The sun rises over the St. Johns River at Crystal Cove dock in Palatka, where two houseboats, the Ladies Mary and Jane, await boarding by Karst Productions' documentary film crew for an upriver expedition on the St. Johns.

The pilots of the Flying Inflatable Boats (FIBs), Ron Thorstad (left) and Bob Tilman (center), help Karst cameraman Dave Strayer load boxes of tape and other film making gear onto the houseboats.

Simon Manses, key grip for Karst's production of the documentary River Returns, rolls a cartful of film gear down the dock to load onto the houseboats.

Cave-diving biologist Tom Morris, one of several scientists on the river expedition, helps load a kayak onto the upper deck of the houseboat. He and others on the expedition will soon erect a tent and hammock city for living quarters on the upper deck, tiki torches and all.

Karst cameraman David Strayer documents the team's packing progress as scientist Jim Maher, of the Department of Environmental Protection, pulls a kayak onto the upper deck of the houseboat.

"There goes the casting couch," someone shouts. To make space for Karst Production's filming gear, all extraneous pieces of furniture aboard the houseboats are jettisoned.

Fusionspark Media producer Kevin Sparkman and web documentary writer Maryalice Yakutchik chat with scientist Jim Maher, who's happily on leave from the Florida DEP for the duration of the river expedition.

Executive Producer Wes Skiles leads the first production meeting before the houseboat even gets underway. He asks the crew to kindly refer to him as "Humungous Ruler of the Underworld," and instructs them to be aware of "gathering moments" as they "live the adventure" during this 10-day river expedition.

Producer Jill Heinerth and biologist Tom Morris welcome aboard scientist David Giardin of the St. Johns River Water Management District. David, who plays and works on this waterway and knows it better than anyone on the expedition, is captaining one of the two houseboats.

The Miss Mary and the Miss Jane motor away from the Palatka dock, heading south -- upriver -- toward the headwaters of the north-flowing St Johns.

No river expedition worth its salt would be complete without at least one Flying Inflatable Boat in its flotilla; the River Returns lays claim to two.

With a vice grip on his expensive Hi-Definition video camera, Wes Skiles settles unnervingly close to the propeller in the back seat of Ron Thorstad's Flying Inflatable Boat, dubbed a "flying bathtub" by houseboat captain Jeff Kerr.

If at first you don't succeed . . . it takes several futile attempts and a change of FIBs, but Wes and his camera are finally aloft with pilot Bob Tilman, enjoying an eagle's-eye view of the St. Johns River

Two houseboats motor slowly upriver as a pair of FIBs circle overhead, affording film producer Wes Skiles and web documentary producer Russell Sparkman stunning views of the St. Johns River.

Although the tangled shoreline of the St. Johns often gives the illusion of a primitive wilderness to those motoring along in the houseboats, the view from the FIBs shows encroaching development and farmland in close proximity to the river.