Oceangrant Images

Winter And Manny arrive in Canada!

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:33:10 -0700

Two of my traveling companions are soaking in the wonders of sailing to Vancouver Island, BC - this is what the iPhone camera is for - to capture these moments quickly! :-)

I finally got a decent internet connection but I’m also organizing everything to go offshore Port Hardy for two weeks. Excuse this for being short.

Back to my passengers above, they are indeed “stuffed” but have remarkable resemblances to their corporeal counterparts! Winter the dolphin is totally into the adventure (as her whole life has been one big adventure). And Manny the Manatee can only say over and over, “Wow, Wow, I never thought I’d get to see Canada - wait till I tell the other manatees....!! Wow, Canada!...... Wow!”

Got to run, update during next decent internet connection it may be awhile).

Best and Bon Voyage, Carol

PS here my car is in line at the Ferry Terminal - behind the Orca of course! :-) Again it is an undoctored iPhone pic - not too bad for a phone!!

Angel The newborn manatee link

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 11:02:32 -0700

For all those of you pining away for more images of Angel the newborn manatee I’ve finally completed a short slideshow that tells the story of his first morning of life! As you may know being able to photograph an infant manatee, just a few hours old, in the wild is a quite remarkable accomplishment (in fact “quite remarkable” are just the words the foremost manatee field researcher Bob Bonde used when I sent him photos of this event I witnessed on 29 Feb 08, Leap Day!)

Please note -- frankly if you know any underwater photographers they usually only display their “best” images. I try to do the same but sometimes to tell a story like Angel’s here I have decided to use almost 60 images taken over a period just over an hour as this event was of limited duration (and that is good for the little one because I don’t know if he could have endured too much more “action” during his first few hours of life!)

So the photos in this slideshow are presented in sequence over a period lasting just over an hour and where I was the only one around for over 45 minutes that very cold and early am at Crystal River. Again top right arrow for higher quality playback.

I hope you find it interesting as it is an extremely rare thing to record in photographs. Best, Carol

If you have missed some of the data on “Angel” here are a couple of links to visit:
Rare Photographs Of Newborn Manatee by Carol

Here is also a post on the underwater photography forum WetPixel and you can follow a discussion about him:
Angel the Newborn Manatee on WP

winter wonder link

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 10:26:34 -0700

I’ve wanted to tell the story of Winter the Dolphin in a short, concise manner. Of course the two and one half years that have transpired since her tragic entanglement injury have been incredible and its hard to sum up in 6 minutes or so - but here is my best shot. :-) You can watch it in a small version here or click on the top right arrow to be directed to my Oceangrant Gallery and high quality playback. Hope you enjoy Winter’s story! Carol

iPhone 3G Goodies

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 18:45:45 -0700

Even my new iPhone shows my devout kinship to our underwater friends! A photo of mine of Winter the dolphin adorns my iPhone via a Unique Skin iPhone 3G custom cover. The skins are really reasonable and surely set your iPhone apart from the crowd!

Scattered around in the photo are how I carry my beloved new iPhone (I really like it!!!!!). A simple iPod sock is great for just putting it in a purse but the Built NY neoprene pouch and the Golla pouch with soft lining, belt loop, clip and lanyard is the bee’s knees! :-) And the Plantronics 925 bluetooth is the only one I can wear - it works quite well and it is really, really comfortable!

Here is the front of the “Unique Skin”. I wasn’t sure I’d like the front of the phone covered with this design but I found I like it a lot. Only thing is it was hard to lay the thin strips straight --- but the great thing is the edges of the Unique Skin make great guides for scrolling.

And here are 4 screen of applications I have. Of course a few come with the iPhone and some I have yet to decide on (like which of the 4 or so note/organizing programs I’ll end up with and if I’ll ever make time to follow the Evernote/YouNote/Jott connection.....?).

