My first few pics - Need feedback

Just got myself FX100 and am loving it! its perfect for a beginner.

Now i am uploading some pics and need honest feedback who would get me started with the learning curve

Below 2 were taken at a beach in goa, one of the first few shots when i got the cam!

In the below i was trying manual focus to get the behind object blurred! but was unsuccessful! what should i do to make the object at behind more blurred?

Thanks in advance