FERRISBURGH — Whenever the weather gets too warm, you can count on Vermonters to hit the lake.

Some seek the thrill and speed of motor boats, bringing their water tubes and water skies with them. Others prefer an exercise-oriented approach, choosing kayaks and canoes over motor powered vessels. If you were to drive past the River’s Edge Cottages and RV Park last week, Vermont residents would have seen a third option: steamboats.

For more than 25 years, the North American Steamboat Association (NASBA) has been gathering in Otter Creek for their annual steamboat meet-up in Vergennes, with River’s Edge in Ferrisburgh as their elected homebase. Calling steam boaters from all across the Northeast Region, Otter Creek offers a great location for those drawn to the relaxation and antique aspect that steam boating holds.

“The great thing about Vergennes and being on Otter Creek is … if the lake is too choppy and it’s too windy, you can go back and forth to the falls,” said Gina Fauzio of Jim Thorpe, Pa. “You can go up to the lake and turn around and come back. The creek is just a nice, slow, calm ride.”

Fauzio and her husband, John, have been steam boating for over 17 years and have been coming to the Vergennes meet-up for about 14 years.

“I didn’t even know what a steamboat was when I first met my husband,” Fauzio said. “I lived on Lake Wallenpaupack and had a boat … he was always volunteering and likes to work on steam trains … so he said, ‘I like steam, you like boats, let’s get a steamboat.’”

Having purchased their boat Qualcheu (“it smokes” in the Lenape language) from a man in Munda, N.Y., in 2007, Fauzio describes it as a “true antique.” Qualcheu is a 1987 refurbished lifeboat complete with a Navy G engine that was converted to a steam launcher. While a few boaters have stuck with using coal to power their boats, Fauzio mentioned that the Qualcheu burns wood to heat the water in the boiler. This hot water produces steam that applies pressure to the pistons and pumps them up and down in order to move the propeller. All this work gives the boat a cruising speed of around seven miles per hour, with some boats going even slower.

But for most, speed is not the reason behind their love for steam boating.

For Eric Annis of Brattleboro the steam boating season is a time to enjoy some peaceful, undisturbed relaxation on the water, even when surrounded by his family, including his daughter Sarah, who accompanied her father on his trip to Otter Creek.

“Nobody can get to you on a boat,” Annis remarked, adding, “This is sacred.”

Annis has been coming to the Vergennes meet-up for 19 years and continues to enjoy exploring the muddy waterways with people who share a common interest with him. Among these people are his friends and fellow boaters, Chuck Baima and Gina and John Fauzio. Every day the group heads out at 10:30 a.m. with the rest of the flotilla that makes way for the deeper waters of Lake Champlain. At noon, all the boats raft up and float together, forming a makeshift island, for lunch. At around 4 p.m., all the boaters return for “happy hour” and the chance to build friendships on dry land.

“The people that we meet here … are some of the nicest people … and the way the boat runs, it doesn’t go very fast,” Fauzio said. “It just makes it a nice vacation.”

Annis, Baima and Fauzio look forward every year to the weeks they get to spend on their steamboats. This excitement leads them to travel to places like Vergennes, but also to Clayton and Waterford, N.Y., and to Lake Winnipesaukee and Lees Mills, N.H., for bigger steamboat gatherings.

Despite the reputation that steamboats have acquired for being “slow-paced” or “not exciting,” Annis argues that there is “always something to do on a steamboat because you can’t sit.”