** Note I do have a wish list for future apps! My two most wanted are an iPhone screen color calibration program to remove the “warmer/yellowish” cast that Apple engineers thought so necessary on the new iPhone 3G (it makes underwater stuff look awful). And I want a version of iWeb for the iPhone so I can update this blog from my phone - currently I can’t. **

But here are my Top 10 FAV apps that I’m excited about:

#1) G-spot
Well that really had to be first on the list now didn’t it? Now of course you can upload a photo to various places and you may or may not be able to keep the sometimes-recorded GPS data in tact for someone to follow on Google Maps. But how about someone (like my husband Theo) who doesn’t want to search around photo metadata for a quick location or follow a Twitter Feed etc? G-spot instantly and accurately spots your position and provides an email link option right away and there you have it, link emailed and clicked & Google Maps launched on family/friend’s happy computer screens. All wishing they were there.... :-0 :-)

#2/3) Ultralingua and American Heritage Dictionaries
Now I know you are thinking - why pay for dictionaries when there are such good ones available for free on the web? Well, if you are like me I hate going past any word that I don’t fully understand! The first English dictionary available for the iPhone was the Ultralingua, and while kind of expensive even after the price drop it has a really neat interface and good definitions including good derivations. Then the American Heritage came out, more reasonably priced app, and a larger word pool, I like it but the interface is much harder to read. Plus these two dictionaries are on your iPhone and are way, way faster than the web versions - plus they are available to you even when the internet connection isn’t. Extremely useful!!!!

Phone Saber
I love it!!!!!! Gotta have it!!!!!!! Plus now it is improved!!!!!!

#5/6) Starmap & GoSkyWatch
I haven’t decided which of these I like best yet. Starmap is more sophisticated and intricate. GoSkyWatch can be more fun just to watch the heavens turn at your beckon call! These are my “games”. I don’t own the popular monkey ball game or whatever, I play in the heavens..... :-)

#7) Talking Pics
Disclaimer....., I haven’t played with this too much yet but I like the app and these developers are passionate about giving us more features! Can’t wait to delve into it further! Cool!

#8) Units
I’m traveling to Canada soon and I’m terrible with liters, metric, etc. The interface is so simple and it is so fast to convert I may never even really have to learn metric measurements at all! :-0 (You know they told me when I was in elementary school that the US would be changed over to the metric system in 10 years..... that was......XX years ago......, yea right...)

#9) Filemagnet
The only way at this moment (except one other wireless app currently in beta) to view PDF files (like Underwater Photography Magazine! on your iPhone at the present (unless you email huge files to yourself - but who does that?) Plus there are so many more uses for this great program with great customer support. Plus they also make the cool Mr Shuffle!!!!

#10) Tuner/Pandora etc etc!
I think it is between Tuner and Pandora for my fav radio apps. I love jazz and I’m in heaven with both. I’m still discovering AOL and Last.fm too, I like the ones that let you input your own stations.

There you have it my fav 10 add on apps from the iTunes App Store.

Here are screen shots of all mine. Hope you found this enlightening... :-) Best, Carol

Curiouser and Curiouser My New avatar

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:31:21 -0700

I know I’m a bit late to the party but yesterday I joined TWITTER
and even figured out how to include my recent “Twitter Feeds” on my .Mac page (and this is despite major problems with the .Mac interface as it changes over to MobileMe).

The first avatar photo I uploaded to Twitter, of a manatee, went without a hitch and there was no response - it is another close-up of a manatee -- mostly snout -- but I like it too. Still I decided since I’m doing so much other computer stuff - to locate and use this photo as my avatar at Twitter. When I uploaded it there I immediately got a response back about how neat a photo it was! Since then I changed my profiles on the underwater photography forums of WetPixel & Digital Diver.net to use this photo for my “avatar”.

I call it Curiouser & Curiouser and since Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are two of my fav books in the whole wide world -- well, I think it really fits and little “Alice” might even have agreed! :-)

I must add though that my husband doesn’t refer to this manatee shot as “Curiouser & Curiouser” but calls it “The Floating Head”............... :-0 I wonder if he has been spending a little too much time at “mad-hatter” tea parties lately? :-)

Much more to come, Later, Carol

Subal ND30 Underwater Housing just arrived!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:52:31 -0700

Wow, a new iPhone 3G and now a new Nikon d300 and Subal ND30 housing all within a few days! I’m exhausted -- trying to figure all this out but I did get a chance to snap a few photos of my new Subal underwater housing for the Nikon d300 digital SLR.

