Again from my site, hope this data is of interest and it encourages everyone to go meet manatees! 
Very Best, Carol
Valentine's Day 2008 Revealed Precocious Little "Puck" - Although This Photo is From A Couple of Weeks After Valentine's Day.
For Me It Was All About the Little Manatee This Past Season 
Here is the latest manatee season of 2007/2008 summarized. Yes, this was the most intense manatee season for me to date - with over 100 hours spent underwater observing and photographing manatee life and I became extremely attached to all our Sirenian friends!
I’d also like to thank all the wonderful people who love manatees and contacted me - some that I even got to meet or dive with! Too bad I couldn’t meet everyone who contacted me but 100+ hours underwater for this season - well I did get a bit tired at times. Too bad I can’t just spend all my time underwater with the manatees! And of course as usual I didn’t go on any busy weekends or holidays and I carefully watched the weather to try to hit the best times at the springs and I was alone with the manatees a good portion of the time. So manatee do get much “peaceful†time at the springs to carry on their lives.
I did accomplish a lot of my underwater photography goals also by getting a new lens to shoot “wider†- including more manatees in a single frame, documenting more mother/child manatee relationships, getting expert photo tips and working on my technique and also photographing more manatee injuries for use to help the manatee’s cause.
Here are the my stats for the past season:
November 2007: Manatee season started early with a cold front at the start the month and nice clear water and lovely fall sunlight.
Manatee Snorkels in November = 9 Total over 8 days
December 2007: This month started out well with three of the best days of the season early in the month. Then things warmed up too much and that combined with the busy holidays limited my December visits.
Manatee Snorkels in December = 4 Total over 4 days
January 2008: We had a lot of strange weather in January - lots of fronts with a Southerly component to the wind and much more rain than normal but it was still quite cool. The winds messed up viz a lot sometimes but also brought lots of manatee back into the springs.
Manatee Snorkels in January = 11 Total over 9 days
February 2008: Again February saw above average rainfall and some warm temps but there were still some great days - including the “leap year†day when I was thrilled to encounter Angel the newborn manatee - the highlight of my season!
Manatee Snorkels in February = 8 Total over 6 days
March 2008: Usually I stop going early in March but we had some later cold fronts (with heavy rain yet again) so I tried my luck to try and find Angel again and other baby manatee, etc.
Manatee Snorkels in March = 7 Total over 6 days
39 Manatee Snorkel Sessions in all at an average of almost 3 hours each in water.
The visibility at the springs was not generally as good this season as last season. This is because of a combination of factors - in my mind the two main factors were the unusual weather with cold fronts combined with strange wind direction and lots of rain and the proliferation of the invasive lyngbya algae. Some have suggested the springs aren’t “pumping†water like they used to. I’m not so sure this is the case. It takes years for the Florida Aquifer to be fully affected by the rain and other water sources that flow into it today. Yes we have had a bad drought previous to this winter and that could cause the springs to flow slightly less; but I feel - at least at Crystal River - it was the strange weather and wind patterns overwhelming the clear spring flows with an influx of “other†water much of the time that caused a perceived lessening in spring flow. Whatever the case the abundance of rain we have received so far for 2008 is badly needed and will only help the aquifer levels in the long run. Still some lovely, amazingly clear-blue water days could be found at places like the Three Sisters Spring site - it is just that those clear water days seemed harder to come by this past season. Also having more of the invasive lyngbya algae back in Three Sisters was sad and affected the clarity of the springs also. But the springs are still among the most beautiful places on earth and were loaded with manatee when it was cool this past season.
OK - enough of the technicalities here - because this past season was all about the manatee! And for me what I remember most are all the youngsters I “met†and how they seemed to have such distinct and individual personalities.
So take a look below and reminisce with me about Angel, Puck, Sparky, Pebbles, Rainbow, Chewy and the rest!!
Angel the Baby Manatee Below at 10 Days Old!!!! An “Escort†Female Here Had Just Taken Him Out For a Swim and is Directing Him Back into the Sanctuary
(Note Polite Photographers in the Foreground You Might Recognize?)
This Photo Reminded Me So Much of our Own Human Children. It Seems Angel Could “Go†and Knew the “Route†but When It Comes to “Stop†- Well it Seems Angel’s “Brakes†Couldn’t Be Engaged in Time Before Running Into a Sleeping Manatee......
This Is Little “Rainbow†the Manatee. He is the One Who Enthusiastically Checked Out My Dome Port As Told in Another Post
You Have Seen This Manatee Before if You Read My Article in Underwater Photography Magazine Issue #41 (on-line). It is “Sparky†the Manatee I Met First Back in Early December ’07. Here On Valentine’s Day ’08 Sparky is Still Having Great Adventures and He Sure is Getting Fat! Note His Red Algae From December Has All Died - Interesting?
The Sweet Little Manatee Girl Below I Named “Pebblesâ€. She Liked to Scratch on Little “Pebbles†- Not Big Rocks or Tree Bark/Roots, But Little “Pebblesâ€. She Had a Very “Sweet†Temperament.
And This Is Of course little “Chewy†- He Loved To Chew on Bits of Wood He Found and Seemed Very “Proud†of it!
Last But Surely Not Least Again Is “Puck†the Same Young Manatee as is at the Top of this Post and this Photo is from Valentine's Day 2008. The Manatee Researcher Bob Bonde Met Little “Puck†and Bob Told Me That Puck Was Not Very Old - Bob Was Taken with Him Too!
