Normally on a day out in Blackpool, you'd expect to see something like this.
Or this
Or, if you're lucky, maybe even this.
But one man got way more than he bargained for when he went to everyone's favourite seaside town this week.
After spending a sunny afternoon on his sailing boat, Simon Redfearn dropped anchor to have some sandwiches by the coast when he got some extra special surprise visitors.
A pod of 30 bottled-nosed dolphins are the latest visitors to Blackpool and have taken up residence just off the Blackpool coast, swimming up and down the coastline.
And they seemed to take a liking to Simon's boat, the Syrian Prince, leaping around it as the fisherman ate his sarnies.
Simon picks up the story.
"At about 12:30 we saw the dolphins, they seemed to be playing and showing great interest in the boat, weaving in and out and under the keel. "I was stunned at the sight! It had to be one of the most amazing things that I have ever experienced and consider myself to be extremely lucky and blessed."I ran quickly below and grabbed my tablet that I use for navigation and video-ed them as best I could."
Everybody got a bit excited
It turns out that dolphins in Blackpool aren't as rare as you'd think either.
According to Katrin Lohrengel from the Seawatch Foundation dolphins in Blackpool, or anywhere in the North West, is becoming more common.
"In the past few summers we've increasingly had reports of large dolphin groups, between 20 and 50 animals, in Liverpool Bay and off the North Wales coast, so it is no longer unusual to spot a dolphin from Blackpool."We are actually very excited by this sighting as there is somewhat a lack of awareness of the amazing marine wildlife that can be sighted in the North West of England and this video is a great opportunity to get people interested and involved!"
So will we see them again this summer?
Well, probably.
Katrin tells us that their presence is related to the amount of prey around.
"It would not surprise me if they are sighted again, especially as we have had a number of sightings from Liverpool as well,"
So, there we have it. Gone are the days of people trekking over the Atlantic to watch marine wildlife – you just have to come to Blackpool to enjoy these fantastic, friendly cetacean critters!
View this video on YouTube
Watch the full video of his amazing experience
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