Frankly, yes it is neat to get “new stuff”, but I’d really rather be diving! Still all this organizing time is good and will pay off for the rest of this year.

My former, well-taken-care-of and beloved Subal ND20 for the Nikon d200 is now being listed as used at ReefPhoto and Video - contact Ryan Canon if you are interested. Also I must say that Ryan serviced me very well as I always feel that ReefPhoto and Video really try to go that “extra mile” for the customer.

Now for those of you who know me I don’t really upgrade to the “latest and greatest” often. I usually economize and like to take care of my equipment and get the full mileage out of whatever I own. I loved my Nikon d200 and Subal ND20 housing, but I really believe that the particular enhancements that were introduced in the Nikon d300 will make quite a difference in my manatee photography. That is what I got it for. If I just dove and shot mostly macro or wide angle in clear water and good light I wouldn’t have made the upgrade investment. But as anyone who has done manatees knows the visibility is highly variable at best and the challenges of photographing before the sun has risen are significant. Plus I’ve heard the color rendition of the Nikon d300 is like the Nikon D2X (which I loved when I saw others using it). Also the Subal ND30 housing for the Nikon d300 has access some things that I’m anxious to use more this year. With the Subal ND20 housing for the Nikon d200, Subal neglected to add a lever for access to flash compensation and ability to change from front-curtain sync to rear curtain underwater. The Subal ND30 for the Nikon d300 fixes that oversight as you can see below. Of course others have written a lot better reviews on the Subal ND30 than I particularly this review By Martin Edge on Wetpixel

But just wanted to state I’m now on the bandwagon too. Yes I’ll get some handles attached to this housing when I can access some top screws and remove a metal piece so I can place the handles closer to the housing. My last Subal didn’t have what I think are metric allen screws up top - but this one does as I almost stripped them with the allen wrenches I have. Unfortunately Subal didn’t include an allen key so I’ll go to Home Depot tomorrow and see if they have metric (The US is just so behind you know!! :-0...)!!!

Anyway here are photos (shot while sleep deprived, but happy :-)....)

Subal ND30 - On/Off Has Been Changed and Slanted Forward
Don’t Know If That Will Be Good For My Small Hands Or Not

Notice Lever Now To Access Flash Modes And Modified Lens Release

Back of Subal ND30 for Nikon d300 Includes The Subal GS Magnifying Viewfinder (Awesome!) From My Former D200 Housing
And The Larger LCD Plus Some D300 Changes
But One Change Of Dropping One Of The Auto Focus Modes By Nikon Is Not Good For Underwater Photography - But The Benefits Of The D300 I Believe Outweigh That One Detriment

Striated frogfish in florida

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 19:43:13 -0700

Florida does indeed have some of the “coolest underwater critters” that you are likely to find any place on the planet!

In fact this cool character is pretty unique as it is just one of two frogfish (aka anglerfish) species I know of that are the same species worldwide - Antennarius striatus - the striated or “hairy” frogfish. While this frogfish can vary greatly in appearance, it is usually this tan/brownish color here with striated pattern. This way it can blend in very well with its chosen “mucky” environment. But I’ve also seen black specimens of the striated frogfish, here in Florida and in Bali and it can be found in a variety of other colors also.

Blue Heron Bridge is the place where I’ve seen these fascinating fish over the past several years but until now I hadn’t been too happy with any of my photographs. As noted this frogfish loves to blend into areas of “muck”, algae, tan growth, etc. - it is the best place to hide and fish with its split, worm-like, fishing lure on a pole. But this past diving excursion at Blue Heron Bridge the water was so clear early one morning that I was able to frame this (female?) frogfish against the lovely, clear water that was entering during this particular tidal flow. You can see the movement of the water hasn’t quite gone slack yet in the photograph above. So I can now say I’ve got some striated frogfish photographs from Florida that I’m happy with.

I do believe this larger frogfish is a female as the belly is actually much bigger than we can see - a lot of it is expanded into the crevice. Whether she is with eggs yet, or not, it is most likely the smaller individual hanging around is a male that has sensed her “pheromones”.

