WATCH: Dolphins playing in the sea off the coast near Scarborough

Fisherman John Huntley, 57, sent a video of bottlenose dolphins playing in the sea near Marine Drive, Scarborough this week.

Mr Huntley, who is navigator for Scarborough’s offshore lifeboat, told Scarborough News about the sighting.

“It’s a fairly rare treat,” he said. “I’ve been fishing out of Scarborough for five years and we don’t often see them."

Mr Huntley said that last year he had seen the dolphins just three times, but this year he has already seen them twice and in a much larger group as well.

He said: "I'’m only guessing as they were so Scattered, but yesterday there were at least 20. They were behind and in front of us, to the left and to the right of us.

“You can only really see them when they’re on the surface.

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“They split into two distinct groups, one group always seem to have the calves with them. The ones with the smaller fins you see in the video, they are the calves.

“Last Thursday there was an individual leaping at least 15 feet out of the sea. I’ve never seen them leap as high as that before. That was a pretty amazing experience.

“The dolphins actually came to me. There were two or three animals surfacing on one side of the boat and then diving under and surfacing at the other side.

“It’s always worth looking when you’re walking along Marine Drive as you can sometimes see them from the shore.”