Usually the biggest visitor at Porthkerris Dive Centre on the Lizard in Cornwall is the Basking Shark. However, on Friday September the 9^th as Skipper Mike, (owner of Porthkerris Dive Centre) prepared to row out to the Celtic Cat ahead of his charter with Lincoln BSAC, he noticed a dolphin circling it. On seeing Mike row out the dolphin chaperoned him to the boat. Then, remarkably it stayed with the boat for the whole 5 hours of the trip. When they reached their first dive on the Volnay, just 5 minutes from Porthkerris, the dolphin played with the divers on the surface for 45 minutes before escorting each buddy pair down the shot line before going back to the boat to escort the next pair. Even playing with them on the seabed.

When the boat returned to Porthkerris in between dives, the dolphin obviously noticed that there were more diver playmates on the shore dive ‘Drawna Rock’ so made its way there for a good half an hour to the excitement of a lot of happy shore divers. Snorkelers too were not ignored, and at times the dolphin came in to about 3 metres of water just off the beach where it enjoyed having its underside rubbed!

The beach was a buzz of excitement. Darren, one of the lucky divers said “I’ve seen some spectacular things on the shore dive here at Porthkerris; cuttle fish, seals, conga eels, and even a basking shark, but this has to top it”. Another diver from the Lincoln club said on facebook that it was the best day of her life! Another said that Thailand is nothing compared to Porthkerris for the diving, especially when you get to swim with the friendliest dolphin ever!

The dolphin, easily identifiable by a big nick in its dorsal fin, is famous for its friendly manner but hasn’t been spotted in the area for a while.

 It just shows that you never know what you are going to bump into when diving in Britain and that Great British diving should never be underestimated.

Many thanks to 'Lincoln and District BSAC 109' for these wonderful photos.