Dubai fisherman Garry Mottram got a nice surprise while out on his boat last week when a pod of between 50 and 100 dolphins leapt from the water just metres away.
The fishing group had set-off from Dubai Creek harbour on their regular trip to relax with a few hours of fishing.
The first dolphins began to surface an hour or so into their excursion. “Every Friday, me and my wife Nula, or some friends, go out fishing,” said Mr Mottram, a Briton who has been in the UAE for 11 years.
“I was out with my wife, and we had gone straight out into the sea with The Palm on the right — that is when we saw the dolphins. “We had been watching some turtles and then the dolphins were everywhere. “There must have been somewhere close to one hundred of them, in pods of six or seven.
“They had made a big circle and were pushing fish into the centre, where they were then feeding on them. “I pulled my line in and just watched them dolphins jumping out of the water.”
Although sightings of this many dolphins so close to the Dubai shoreline is rare, they are more commonly seen further out at sea.
The UAE Dolphin Project, which registers public sightings, has not recorded any spotted in Dubai waters since February.
Those seen by Mr Mottram, who is from Derbyshire and works in construction, were most likely spinner dolphins, which feed on squid and small fish.
Other species found in the Arabian Gulf are the common dolphin, identified by a slightly longer nose and shaped like an hour glass from its dorsal fin to its head.
The Dubai pod were likely migrating towards shoals of fish, with dolphins known to consume up to 30 pounds of fish every day.
“We weren’t that far out, maybe half a mile,” said Mr Mottram. “I’ve not seen them there before. “I’ve seen two dolphins and a baby down by Ghantoot, but it’s the first time I’ve seen that many together.”