Since my only other underwater photographic experience involved disposables, I found my first digital experience with my Oly SP350 very exhilarating. The link is the photos I've decided I would show. They reveal my inexperience <_< , mainly with composition, which will get better with time. I was limited to floating on the surface and chose not to weight myself for my first Manatee Experience. That turned out to be a mistake 
as I struggled the entire morning trying to even frame a decent pic from the surface. Needless to say most of the early morning stuff was throw-away. Thank goodness for the Magic Filter that I purchased before I went. After struggling to keep the strobe aimed, underwater, etc at the surface, I took it off and took the rest of the photos with the filter installed. Not only did the filter improve my composition 
it also made my photos turn out to be fairly nice. Stuff that will at least wow the inlaws!! The other bits of information for picture quality reference. I have is I didn't have a wide angle lens...missed several nice shots by a hair due to not having one. My strobe was not large enough to cover such large animals in close space. Water Clarity was marginal at best. Initially there was about 12-15ft of visibility until additional boats arrived....some with SCUBA <_< . Due to an rare, very low tide condition at the time, the boat operators weren't able to get us into 3 sisters springs which is renowned for its clarity. None of my shots have been altered yet. I simply converted them to jpegs for you to view.Many on here recommended Birds Underwater and I found that to be good advice. They have a very nice operation and gave us some nice tips on where the best viz would be. One additional side note, a 3 mil isn't enough. I had been on an excursion in December in the S. Florida ocean years earlier and a 3 mil seemed fine then so I packed the lighter suit. It was great in the water but after 3 hours in the water, then getting out, I was colder than I'd been in some time. If not for the change of clothes I brought and the hot coffee, I might have succumbed to hypothermia.
Next time...and there will be a next time because this was simply a great day, I will wear my 7mil over my 3. Please take a moment and review my photos and give me some kind of critique. Later, Gary
http://www.snapfish....391/t_=27878391
