[locusjag]

My daughter has been telling her friends and teachers that there are dolphins off of Chennai's Kovalam beach. They don't believe her though.

We had spotted a pod of them on an early morning back in May 2022. Dad had an ill-suited DSLR lens for long shots, but he still managed to take a few snaps. Here's one pic.



Please believe it when someone tells you they've spotted dolphins in Chennai's coastal waters!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by locusjag

My daughter has been telling her friends and teachers that there are dolphins off of Chennai's Kovalam beach. They don't believe her though.

Why the disbelief? I've spotted dolphins off the coast of GB

More than spotted them. I've been sailing (Western English Chanel) and they will come and swim with the boat

[bblost]

Originally Posted by locusjag

My daughter has been telling her friends and teachers that there are dolphins off of Chennai's Kovalam beach. They don't believe her though.

We had spotted a pod of them on an early morning back in May 2022. Dad had an ill-suited DSLR lens for long shots, but he still managed to take a few snaps. Here's one pic.

Attachment 2337937

Please believe it when someone tells you they've spotted dolphins in Chennai's coastal waters!

It might be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrawaddy_dolphin


I used to be an active walker with the Student Sea Turtle Conservation network back in college.

There is one more fish that looks like a dolphin and easily mistaken for it. I am not able to remember its name. That used to be very common back in the 90's.
I had spotted it multiple times as sitting by the coast and smoking was one of my fav timepasses.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Why the disbelief? I've spotted dolphins off the coast of GB

More than spotted them. I've been sailing (Western English Chanel) and they will come and swim with the boat

Well...if you talk about Dolphins in Chennai, folks may bring up the Sea World fiasco on the ECR from 22+ years ago. This establishment aimed to have an aquarium with all sorts of marine life. They flew in dolphins from New Zealand. The whole lot died in the heat very quickly. The business shut down shortly afterwards.

Originally Posted by bblost

It might be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrawaddy_dolphin
..
There is one more fish that looks like a dolphin and easily mistaken for it. I am not able to remember its name. That used to be very common back in the 90's.
I had spotted it multiple times as sitting by the coast and smoking was one of my fav timepasses.

Interesting. The Irrawady dolphins seem snub nosed whereas in the pic I've uploaded, you can see the elongated beak (?) of the dolphin on the left. Not sure if that makes it a bottlenose dolphin. They are known to migrate to warm waters.

Also, it was a whole pod of them. We could see them bobbing up and down in a crowd.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Well...if you talk about Dolphins in Chennai, folks may bring up the Sea World fiasco on the ECR from 22+ years ago. This establishment aimed to have an aquarium with all sorts of marine life. They flew in dolphins from New Zealand. The whole lot died in the heat very quickly. The business shut down shortly afterwards.

That is so sad.

Also, it was a whole pod of them. We could see them bobbing up and down in a crowd.

maybe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKih5F3nCzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2f9jdfTpw0

[locusjag]

Funny thing is, I saw a board advertising guided scuba diving, on the approach road to Kovalam beach. Wonder if it'd be possible to meet with these animals? In recent times, a couple had an underwater wedding off Kovalam beach's waters. Why not an underwater meeting of different mammals?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Well...if you talk about Dolphins in Chennai, folks may bring up the Sea World fiasco on the ECR from 22+ years ago. This establishment aimed to have an aquarium with all sorts of marine life. They flew in dolphins from New Zealand. The whole lot died in the heat very quickly. The business shut down shortly afterwards.

That's so stupid and ignorant: just terrible, criminal.

Whilst the Bay of Bengal is, I'm sure, warmer than the English Chanel, it is going to be a lot colder than some captive on-land pool.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Funny thing is, I saw a board advertising guided scuba diving, on the approach road to Kovalam beach. Wonder if it'd be possible to meet with these animals? In recent times, a couple had an underwater wedding off Kovalam beach's waters. Why not an underwater meeting of different mammals?

OT
I haven't been to Kovalam beach after the blue beach certification. Is it good and worth a visit for beach activities?

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

OT
I haven't been to Kovalam beach after the blue beach certification. Is it good and worth a visit for beach activities?

The usual beach gets crowded. I can't imagine it's any better now...I didn't know of this certification.

