Oceangrant Images

future manatee projects

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 17:35:13 -0400

Since I have been observing and photographing manatees for a long time, I have built up a large and varied collection of manatee images. Numerous lovely split-levels of the springs and manatees, moms and babies gazing at the viewer, endearing behaviors, and polite people observing manatees, I now have hundreds to choose from. It is my intention to show the world what marvelous creatures manatees are. Here are some new and recent examples:

A Mother and Baby Manatee Rest at Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge

This summer my project is to get all my desired manatee images online, key-worded, and easy to search in different categories. Also, since I’ve used the Mac program iWeb for years, it has become outdated so it will be revamped also. In the meantime, some of my most recent photographs and many of my “classic” ones are on my Flickr here. You are also welcomed to follow me on Facebook or Twitter as I post there often. Also feel free to email me.

One Of My Clients Was Eager To Use This Photo
For a 2-Page Spread

Polite Snorkelers (Not Touching Manatees)
These Are The Photographs In Demand

Also Don’t Leave Out Those Endearing Manatee Behaviors!
I Have Many To Choose From
(Young Manatee On Left Is Playing With A Rock & Proud Of It!)

A Peaceful Blue With Plenty Of Room For Text
Mom and Baby

Another Photo With Plenty Of Room For Text
Curious Baby In Lovely Light

Extra Algae On The Manatee’s Whiskers Are A Bonus
Along With Nice Light and Blue Water - Gazing At The Viewer

I Focused On Vertical Orientations Recently
Manatee Warms Back In Sunlight

Many Of My Manatee Photographs Have Groups Of Manatees Exhibiting Interesting Behaviors
Here A Female Manatee Inspires a “Conga-line” Of Eager Males
While A Mother and Calf Try To Avoid The Melee On The Bottom

Photographs Showing Lots Of Manatees In Clear Water Are Not Easy To Get, But I Have Lots!

As Far As Unusual Behaviors I Have: Mother Manatee Nursing Twins Underwater, Mother Nursing Orphan and Older Calf At The Same Time, Newborn Manatee and Even This One Which Is The First Time I’ve Ever Seen A Manatee Calf Nursing Upside-down!

In Closing, I Have The Manatee Photographs You Desire
They Will All Be On-line Soon and Most Certainly By The Start Of Next Manatee Season

Best, Carol Grant

rescue video cupid the manatee

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:42:58 -0500

While my forte is quality manatee photographs, I’ve mounted a GoPro camera on top of my underwater housing and captured some rescue footage. I hope it expands the picture of Cupid the Manatee’s Valentines Day Rescue, even if the video is less than perfect ;-)
Here’s the link to a video page on my site or click on the screen shot above:
Rescue Cupid The Manatee

Video is also on Vimeo Here

Best, Carol

cupid the rescue manatee

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:27:36 -0500

Valentines Day is a special day to remember the ones you love and, in addition to dinner and chocolates, also rescue a manatee? Two days ago this touching scenario played out as exactly that: Valentines Day manatee rescue and the subject was fittingly to be named “Cupid”. While there is no guarantee of this manatee’s survival, rescuers did their utmost to move quickly and give him a chance.

Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida is a natural, warm sanctuary for manatees in the wintertime. Manatees nurse their calves, socialize and most importantly rest in the warm spring-fed waters. Occasionally, there will be manatees with issues relating to poor health. This is what two Manatee Watch volunteers and I observed on Wednesday, February 6th.

Manatee rescue is all about observation. Anyone going to see manatees at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge can and would be encouraged to report anything they feel is unusual regarding a manatee. Manatee Watch volunteers are usually right there to talk with and also the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge office and personnel are very eager to hear of any problems or anything unusual about particular manatees.

Here’s an example along with photographs of a way to go about reporting something that doesn’t seem right with a manatee at Crystal River. Also, there is always the state-wide Florida Fish and Wildlife Manatee Hotline which is the primary source for reporting distressed manatees statewide; available 24 hours a day at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

Since long-time Manatee Watch volunteers Bud and John were right there we discussed this thin manatee while I was there photographing. I took images of it underwater and the volunteers alerted the Refuge about the very thin and lethargic manatee. Ivan Vicente, Visitor Services at the Refuge, arrived later but the manatee had drifted off to an unknown area. He asked me questions about the thin manatee and asked me to email him photographs as soon as I got home so they could address it first thing in the morning.