Also it is cool to note in a couple of the photographs that you can see she just ate!

I do want to add, you know I think the striated frogfish moves around/changes fishing locations, more than most other frogfish species. So don’t fret if you go and look for them and don’t find any. I have friends who know Blue Heron Bridge areas well and cannot locate these frogfish and then the next day someone will find them somewhere else. This is good as I’m sure choice areas might get a little “fished out” and it is good to move around and keep the locals guessing I’d say! Plus some years just don’t seem to be plentiful “frogfish years”. What factors constitute “boom and bust” frogfish years and where they go when not around for extended periods of time - well I guess the striated frogfish has an aura of mystery! :-)

But pictures say 1,000 words so let the photos do the talking now - hope you enjoy these charismatic fish!

Striated Frogfish Really Do Have Amazing
Features - Including Their Eyes. I Wonder What
Stories They Could Tell?

They Usually Live In Areas With High Current Flow To
Ensure Lots To Eat. The Worm-like Thing Shown Is One-Half Of The “Split-lure” Fishing Bait.

See How “Fat” She Is? This Must Be A Good Fishing Spot. It Is Also Possible That She Is Producing Eggs.

This Is A Close-up Of Her Fishing Lure.
Looks Rather Tasty I Must Say.

This Is The Smaller Frogfish That Was Hanging Around The Female Above. I Assume It Is A Male.

This Is The Smaller Striated Frogfish’s Lure.

Here Are Both Striated Frogfish.
Seems She Has Chosen The Best Spot - Go Girl!

Note: This Was Taken Shortly After The Previous Photograph And Her Belly Is Really “Poofed” Out! Either She Just Took A Big Bite Of Something Or A Swallowed Creature Is Moving In There! :-0

Is It Any Wonder That Fish Swim So Close - Oblivious To What Might Swallow Them? Incredible Camouflage!

Still - My Favorite Photographs Of Her Are With This Lovely, Aqua-Blue Water Background. This Doesn’t Happen Everyday At Blue Heron Bridge; But With The Right Tidal Conditions, Nice, Bright,
Early AM Warming Ambient Sunlight Rays, And A Little Luck --
Well Even A Frogfish Can Appear Ever So Lovely!

Hope you enjoyed another personality packed critter! Best, Carol

Sea Hare Hitchhiker ID and possible seahorse cleaning behavior?

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:13:54 -0700

There seems to be quite a bit of interest in this small sea hare and the behavior of it “riding” or as I said “hitchhiking” on the longsnout seahorse. Full data in my post - Hitchin’ A Ride.

A friend of mine, Ellen in Bonaire, sent me some photographs of a small sea hare on a longsnout seahorse that was positively IDed as Stylocheilus striatus and Ellen’s observations are really interesting - read them on this link below towards the end of the discussion:

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=24700

An expert emailed me and said they thought the sea hare above is Stylocheilus striatus but is unsure? Too bad I couldn’t get any more pics of it but this is right after it “dismounted” from the back of the seahorse and because it was pretty transparent, tiny and matched the bottom almost exactly I lost it.

Then the second question is do seahorses get cleaned by slugs? That is an interesting topic to delve into and I’d appreciate any data in that direction. Mysteries are FUN! :-)

More on this subject on this WetPixel thread:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25232&hl=

Best, Carol

PS One more thing I found quite amusing - it was indicated to me by someone that this seems like a “veritable seahorse bus”.

Then that reminded me of our cute little trolley that buzzes around Clearwater Beach here, its called “The Jolly Trolley” - what do you think - do we have the makings of a “Jolly Seahorse Trolley” above? :-) Carol

Photo Credit City of Clearwater

Hitchin’ A Ride On A Longsnout Seahorse At Blue Heron Bridge

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:59:30 -0700

Hitchin’ a ride -- is there any wonder that underwater creatures hitch a ride on a “horse” down below? Question is how many creatures are actually going for a free ride? Well, read on......

A few weeks ago, during the last week of May and the first week of June, I had the privilege of diving one of my fav spots - Blue Heron Bridge, Riveria Beach, Florida. I don’t know what it is but I really like diving and finding the unusual critters that hang out there; and this time I was happy to take a girlfriend of mine along and kind of “re-enthuse” her with scuba diving. As I told Gloria, it is like a “treasure hunt” and the “treasure” you find may be fish or creatures you have never seen or at least rarely ever see.

