When a surfer finds himself in the line of a jumping dolphin, he gets more than he bargained for.
A man was paddling his surfboard at Manhattan’s El Porto Beach when a pair of darting dolphins appeared in front of him.
The dolphin leaps into the air, narrowly missing the man, who gets an incredible close-up glimpse of the animal.
Photographer Dave Weldon, 63, was in the right position at the right time earlier this year to record the remarkable moment.
The dolphin can be seen abruptly bursting out of the water in a sequence of images.
The animal appeared to be headed directly for the surfer, who was giving a’surf salute’ with his arms in the air.
The animal, however, almost missed him and swooped down in front of him.
‘It all happened so fast – I had just completed shooting a surfer on the left when something out of the corner of my eye drew my attention to the right,’ Mr Weldon said.
‘I hardly recognized what I was going to lock in focus when I snapped a series of photos catching the dolphin-surf interaction as fast as I could swim around my camera.’
‘Two dolphins are following the surfer a few dozen meters south.
‘Seeing the dolphins, the surfer lifted his arms in a’surf greeting’ when a dolphin suddenly caught the surfer, turned towards the surfer, accelerated, and jumped up while rolling up. ‘Left – appears to want a better look of the surfer as it dives back into the ocean a few meters in front of him.’
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