My dad took us to a different stretch of the beach. We came to the ECR from Kelambakkam, past the toll booth we took a left (whereas the normal approach to Kovalam is straight past across the ECR, coming from Kelambakkam). We took a U turn after some distance and approached the beach via a smaller approach road.

The reason I mentioned all of this is - the Taj group has built a nice walkway into the beach. You need to pay a nominal fee and you get to enjoy a nice walk. My dad has been there solo (to photograph seagulls and what not); I haven't. We went past the Taj's turning and got to see a relatively pristine stretch of the same Kovalam beach.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by locusjag

We took a U turn after some distance and approached the beach via a smaller approach road. We went past the Taj's turning and got to see a relatively pristine stretch of the same Kovalam beach.

What you are talking about is right next to Fisherman's Cove. The approach road and beach gets featured in Mannipaya song of Vinnaithandi Varuvaya.

I visited by luck sometime in 2009 or 2010.

It is pristine because Taj maintains it. When we visited back then, no fee collection or walkway. But do remember it had a wall built all along with a small entry.

The actual Kovalam or Covelong was (10 years back) more of a fisherman's beach, not something you'd take your family along.

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Well...if you talk about Dolphins in Chennai, folks may bring up the Sea World fiasco on the ECR from 22+ years ago. This establishment aimed to have an aquarium with all sorts of marine life. They flew in dolphins from New Zealand. The whole lot died in the heat very quickly. The business shut down shortly afterwards.

I saw the show in the first few weeks or so, I guess, I told my family it's better we see it before the dolphins perish in the heat and it happened.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I was wondering about Kovalam.

Last time I was there it was not really much other than fishing. Has it gone too far the other way now, towards tourism, and got too busy?

To be honest, living south of Thiruvanmiyur, it is so close I could just go and look!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I was wondering about Kovalam.

Last time I was there it was not really much other than fishing. Has it gone too far the other way now, towards tourism, and got too busy?

To be honest, living south of Thiruvanmiyur, it is so close I could just go and look!

You should. Last I had been there with a friend about 2 years ago (just before covid); they offer several water sports (either training sessions or actual practice). I went kayaking in the sea/ocean for about an hour while my friend took surfing lessons.

This is not on the "public" Kovalam beach where the masses appear, but a little ahead where there are villas on the beach. There's a nice cafe too offering basic choice of food & beverages.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by narayans80

What you are talking about is right next to Fisherman's Cove. The approach road and beach gets featured in Mannipaya song of Vinnaithandi Varuvaya.

I visited by luck sometime in 2009 or 2010.

It is pristine because Taj maintains it. When we visited back then, no fee collection or walkway. But do remember it had a wall built all along with a small entry.

The actual Kovalam or Covelong was (10 years back) more of a fisherman's beach, not something you'd take your family along.

Agreed the actual Kovalam still is mainly fisherman's beach and frequented by fresh fish lovers for purchasing in the weekend.

The news I read about Kovalam is during COVID times Kovalam got selected by tourism department for international blue flag certification and achieved it. It may probably be the one near Taj. I heard that there is a entry ticket of Rs.10 towards the maintenance of it. I am interested if there are any water sports available now. I generally go to the beach near Thiruvidandhai - Vada nemmeli with my son. I will check this out soon in one of the coming weekends.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I was wondering about Kovalam.

Last time I was there it was not really much other than fishing. Has it gone too far the other way now, towards tourism, and got too busy?

To be honest, living south of Thiruvanmiyur, it is so close I could just go and look!

During the pandemic, middle class folks from South Chennai began using Kovalam beach as a workaround as the city's beaches were shut - there were no cops to shoo them away from the ECR. The car-owning 2% of our population used to drive past the Kovalam-Kelambakkam crossing and park all along the ECR (prior to the Madras Crocodile Bank - "MCB") and walk the ~1.5 km sandy stretch to the waters. This is the same stretch where the defence expo was held 3 years back; main battle tanks had ripped across these very sands back then. I guess folks got used to this stretch of the ECR as a destination at that point...

So this ECR stretch between Kovalam to MCB gets populated with parked cars even now on weekends. The Kovalam beach's expanse has now widened in the local atlas for the middle class these days.