Here is the email I sent with photos:
From: Carol Grant <carol@oceangrant.com>
Subject: Very Thin Manatee 3SS 1st spring 6 Feb 13 3pm
Date: February 7, 2013 12:04:38 AM EST
To: Ivan Vicente <ivan_vicente@fws.gov>

Ivan, OK, it's midnight - I'm beat! Here are four pics I quickly grabbed. The manatee is small and didn't really stretch out so I couldn't tell you: 6 ft or ? I think it was a male but I could be wrong because the bumps and folds obscure a lot. I hope you find it. I did not see it socialize with any other manatee at all and it did not move much.
See you soon. Nice to see you in the water again ;-) Carol

The photographs don’t have to be perfect at all. They just need to show the tail well and any physical abnormalities evident. His tail margin shows clear signs of cold stress and photos of the tail and back can also be used to ID a manatee sometimes. I also tried to show the differences in size between the thin manatee and others around.

I saw this manatee two more times over the next week, but each time I reported it the manatee had relocated somewhere unknown. So when Capt. Stacy Dunn and I arrived at Three Sisters Springs the following week, on Valentines Day Feb 14th, Stacy immediately began taking photographs of the very thin manatee. For my part, I watched the manatee until rescuers got in the water. I wasn’t going to let it go unseen again!

Here are some of Stacy’s photographs she took from her kayak, holding her camera underwater:

Photos Courtesy Stacy Dunn ©

Within a week this manatee had become thinner and grew more algae. Stacy called Ivan Vicente at the Refuge and he quickly arrived. I was impressed how quickly other USFWS (United States Fish and Wildlife Services) personnel arrived along with other Manatee Rescue affiliates and volunteers. As soon as it was determined Lowry Park Zoo would accept the manatee, a rescue was underway. This was all smoothly organized on land while I intently watched in the water to make sure our target did not move out of sight.

I have put together a short GoPro Video to show some of the rescue from my perspective. Of course you will notice the constant rain and there wasn’t much light, but I feel it helps tell the rescue story. Here’s a link to the video in another post:
Cupid The Rescued Manatee

Video is also on Vimeo Here

To close here are a few more photographs from Stacy Dunn:

The thin manatee now rescued and being checked out by a USFWS officer.

And that’s me just out of the water and in the rain watching Cupid being taken off to Lowry Park Zoo’s manatee rehabilitation facility.

I hope this gives those interested an insight into the rescue of a beloved and protected marine mammal. See, anyone can lend a helping observation and really make a difference. Manatee lovers should realize and develop empathy for the fact that the very cold fronts that bring manatees in numbers to the warm springs for us to see, put a number of manatees in peril every season from health problems made worse by cold-related stresses.

Best, Carol

my manatee photo on cover of Visit Citrus

Wed, 2 Jan 2013 17:30:28 -0500

Gracing the cover of the new Visit Citrus Official Visitors Guide is my manatee photograph I loosely named “Fish Are Friends? Not Food.” I really like the high-quality printing job they did! In fact Dr. Bob Bonde, the respected manatee researcher, was the first one to tell me he saw it and thought the cover was really nice and the whole thing was laid out very well. A compliment from Bob Bonde means a lot!

This photograph depicts a bit of the unspoiled Florida springs where manatees gather during colder months. A variety of fish also gather there, including the mangrove snapper and sunfish surrounding this manatee in the photograph and the long-suffering sirenian seems to tolerate them. It is unclear if the manatees ever receive any benefit from the pecking of the various fish that come into the freshwater springs. Many times the fish attention can become down-right bothersome and the manatee will leave that spring for some peaceful rest elsewhere where the fish are not!

Here is the inside where they credited me. Visit Citrus did an excellent job on this publication! You can obtain a copy of the guide at various hotels, the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge office, Chamber of Commerce, etc., around Crystal River and Homosassa. Best, Carol

little orphan manatee article

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:45:19 -0500

In the new Fall 2012 edition of Alert Diver Magazine I have an article called “Little Orphan Manatee”. Above is a screen shot of page one from Alert Diver’s iOS App. The printed editions will be mailing soon. This fine magazine goes out to all DAN (Divers Alert Network) scuba diver members and other opinion leaders in the dive safety community. I highly recommend it!

