STCW Courses in Antibes: Schools, Prices and Refreshers
STCW courses in Antibes: the short answer
Two MCA-approved schools run STCW Basic Training in Antibes: Bluewater (€1,295, five days, online PSA included) and Seascope France (from €1,150). The two-day refresher for Personal Survival Techniques and Fire Fighting costs €690 at Bluewater and €590 at Seascope. Zephyr Yachting also teaches here, with Marshall Islands–endorsed certificates.
You can't work on a commercial superyacht without STCW Basic Training. Antibes has more yachts, crew houses and agencies within walking distance of each other than almost anywhere else, so a lot of new crew do their training week here and then go straight into dockwalking and daywork in the same town.
The five STCW basic modules
STCW Basic Training is also called Basic Safety Training (BST), and people still say "STCW 95". It's a bundle of short modules, each with its own code in the STCW Code:
| Module | STCW reference | What you actually do |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Survival Techniques (PST) | A-VI/1-1 | Pool session: lifejackets, righting a life raft, getting in and out of the water |
| Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting (FPFF) | A-VI/1-2 | Classroom, then live fires, extinguishers and breathing apparatus on a fire ground |
| Elementary First Aid (EFA) | A-VI/1-3 | CPR, casualty assessment, bleeding, burns |
| Personal Safety and Social Responsibilities (PSSR) | A-VI/1-4 | Shipboard safety, working relationships, pollution prevention |
| Proficiency in Security Awareness (PSA) | A-VI/6-1 | Ship security basics. Often done online |
The core four take about five days, and PSA is often done separately. The fire-fighting day is the one people talk about afterwards. You'll be hot, filthy and knackered by the end of it, and it isn't held in a classroom.
Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting is the longest module, and the live-fire part happens on a dedicated fire ground, not in a classroom. Photo: Petty Officer 2nd Class Phillip Pavlovich, U.S. Navy, public domain.
Who runs STCW courses in Antibes
Two Antibes schools appear on the MCA's own list of approved Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting providers: Bluewater and Seascope. A third, Zephyr Yachting, also teaches in Antibes, but its certificates come through a different flag state.
| Provider | Classroom / fire ground | Basic Training | Refresher (PST + FPFF) | Approval | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluewater | 7 Bd d'Aguillon, Antibes / Biot | €1,295, 5 days, free online PSA | €690, 2 days | MCA | Bluewater BST, refresher |
| Seascope France | 19 Av Thiers, Antibes / Contes fire station | From €1,150 | €590, 2 days | MCA | Seascope STCW |
| Zephyr Yachting | Antibes (also Barcelona) | Price not published, PSA included | Price not published | Marshall Islands | Zephyr STCW |
Prices were checked on each provider's site in October 2026. Confirm them before you book.
Port Vauban, with Fort Carré on the left: both MCA-approved Antibes STCW schools have their classrooms in town. Photo: Txllxt TxllxT, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Bluewater
Bluewater teaches from its centre on Boulevard d'Aguillon, right by the port. The MCA list puts its fire ground in Biot, just up the coast. You get the four core modules in five days, a free online MCA-approved PSA course (you have six months after the course to do it), and €50 off its online PDSD course. It also runs Palma, which helps if you're likely to end up there.
Seascope France
Seascope's classroom is on Avenue Thiers in central Antibes. The fire day isn't in town. The MCA lists Seascope's fire ground at the fire and rescue station in Contes, and Seascope's own course listing calls it a 40-minute drive from Antibes, so ask how you'll get there. The site sells each module separately, which is handy if you're missing just one: PSSR (€200), EFA (€250), PSA (€180). It also offers Advanced Fire Fighting (€1,400) and an AFF refresher (€200).
Zephyr Yachting
Zephyr runs a week-long package covering all five modules, with PSA included "at no additional cost". Its certificates are endorsed by the Marshall Islands, not the MCA. Marshall Islands STCW meets the IMO standard and is widely used in yachting. But if you think you'll later go for UK yacht tickets or certificates of competency, MCA paperwork from an MCA-approved school is the simpler route. If you're unsure whether a course is MCA-approved, the MCA list says to email [email protected] to check.
The STCW refresher in Antibes: what expires and what doesn't
Your STCW doesn't all expire at once. MCA guidance on the Manila amendments says that if you hold PST or FPFF, you need evidence that you completed or updated that training within the last five years.
- PST and FPFF: these get the 2-day refresher (Bluewater €690, Seascope €590). You need your original certificates, and Bluewater also asks for a valid seafarer medical.
- PSSR, Elementary First Aid and PSA: the MCA's updating list doesn't name them, which is why the Antibes refresher covers only survival and fire fighting. Some employers and management companies still want a recent first aid certificate, especially if you have medical duties on board, so check before you assume yours is fine.
Put your five-year date in your phone the day you pass. Crew who forget find out when an agency or a captain checks their certificates. With refresher dates booked up months ahead, that can cost you a job.
When to book (sooner than you think)
In Antibes, the refresher is the bottleneck. In October 2026, every Bluewater refresher date in Antibes from 15 October to 14 December was fully booked, and the next open place was 16 December. Basic Training was easier to get: only the 26 October course was full (with a waiting list), with places in November and then roughly every two weeks from January to early June 2027.
Our reading of the pattern:
- Autumn: the refresher queue is probably working crew coming off the Med season and updating before winter.
- Spring: green crew arrive for the Med season and want certificates before the boats start hiring, so expect Basic Training dates to get tighter then.
If you're aiming for spring, book your course before you book your flight. Then arrive with your certificates done, or at least a confirmed date.
Antibes fills with crew looking for work in spring. Book your course before you join them. Photo: Abxbay, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Should you do it at home or in Antibes?
It comes down to cost against timing.
Do it at home if there's an MCA-approved centre near you and you can live rent-free while you train. You'll arrive in Antibes ready to work from day one, without paying for a crew-house bunk during a week when you can't dockwalk or do daywork.
Do it in Antibes if you're already there, or you want to meet people. Your classmates are your first network, and plenty of crew get their first daywork through someone they met on the course. You also finish the course already standing in the job market.
Either way, the course week costs more than the course fee. Budget for about a week of accommodation and food too.
What else green crew add
STCW is the minimum. Most new crew also turn up with:
- ENG1 medical: the seafarer medical. Do it before you pay for STCW. Bluewater strongly advises having it before Basic Training, and if something stops you passing it, the course is wasted money. It has to be done by an MCA-approved doctor.
- PDSD (Proficiency in Designated Security Duties): often asked for on yachts. Bluewater sells it online, and Seascope lists a superyacht version.
- Food Hygiene / Food Safety Level 2: standard for stews and anyone who'll touch the galley. Usually done online.
- Powerboat Level 2: worth having for deck crew who'll drive the tender.
Once your STCW and ENG1 are done, put them where captains can see them. On Radius, we verify STCW certificates on crew profiles before you show up on the captain map. A captain looking for daywork in Antibes can see you're qualified, with your yacht crew CV attached, before they message you.
Your next step
Check the dates for STCW courses in Antibes on Bluewater's and Seascope's pages, the refresher especially. Book the earliest course that fits and sort your ENG1 first. Then turn up in Antibes with your paperwork done.