A massive pod of dolphins put on a stunning display for whale watchers off the Newport Beach coast this week, creating a scene that looked almost unreal.
The extraordinary moment was captured Wednesday afternoon by Newport Coastal Adventure, which shared video of the encounter with KTLA’s Chip Yost. More than 100 bottlenose dolphins were spotted swimming and leaping together near a tour boat.
Instead of a few dolphins playing here and there, the animals appeared to be jumping in groups, putting on a rare, coordinated show for onlookers.
“What happens with the bottlenose dolphin is, when we spot them, we’ll cruise up next to them. We’ll be about 300 feet within the pod, and they usually turn and come right over to us. They love to play in the wake,” said Jessica Rodriguez, a representative for Davey’s Locker and Newport Landing Whale Watching. “So I think they kind of know the drill of like, ‘Oh, this is our play time when the boat’s out here.’”
Bottlenose dolphins can be more than 10 feet long and more than 1,000 pounds, according to wildlife experts, yet they still launch high out of the ocean in acrobatic leaps.
The remarkable sighting unfolded just off the Newport Beach shoreline and delighted passengers who pulled up alongside the pod.
“It’s just like surfers riding a wake of a wave,” said Rodriguez. “And when we get the boat going up really high speed, it makes a lot of waves in the back, and they ride along in those waves like a surfer. They have a lot of fun.” And, it seemed, so did the whale watchers.
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