My story and photographs are of an actual orphaned manatee that we found by herself last December 2011. Luckily, she was adopted and the article chronicles that extraordinary event. There are a couple of quotes from Dr. Bob Bonde and Cathy Beck, manatee experts with USGS’s Sirenia Project, regarding genetic evidence of manatee calf adoption and identification of the adoptive mother. It’s fascinating! Much of the genetic information mentioned in the article has been gathered during Dr. Bob Bonde’s Manatee Health Assessments at Crystal River. I’ve been privileged to photograph several of these events and plan to write an in-depth article on those interesting assessments soon.

I have a number of additional captivating photographs chronicling this adoption in its tender detail. Those pictures will be incorporated into future articles so keep an eye out.

I will leave you with a couple of more images of these charismatic sirenians! Best, Carol

The Adoptive Mother, Her Older Calf &
Little Orphan Manatee
What a charismatic threesome!

A Manatee Rescue Volunteer Takes ID Photos of the Adoptive Female’s Older Calf at Three Sisters Springs. Pictured Capt. Stacy Dunn.

manatee bffs

Mon, 5 Nov 2012 21:00:40 -0500

Last week we had an early and exciting beginning to the main part of the manatee season at Crystal River, Florida. While cold fronts are not beneficial to the general manatee population, cooler weather does bring them into the warm freshwater springs. There they seem to be excited to see other manatee and the springs again, especially at the beginning of the season.

Tuesday, October 30th we helped with Manatee Health Assessments amidst 35 mph cool wind gusts. I wanted to see the manatee at Three Sisters Springs, but knew the visibility would be compromised by the intense weather, so I waited until the next day, Wednesday the 31st, to visit the springs. While the water was not as clear and pristine as it can get, I was pleasantly surprised to see some nice clear water with light rays dancing around. My first manatee day of this season!

We had many manatee around but these two females captivated me! They seemed to be quite familiar and cavorted with each other non-stop. Sometimes, male manatee would approach them, but the two females seemed to only want to do their “girl thing”. I’ve seen this behavior before and I wonder if the gals were cavorting with males earlier but broke off because they didn’t want to conceive yet? That does happen..., female manatees know when they want to give birth and when they don’t -- like in the middle of cold fronts. Or maybe these two female manatees just wanted to play? Regardless they were a delight to observe and photograph.

The different colors of the algae that is growing on some manatee’s backs when they arrive at the springs interests me. I’m going to research it more, but basically the type of algae can give us clues as to where the manatees have been hanging out for the summer, just as barnacles denote manatees who have spent lots of time in the Gulf waters.

Hope you enjoy these Manatee BFFs! Best, Carol

Manatee BFFs do everything together!

Note the thick, fuzzy red algae on this female.

And this female has green algae?

manatee in the deck

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 01:32:11 -0400

You never know where manatees will show up! Here is my manatee photograph as one of the Jokers in the deck changing the rules of the game to protect the species!

They are available on Amazon:
Gulf Coast Mammal Playing Cards:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591933633/ref=ox_ya_os_product

Southeast Mammal Playing Cards:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591933625/ref=ox_ya_os_product

Also, I recently moved after many years in one place, and boy was that a lot of work! Things are settling down now so I’ll be able to post more. Please check my Twitter and Facebook pages for data in the meantime.

All the best, Carol

unboxing image wizards manatee prints

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:11:27 -0400

WOW! Image Wizards 36” aluminum prints; two of them to unbox! Now I only have iPhone pics at the moment, so they are far far from doing the prints an iota of justice, but I’m so pleased with how the prints look - a great alternative to large-format prints with heavy and expensive matting and framing jobs for sure! Plus their shipping packaging is built to fully withstand the rigors of UPS, etc.

I’ll post some quality photographs of my prints soon, but I must say the photographs will not come near to how nice the prints look on a wall! These are two of my most popular images and I sure am pleased!

Image Wizards was having a nice discount promotion when I ordered these, that’s why I could spring for two.

Best, Carol

my manatee photo in may scuba diving magazine

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:46:31 -0400

A popular manatee photograph of mine kicks-off the Florida Drive & Dive Section in the May issue of Scuba Diving Magazine. Here is a clip of the first page of the article:

There is still time to get a print copy at Barnes & Noble or elsewhere - lots of great articles and fantastic photographs. You can obtain a Free electronic copy by downloading the Barnes & Noble NOOK App. for iPhone/iPad and signing up for a fourteen day free trial of Scuba Diving Magazine (be sure to get the May issue). Cancel before the fourteen days are up and you won’t be subscribed monthly, but you still get to keep the trial issue! Then again, you might enjoy the electronic subscription via NOOK for their nominal monthly fee...

