submit your application to the NMC
Pass the exam at REC Long Beach, CA
Or an approved course provider — what it covers and the score you need.
There is no Arizona captain's license to get — you earn a federal USCG credential, in the five steps set out above, and sit the exam at REC Long Beach, CA.
The same — a federal Merchant Mariner Credential endorsement, valid in every state. Arizona licenses the business, the guide and local fishing separately.
The minimum age is federal, not set by Arizona: 18 for OUPV, 19 for most Master endorsements, 21 for higher-tonnage and ocean routes (46 CFR 11.201(e)).
At REC Long Beach, CA once the NMC approves the application, or through an approved course provider that administers the exam itself.
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