Last Xmas I posted the first "Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Manatees [2005]" (I think you can still access at the link below:)

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11272&hl=

Now it is holiday season 2006 and I have a new crop of very recent manatee photos, thus another post.  I haven't gotten through even a fraction of them yet - in a few weeks I'll have them all posted on my site, but till then this will do....

One huge difference many will pick up on right away is these are all taken with my new d200/subal/16mm, my first DSLR.  I'm proud to have the privilege to "practice" on such incredibly wonderful creatures!  In fact you will find one in particular captures my heart for each holiday season.  Last year it was 'Manny the Manatee' and this year it is 'Whiskers the Manatee'....... :-)

With all the huge hurdles these creatures have to face, speeding boats, canal and power plant gates, hypothermia, downgrades in protection measures, loss of habitat [including the lovely Crystal River being choked by invasive algae]; still these creatures find a way to survive in the best way possible and they don't hold it against us!  Every time I have the privilege to see the manatee I'm inspired with new fervor to help protect them and assure their survival for generations to come.  They truly are special, caring and sensitive creatures with their own individual "personalities" and I encourage all to become more familiar with them and their "plight".  Best, Carol

Meet "Whiskers the Manatee", his name will become obvious with these pics.  Manatee look different individual to individual, Whiskers is a young manatee with a very cool "mustache"!

Whiskers really likes this tree, in fact many of the manatee do as it is THE scratching tree!!  B) Whiskers hung around this tree a majority of the time by himself because his "mother" and others were involved in a "mating herd" a couple of springs over and since Whiskers didn't want to get hit with a tail, etc., he amused himself around this sunken tree.

At first I thought he really "liked" me cause he followed me around even when I left the tree, but I soon realized that he really liked his reflection in my dome port!!  Regardless of the motivation he loved the company and followed me around like a puppy dog.

Yes, I believe he felt he was "King of the Tree", that is until the bigger manatee, two springs over wanted to come and scratch!

Whiskers really seemed to enjoy having his picture taken!!  :-) You will also note and it is one of the things I love about diving in the Florida springs, the water color changes constantly!!  Location, time of day, angle of the sun, etc etc.  My fav time to photo manatee is on a clear, cool and sunny day, early am, preferably in early/mid December when the sun's angle produces the nicest "rainbow" effects I think and hopefully before too many storms have stirred things up a lot.

I had a "goal" at first to get really good detail of a manatee snout since their closest relative is the elephant I'm fascinated with their snouts and the ways in which manatee find to use them.  I was told the Nikon 16mm was a sharp lens and I have to concur, yea!  But I did have to try different things to get good close focus......  Of course this is Whiskers yet again, he was only too happy (and tired of being alone and bored) to help me test out the lens/dome... :-)

An "action" shot of Whiskers scratching himself, a major task and series of pleasure moments for every manatee, they LOVE to scratch!

Since this post is reaching maximum length I must pull myself away from "Whiskers" and show a pic I really like of Chris obliging a persistent manatee with a much welcomed scratch.  Chris is a captain from Bird's Underwater, Crystal River and she was lucky enough this day to have just myself and two videographers on the boat so she didn't need to video herself, she got a "day-off" just to be with her treasured manatees.  Also gals note she is wearing one of the "white-hot" 5mm Waterproof wetsuits from Sweden, those suits fit awesome!

Well, I'll forgo another of my fav manatee pics to post a "mistake".  Still it is interesting and poignant.  I had trouble focusing on the manatee, especially close focus.  Then Ryan Canon suggested I focus on my hand in front of the dome, lock focus and switch to manual, worked like a charm!!!  Lens was having trouble focusing close, then with all the light rays dancing around, my own inevitable movement as I'm on snorkel, etc., it had trouble locking and wasn't as sharp as I'd like and continuous focus didn't help much either.  Here I'm locking focus on my hand for close-focus-manatee and I accidently took a pic....., it is sad because you see what is not in focus right below me is a sleeping manatee with scars....  :( , unfortunately this is such the norm the scars hardly even get my attention till they are really alarming.  These prop scars are mild, but the vast majority of manatee have them (and worse).  This is an Xmas post and supposed to be uplifting but we can't ignore the fact that the manatee's own worst enemy is man......, and it is up to all of us to help their survival and maybe "Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward Manatees" won't just be a nice title for a post - but a true reality in the future!

PS - Of note, if you read the logos on my wetsuit cuff in this pic you will see it is a Bare SGS 7mm!  Yup, if you want to survive well taking pics of the manatee I heartily suggest something like that in your tool kit!  I recently switched from a 5mm that I had weighted perfect to the 7mm which took me a few times to dial, but now it is great.  See since you can't "dive down on top" of a manatee as that is considered pursuit, you must weight yourself precisely to just sink slowly with some air in your lungs - take pic - and have enough air left to slowly rise and blow the snorkel at the surface.  I don't believe in over-weighting yourself with the manatee and I'd never go without fins because you never know what the conditions will bring.  Non-photographers are asked to stay "non-weighted", but polite photographers are allowed to be weighted - as long as no manatee are disturbed and protocol (and the law) is obeyed.

I'll have the rest of the pics up on my website in a few weeks, I'll post when it is done.

Hope you enjoy your holiday season!  Carol

Additional shot left out originally:

“Spaceman-atee”