Later, Carol

moving manatees to new server

Thu, 5 Apr 2012 15:45:04 -0400

With Apple’s MobileMe going away soon, I have to move this site to a new server. Hopefully, it won’t cause much disruption and the www.oceangrant.com address will be the same.

Good news is: after the move I’ll be able to re-configure this site to showcase many of the brand new manatee images I have, introduce some early photos of Winter the Dolphin that were never seen and make things easier to navigate. I will also have some “hidden pages” to keep new photographs for publications that like fresh images.

Kisses........, Best, Carol

winter the dolphin swims 2007

Thu, 5 Apr 2012 14:59:33 -0400

What a privilege it was to work with Winter the Dolphin after her 2005 stranding. It was the “real movie” before the movie...

Due to my website provider, MobileMe, discontinuing it’s service, I’ll be moving my site and eventually re-doing it. I’ve had classic photographs of Winter the Dolphin posted on this site for a number of years and I will be gradually moving them to more permanent quarters so they can be enjoyed by all! Just bear with me while I transfer my site and then give it a makeover. I can promise lots more of Winter!

Here’s a taste, until I can get this website squared away. Not only was it a thrill to help Winter survive, but then to photograph her underwater, for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, when she tried on her first prosthetic tail was amazing!

Wish me luck on the website move, until then here’s Winter:

Winter at 3 months old

Myself Feeding Winter Her Bottle - Nipple Used is for Weaning Baby Lambs & Goats

Winter LOVED Rubs!

Winter Was Always Photogenic - A Star! 2007

She Loved People but This Exercise Was to Get Her Used to Her New Mat

One of Her First Prosthetic Tails Being Gently Applied with Lots of Patience from Abby Stone

And She Became an Inspiration to Children with Prosthetic Limbs

Bye - Until Next Time
(when Carol gets my lovely photos moved to the new website address... it will always point to www.oceangrant.com)

Carol & Winter

Manatee Health Assessments

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:05:34 -0500

When I was invited to photograph last week’s Crystal River, Florida, “Manatee Health Assessments” I jumped at the chance to observe this fascinating partnership in action! As you may know, my passion is capturing photographs of the true nature of the manatee in underwater photographs. But, this opportunity to photograph this event was inspiring, and seeing that I had come across a manatee or two underwater after they had been previously assessed - chalk marked numbers and all - well, this gave me a chance to put all the pieces of the manatee research puzzle together.

The organizations involved are too numerous to list, but a perusal of these photographs will reveal fine institutions, experts, and opinion leaders on many aspects of marine mammal science. I recognized Dr. Mike Walsh, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, from his years of monitoring Winter the Dolphin, who I and dedicated others at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Marine Aquarium and their Marine Animal Stranding Team helped nurse back from the brink to become an inspiration to so many. Michael Lusk, the manager of the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, where the research was conducted was there helping also, as were so many others. One thing I would like to note: this was one of the rare times an echocardiogram was done on manatees in the field (Dr. Walsh did the first ones in the field, I believe, about ten years ago). It was fascinating to watch the pulsating image almost seem to leap off the computer screen!

Dr. Mike Walsh, Dr. Robert K. Bonde and Others Prepare
To Get a Genetic Tissue Sample

Dr. Robert K. Bonde Marks An Assessed Manatee

Here is a link to a series of photographs I took on Thursday, November 10th, when the team captured and assessed the health of five individual manatees.
Link: Photographs - Manatee Research Health Assessments

And also, for my wonderful well-wishers, here is a photograph of me pausing with a friend during the assessments. That’s Captain Stacy Dunn helping out from Manatees in Paradise, on my left. On this day, November 10th, 2011, I was exactly one year out from chemotherapy for breast cancer and I’m doing marvelous. I saw my oncologist the day before I photographed this event and he said everything was so normal with me and my blood work - except for my lungs, which he says are “extraordinary”! ;-)
I tell you it helps to have an oncologist who is an experienced scuba diver! Yes, I’m diving again - full-on! And underwater diver, photographer and survivor for sure!
Best, Carol