Thus 3/2/2006 9:49 AM: The time has arrived.  I leave Sunday for Florida to pick up my boat in Venice.  I will spend a couple of days there with Becky joining me to get me organized.  After that I am going to go north up to the Crystal River area (North of Tampa).  This is the winter home of the manatees.  Here I will swim with the gentle creatures (I hope gentle).  Other areas will include Anclote Key, Withlacoochee River and Tarpon Springs.  Tarpon Springs is the home of the Greek sponge divers. 

At the beginning of April I will pick up John Caldwell in Clearwater and he will cruise with me south for a week.  John is a serious fisherman and he is bringing his gear.  I am a serious watcher and learner.   Daughter Jondi is going to join me in mid April at Ft. Myers for a two week period with us ending up in Key West.  I kick Jondi off the boat here and my wife, best friend and benefactor will join me for a week going up to Miami.

In this time, I expect to see a lot of stuff like mangroves, alligators and crocks, birds and creatures, and stuff I can't imagine.  I am very lucky and very excited.

Thanks to the creativity of the DeGroot's,  I will have a web page that will have streaming videos and photos.  It is really going to me cool.  It should be up and running in a couple of weeks.  It will make it very easy to keep tabs on me.  I will not have a live web cam however.  This is not a reality show and I hope not survivor.

As I always say, "If my boat sinks on the Intracoastal Waterway, I will just walk ashore".  Hope its not a marsh or mangrove however.

My boat's name is Wonderlust.   It is a combination of my lusting for a great adventure and the wonders I expect to see.

My Email is: jpoeman@sbcglobal.net.  I expect to only be on line about once a week.

Daughter Jondi with family, daughter Melissa, Paul & Mary (without Peter), Brother Tom are all scheduled to spend some time onboard.  Other crew is always welcome. So if you are interested, let me know.

Wonderlust John