Tag Archives: roadtrip

Dolphins in Wild – A trip to the Atlantic Ocean

Hey guys. Happy Sunday to you all. Hope your weekend was rocking. For some of you it is already Monday and for people on this side of the world, we are gearing up for the week ahead. I have a busy week ahead. Tuesday and Wednesday I will be in Dallas and Friday a drive to Baltimore.

Saturday we made an impromptu call to go for Whale Watching. I had to cancel my vacation trip to Germany and India in August ( my wife changed job and vacation was out of the question 🙁) and wanted something to feel good about. Going to Cape May for Whale watching sure was going to lift up my mood. Excited I called the cruise people but since it was a last minute thing, the tickets were sold out. So, to take care of my desolate self I decided to go to Atlantic City, about a 2-hour drive.

Atlantic City is east coast’s poor answer to Vegas. The place offers an overcrowded beach, a decent boardwalk, tons of water sports and plenty of Casinos. We wanted to stay on the boardwalk but because of the 11th-hour situation, nothing was available. I called the hotels in the order of my preference and got lucky the fifth time.

The evening was great. We walked on the boardwalk, visited few casinos, went to a rooftop bar and retired for the night. Atlantic city offers dolphin watching and fortunately, they had tickets available for us for today, and we thought of watching the less superior mammal (if compared by size😊 to a whale). It was a two-hour boat ride. We went about 2 miles into the ocean, 107 people on the boat looked curiously for 2 hours to spot dolphins, but failed to see even one.

Disappointed we came back to shores. The cruise promised us to give free tickets to come back anytime in the next 10 years😀. Given the circumstances, it was the best option we had and we sheepishly took it. My son said he would come back exactly after 10 years when he will be 22. 😜

Although we didn’t see Dolphin we learned a lot about them from the boat’s captain. Here are some facts for your knowledge

  • The dolphins we are supposed to see are known as Wild Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. I guess because how their nose appears
  • During winter the dolphins migrate to Georgia and South Carolina. That is about 1000 miles down south
  • A group of dolphins is called a pod. A small pod can have about 12 of them and large ones could have hundreds and thousands of them. Although the large pods are only found deep in the ocean
  • Dolphins have a long 12 months of gestation period(that is long by any measure 😱). They rarely breed twins.
  • Baby dolphins are about 2-4 feet long weighs about 20 pounds. While born, babies have black skin which changes to gray as they grow old.
  • Lastly, dolphins are mammals and need to rest. They sleep for 8 hours a day. While reposing they only put half of their brain to sleep as they need to be alert from other wild creatures.

Thanks for reading. Until next time when I see these magnificent creatures in the wild, I am leaving behind some of my captures for your eyes only.

Copyright © Shantanu Baruah

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