Caribbean vacay - A day with dolphins

This is from my visit to the Carribbean island of Dominican Republic. Punta Cana lies on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic and is blessed with beautiful beeches with pristine waters and white sands. I visited this island nation last week in January and got a chance to visit Dolphin Island, a samll island man made, created to preserve dolphins and other aquatic creatures. This lies few miles from the coast of Bavaro in Punta Cana.

The above picture is of a Sting Ray, would have been hell afraid to go near it in underwater, but here it was friendly and was able to grab it and have a picture taken with it.

Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures and their intelligence is second only to humans. They cannot talk as they don't have a voice track like us but they can send ultra low and high frequency signals in the form of squeaks and clicks. This one above was a bit naughty but still got friendly enough.

They just like us need oxygen to breathe, but can withhold their breath for 8-10 mins on an average. They breathe through a blowhole that lies on the top of their head. Orcas are largest species of dolphins and are highly intelligent.

The pic above is of a sea lion. They are larger to seals and are usually friendly. They can be trained as a pet. This one above was particular find of kissing new visitors.

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