Here is what we saw on just one dive on Friday, June 6th:
2 striated frogfish (large female and small male?)
3 longsnout seahorses (2 brown and one yellow w/reddish highlights)
10 - at least 10 octopus (common octos and possibly the same pygmy species we have on the West Coast of Florida)
3 - atlantic longarm octos (mimic)
3 - pipefish, one of them the uncommon whitenose pipefish
Lots - of unusual “slugs”
2 - searobins, 1 banded and 1 leopard
12+ - yellow garden eels - Heteroconger longissimus - (the more uncommon garden eels)
1 - northern stargazer
Lots - of cool decorator crabs
schools of baitfish and lots of other cool fish, etc., etc.

Plus the water visibility was quite good. Depending on the tides and clarity of water coming in from the Atlantic, viz varies dramatically. But I’ve noticed when there are east winds pushing that clear Gulf Stream water nearer shore - if the winds aren’t too strong and the water isn’t stirred up too much - the water at Blue Heron, right before and right after slack tide - can be this gorgeous blue.

Getting back to “hitchhiking”, this beautiful and mezmerising longsnout seahorse here was happily searching around his area for yummy bits to eat - and this strange, very small, sea hare slug - hitched a ride! I’m not even sure what type of sea hare it is. Slugs in our part of the world aren’t really that well documented, plus this one being 1/4 in. to 1/3 in., long and quite transparent on the sand, it is close to this species - blue-rig sea hare (Stylocheilus longicauda) - it has the blue spots but I don’t see the numerous blue lines, plus it is quite a bit smaller than the usual size range. But I am sure its some type of sea hare.

Fascinating thing is the seahorse just took it all in stride and continued to feed as shown below. See what he has just slurped up despite his passenger?

Also if you have very keen eyes note that there is another “hitchhiker”, a very unlikely one. On the top of the seahorse, behind its head, is a way cool, super tiny, thin and transparent creature called a skeleton shrimp. That is the second hitchhiker and a surprise to me because from watching these seahorses over several days it seemed to be that their fav food was indeed skeleton shrimp! That skeleton shrimp sure is living dangerously perched up there!!!!

More feeding despite (or ignoring) his passenger -

Now the sea hare is dismounting his ride -

Thanks Mr. Seahorse for the ride! - (of course I wanted to get a better shot of the slug than this one, but right after this I lost the sea hare on the substrate - he blended right in!!! And remember it is under 1/2 in. long.) -

And here is the third “hitchhiker” -- I think it is a type of amphipod. This creature didn’t stick around quite as long as the others - but interesting thing it is has some of the same coloration and same small blue spots as the sea hare did -

How many other hitchers? Your guess is a good as mine but I must say I’m sure there are others!

More tales of Blue Heron Bridge to come - Best, Carol

Manatees Adorn my macbook Pro!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:28:57 -0700

This past March, fellow underwater photographer (extraordinaire) - Eric Cheng - came out to see manatees and I really admired the extraordinary cover on his MacBook Pro! It was an awesome photo of his own, printed and attached to the top of his computer.

So I just had to create one of my own. Now I’m not sure of the company Eric used to print his but I ordered this one from Unique Skins. And yes I’m very pleased with it!

It seems very durable and the printed colors were quite close to the ones on my monitor. Also besides identifying and setting your own computer apart from the crowd it looks like it will protect it from lid scratches.

