Lots of Crazy Fun at the MTOA Low Country Boil

As you can see there were a lot of fun and creative hat constructions during the Crazy Hat Beach Party and MTOA Low Country Boil event on Wednesday night during the MTOA 2012 Southern Rendezvous. MTOA members pulled out all the stops and showed up in some very colorful and creative hats. We’ll let the photos speak for themselves – the MTOA Low Country Boil sure was a lot of fun.

We think Robert, here with his wife Kaye, on C-Life,  should have won first prize for his hat creation – we know he had a lot of fun making it.

Frank Erwin (above), recent, past President of MTOA, is ready with his hat, a big smile, and a good display of turtle pins and attire.

George Kay, here with his wife Mary (above-left), is the Awards Director for MTOA – this basically means he hands out the turtle pins to members when they volunteer for jobs and events or bring in new members to the club.

Barry and Barbara Kipnis (above), co-chairs of the rendezvous, worked hard to make the MTOA 2012 Summer Rendezvous run smoothly.

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Pirates Galore at the MTOA 2012 Southern Rendezvous

Since pirates played a major role in the settlement of Amelia Island the local gang helped kick off the start of the MTOA 2012 Southern Rendezvous, in Fernandina Beach, at the first-morning meeting.

MTOA is only one of a couple of the boat clubs we belong to. The club is non-profit and member-operated – the yearly events are lots of fun. Every time you volunteer to contribute to the club or an event, you gain a turtle pin. It’s not hard to see who the hard workers are as the turtle pins are proudly displayed during the rendezvous.

The goals of MTOA and its members include the following:

        Maintenance and repair problem-solving.
        Training and education for our captains and first mates.
        Ownership and resale of our member’s vessels.
        Activities and social events for our members and guests.
        Information exchange and dialogue amongst our membership.

For more info visit:  http://www.mtoa.net

We were busy on our boat the day of the boat crawl. Lots of people are curious about trailerable trawlers, especially the “cute” Ranger Tug.

Lots of activities, seminars, dinners, and other social events kept us all busy during the 4-day event. We were happy to be able to spend more time with good friends Louis and Diane, on Bella Luna (above).

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MTOA’s Southern Boaters Put Together a Shrimp Boil

Friends Ellen and her husband, Roy, on Our Turn, came up with the idea to have a simple, but festive, shrimp boil on the dock tonight and procured shrimp from these fishermen (above and below). This was only the first 150 lbs she bought, it was such a popular topic on the docks, people wanted to buy more the next day, so Ellen ended up purchasing the rest of the catch these guys had to sell, another 150 lbs.

This all transpired the day before the rendezvous started, people were still arriving and getting settled in. We were all pleasantly surprised that Ellen and Roy put this thing together so that we would have a fun, carefree evening partying on the docks.

Here we are on the dock with our stash to clean (above – shrimp with heads on). We took some of it to the shrimp boil that night and the rest we froze so that we could savor a little bit of Florida in the weeks to come.

We found out that a shrimp boil is a simple affair. Not many side dishes, just cocktail sauce, a little fruit and potato salad – the shrimp is the main attraction and we just couldn’t get enough of it. There were lots of cooks and one BIG pot (can you believe people travel with this stuff on their boats?) and of course a lot of talk about how this should be done – everyone does it a little differently. There were cans of Old Bay spice laying around – a must-have ingredient when cooking shrimp, we’ve learned since cruising the east coast over the last seven years.

It got pretty quiet on the dock as boaters settled in with a delicious plate of shrimp. I guess you could say that the MTOA 2012 Southern Rendezvous really started tonight, on the dock, when we all got a chance to meet other members of this boating club while enjoying a southern tradition.

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We were happy to meet up again at Fernandina Beach Marina with the crew on Mosey (above), we last saw them in Marathon in February. Also in attendance at the rendezvous was the crew of Active Captain (below).

We had left the marina for a little cruise and to get a pump out. The paper mill (see the smoke behind the boats) was an interesting sight.

Fernandina Beach Marina for the MTOA 2012 Southern Rendezvous.

On the way out of the marina for our pump out, we got some good photos of Roy, Ellen, and Lucy, on Our Turn (above).

One of the best things about attending this rendezvous was being able to meet up with our good friends, Diane and Louis, on Bella Luna. Here we are enjoying a late night, after dinner, treat downtown.

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Our last stop in Florida this year is Fernandina Beach to attend the MTOA 2012 Southern Rendezvous. We’ve never had the pleasure of visiting Amelia Island when going up or down this coast, but we’ve only heard good things about this friendly little resort town. We were surprised that, since we got there late in the day, we were able to park and stay on the boat in the marina parking lot overnight without being hassled. We think Fernandina is making a few exceptions during the rendezvous because it is a big event for this town and they’d like MTOA to come back for future events. We met a group of hospitable town folk while hanging out on the boat, we were even invited to visit their homes, within walking distance from the marina.

The next morning, we trailered the boat over to the boat ramp, just up the ICW from Fernandina, and were very impressed – a boat ramp on steroids, in our opinion – a first-class facility.

We’re ready to roll (above), it’s just a few miles over to the marina from here.

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Another fun party in Marathon. Ken Chumley, on Mosey, organized the 2012 MTOA Gathering on the docks of Sombrero Dockside Marina (the same spot as our Tuesday night potluck a few days ago). It was a good time with lots of food and conversation.

Lorenzo (Little David), Lisa, Ellen, and Roy (Our Turn) (below) are trying to hide from the sun under that sad little palm tree at 1 Palm Tree Ct. It was a hot one but we don’t look to be suffering too much.

We also got to meet Pete Donnelly (above – member 0001 – First member of MTOA). Pete shared some of the founding ideas and early events of MTOA! He was pretty excited to be at the event and we enjoyed his recollections about the club’s beginnings.

MTOA members are big turtle fans. This is a volunteer-run organization and the more you contribute the more “turtle” pins you earn. The member (below-left) found an unusual way to display his collection of pins.

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