In four years of service in the USCG. Two and a half on the USCGC Dallas, a few months with the Haitian Navy in Port Au Prince, Final year at Training Center Cap May. Our missions took us above the Arctic Circle, down to South America, the Carribean and over to Europe. Even made it to that little two day soiree in Granada.
In that time, I count countries visited as, Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Spain, France, England, Gibralter, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Bahamas, Venezuela, and Granada. In The US, Cape May NJ, Yorktown, VA, New York, NY, Curtis Bay MD, and Mayport FL. All done between Jan 81 - Feb 85.
So yeh, not all the shallow water sailors they are made out to be.