Dolphin encounter in Poole: 'It's like winning the jackpot', says paddleboarder

Ben Felton said he had “never experienced anything like this before”

A paddleboarder who spent an hour on the water with three dolphins described the encounter as “like winning the jackpot.”

Ben Felton and his friend Nick Woods, both from Bournemouth, were enjoying the water off Branksome, Poole, when they were joined by the small pod.

It appeared to be an adult dolphin – possibly a female – and her two calves, Mr Felton said.

In 12 years of passion for water sports, he explains that he has “never experienced anything like this before”.

Ben Felton (left) and Nick Woods spent about an hour with the dolphins off Branksome

Ben Felton Ben Felton (left) and Nick Woods sit on a silver jet ski on the sea - which is a greenish-blue colour. The sky is blue with a few lines of very thin, wispy clouds. Mr Felton is taking the selfie image. He is wearing a brown hat and a grey life jacket. He also has a pair of sunglasses resting under his chin and he has a line of white sunscreen running horizontally across each cheek. Mr Woods is also wearing a grey life jacket. He has shoulder-length curly black hair and a greying beard — Ben Felton (left) and Nick Woods spent about an hour with the dolphins off Branksome

“Nick and I have SUP (stand up paddleboarding) race boards and we like to get up early and put in a few miles to get in shape,” Felton said.

“As we carried our boards down to the beach around 5:30 a.m., we could see the dolphins bobbing up and down in the water.

“We paddled in that direction and they started charging towards us.”

At that point, Ben said he and Nick remained still and “floated with them for about an hour.”

“Cool maneuvers”

“They were swimming underneath us, upside down, doing really cool maneuvers,” Felton recalled.

“It was amazing, to be honest, like winning the jackpot.

“You go out to sea and you experience all these beautiful natural things, like watching the sun rise, but this was something else.

“I had never seen them up close before, just a glimpse as they passed by, but they were really interacting with us.”

He added: “I didn’t want to go in the water with them, they were so big and so fast.

“It was exciting but also a little scary.”

The Dorset Wildlife Trust advises people who spot a marine mammal at sea to “maintain a distance of at least 100m (330ft)” and, if they approach you, to “maintain a steady speed and allow them to interact on their own terms and leave at will”.

Several species of dolphins are found off Dorset, including the big nose and the common.