A couple of things to watch for though. It was quite a bit harder to place on top of the computer than I had originally thought. It seemed to be a bit small and I ended up stretching it a bit - which I later regretted - but it worked out fine as I delicately and patiently worked out all the bubbles and folds. It isn’t perfect but it looks really good. Additionally I think I’d sharpen the uploaded photo even more than I did as the shiny surface and the fact that they only accept files less than 1.5MB = more loss of sharpness than with usual prints. Also as you see the Apple logo (that lights up when the MBP is powered) is a cutout -- so be wary of this with the photo choice. I actually thought the photo above wouldn’t work because of the position of the male manatee’s mouth, but now I actually like it. The male manatee (on the left) is really trying to get the female’s attention (on the right) - but on the computer he looks like he is saying “Apple”. Could be a commercial, eh???? :-)

Here’s another view of it with lid closed. So go find a great photograph and order your own! Only $20.00 and delivery was only four days after I ordered! Best, Carol

Subal 105vr Port with Nikon 105vr and 5T diopter attached with blu tak

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:21:00 -0700

Well I finally got to try out Ryan Canon's (of ReefPhoto) suggestion to take my Nikon 5T and 6T diopters - with the black rings removed - and attach them to the front of my Nikon 105vr lens. As many of you know this dedicated Subal 105vr port doesn't have room for any screw on diopter (aaargh!!!). And if you have tried extension rings as I have the MF doesn't line up and often the lens is not supported right.

What a problem.

So Ryan suggested something he said he learned from the Tacketts (it is in their book). Unscrew the black ring around the diopter and attach to the front of the lens with "blu tak". There isn't room to stack diopters using this method but you can easily get the 5T or 6T in there.

Drawbacks are you then can't use your diopters topside easily (it is hard to get those rings on and off), and I find the diopters harder to store properly.

And yes, I do also have a Woody’s (Wet) Diopter and that is nice because you can take it off underwater. It is about equivalent to the Nikon 5T - but it is not as good quality as the double element 5T diopter - I did notice a difference underwater.

Well at least now I can use them underwater with the Nikon 105vr lens. This way in conjunction with a kenko 2X TC and I believe the 15mm & 35mm ex rings; or the kenko 1.4X TC with the 20mm ex ring and 5T or 6T attached in this way with blu tak - the MF of the Subal 105vr port can still be used which is beneficial in many instances.

Here's a quick pic after a dive with the 5T - all happily cradled with blu tak (probably a bit too much???)
Best, Carol

Bird’s Underwater Uses My photograph on their site

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:27:12 -0700

My friends at Bird’s Underwater, Crystal River, Florida saw fit to use this photo of mine on the main page of their website.

I’m very pleased as the folks at Bird’s have been invaluable in helping me learn about manatees, photographing them, the dynamics of Crystal River (or how to find the more clear water to photograph in), etc. etc.

I took this photograph in December 2006. It was actually one of the first photographs I took underwater with my new Nikon d200 DSLR, Subal Housing, etc. (photographs of my underwater setup click here - scroll down to bottom of post)

Anyway, it was really a “practice” photograph but since I’ve photographed lots of manatee before it all worked. That is Chris, a captain from Bird’s Underwater. Chris has just myself and two videographers on board that morning so she didn’t have to video herself and had a rare opportunity to interact with her beloved manatee. I admire and “salute” Chris and the owners and staff at Bird’s Underwater because I believe they have made tremendous strides in getting the word out for over 20 years about the need for manatee conservation.

Some people feel that interacting with manatee that approach you at Crystal River is not good. I’m not going to debate the point in this post as there are different viewpoints and certainly correct and incorrect ways to go about it but I can say that manatee just love a scratch -- I mean it is just a huge thing with them to scratch on whatever is around, trees, rocks, roots, docks, underwater structure, other manatee and people if they are around. I’ve been approached by manatee in areas all around the state, while swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving and I must say that most all are curious about me and seek some form of interaction (usually scratching themselves on my fins or something like that). These are manatee that aren’t used to people so I believe that “natural curiosity” is their basic nature.

You know I stopped in a popular dive shop in Santa Cruz, California while I was traveling through once and the lady at the counter saw I lived in Florida. She said her husband (who has led dive trips all over the world) stated that his time with the manatee at Crystal River was his single most profound underwater wildlife encounter in all his diving. That is saying something!! So we should not underestimate the power of meeting an endangered animal up close and the power of that communication and resulting strong commitment to protecting endangered species for their and our children’s future.

Hope you enjoy this photograph I took of Chris and the manatee reveling in her attention and encourage everyone to learn more about and resolve to help our marvelous Florida manatee.

More manatee surprises to come soon! :-) Best, Carol