WATER users in Swanage were treated to a dazzling display by two curious dolphins earlier this week.

Kayakers and paddleboarders were amazed as the pair of dolphins were seen chased boats and inflatable towables in Swanage Bay on Monday August 16.

A member of staff at the water sports rental business on Pier Approach managed to capture the dolphins leaping high out of the water whilst on a boat.

Owner of Pierhead Watersports Phil Palmer said: “It was a lovely day, we had people out on Ringos and were going up and down the shore and the dolphins were chasing them.

“We took out as many people as we could onto the water because interactions like this don’t come around very often.

“They clearly wanted to put on a show, so we went back to sure and grabbed as many members of staff as possible and told them to come out on the water.”

Staff at Pierhead Watersports even visited the nearby businesses to ask if any of the people working fancied having a close encounter with the dolphins.

“We even went next door to the restaurant,” Phil added. “In the video, you can actually see one of the chefs from next door to us.

“We just ran into the restaurant and asked them if they wanted to come out and see the dolphins and the two chefs came out with us.

“They were out for around half an hour so when they came back, they had a lot of tickets waiting for them.”

The dolphins were seen out in Swanage Bay for six hours playing with the kayakers and paddleboarders and jumping in the bow waves at the front of the boats on August 16.

Bournemouth Echo:

Two dolphins were also seen jumping out of the water today close to the shores at Boscombe by a kayaker, left of Boscombe Pier.

The water sports equipment rental company also wanted to clarify that they didn’t pursue the aquatic mammals and Phil has urged other water users not to do so if they spot the creatures in the water.

He said: “With the dolphins interacting as they were, we didn’t need to get close to them. They came to us.

“There are really strict laws about the harassing wildlife such as dolphins in the water. That was part of the reason why we decided to upload the video to our social media sites, to show people that they were playing for us.

“Lots of people were looking on from the shore and some of them were probably concerned that we were getting too close them but what they don’t know is that they were really coming to us. We were stationary in that video.

“If you don’t chase them and actually ignore them, they will come and play with you. If you chase them, you will most likely drive them away.”