A group of overseas visitors haven't been able to wipe the smiles off their faces after a pod of dolphins frolicked with them for hours in the Bay of Islands last week.
Charter operator Stephen Western, of Russell, was sailing with a group of guests on his yacht Kingfisher when they spotted a pod of four or five dolphins. They watched their antics for a while then continued to Lagoon Bay, off Motuarohia/Roberton Island, and moored there because of a lack of wind.
Soon afterwards the pod appeared in the bay and spent the next three hours leaping from the water in pairs and jumping over swimmers' heads. Mr Western's guests, from Germany, France and the UK, saw the passengers on other boats pile into the water and asked if they could get in too.
It was hard to say who was most entertained by the interaction, the dolphins or the humans, Mr Western said.
