On Saturday, April 6, we drove back to Fernandina Harbor Marina where it was nice and sunny but not hot!  Our friends, Jim and Laurie on S/V Kismet, arrived and came over for drinks.  Jane and George on M/V Time Out joined the four of us for dinner at Pepper's Mexican Grill.  On Thursday, April 11, we had lunch with our friends, Chris and Susan of M/V Forever Friday, at Kelley's Courtyard.  Our social circle kept growing as more boats headed north or arrived for the MTOA Rendezvous.

By Sunday, April 14, the marina was full....68 trawlers had arrived for the MTOA (Marine Trawlers Owners Association) Southern Rendezvous.  On prior stays here, we were docked on the outside or inside of the fuel dock as the water was too shallow inside the marina; however, we were on dock 8 in a slip this time.  Prior to the Rendezvous, the marina was dredged, and they removed 10,000 cubic yards of black gooey stuff that they trucked to the airport. 

Monday, April 15 was the official start of the Rendezvous with registration, talking with friends we hadn't seen for some time, and shopping at the ship's store for Turtle (MTOA logo) stuff.  That night we had a Pirate Pub Crawl through town with stops at three bars -- Dog Star Tavern, O'Kane's Irish Pub, and Green Turtle.  Fortunately, we had some snacks along the way and were able to find our way back to the marina.

On Tuesday, April 16, we gathered in an enormous tent and heard speakers from the town government, Fort Clinch, and Cumberland Island.  We had a Members Social in the tent where we all brought appetizers and they supplied beer and wine.  Needless to say, the tables were covered with enough food to feed an army.

 Seminars related to cruising were held on Wednesday, April 17.  We had lunch with the Palmetto Cruisers group on M/V Serenity.  We think there were about 20 of us from South Carolina.

That night was the Pirates Pizza Party in the big tent.  Here is Su with Tom Blair who was our mentee or maybe it should be said we were his mentors.  Tom lives in Boca Raton and is trying to figure out what kind of boat they want; we may have confused or helped him.  We hope to see him on the Waterway in some vessel in the future.

On Thursday, April 18, we had more seminars followed by the BBQ and Awards Dinner in the big tent as shown here.  Both Jim and Su received turtle pins for serving on committees -- Jim was on docking and Su was on decorating.

Boats started leaving the next day although dock 8 remained almost full as there were 21 boats staying for the shrimp festival in early May.  We spent the week socializing, and Su went back to Kelley's Courtyard for lunch with JoJo who drove down from Brunswick.

The kickoff parade for the 50th Annual Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival occurred on Saturday morning, April 27.  Here are the pirates of MTOA marching with the treasure chest which contained coins, necklaces, and a golden shrimp which was this year's theme.  Some of the floats were quite creative so we'll show one or two more.

We thought this was an interesting way to advertise for more runners for the 5K running rally which is in September.

We thought this huge golden shrimp was quite unique.

On Sunday, April 28, we had brunch with our friends, Jim and Paula of M/V Sea Eagle, who had stopped at the marina for a couple of nights.  We met them at Fort Pierce City Marina this past winter.

Now that April is over, we hope the winds from March stop and spring can arrive!