Tutukaka's jolly jumper | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Northland's marine life has been putting on a spectacular show this summer, including this magnificent moment captured at the entrance to Tutukaka Harbour.

Those on the water have been entertained not only by pods of dolphins, but also by orca and sharks in the oceans around Northland's stunning 3000km-plus of coastline.

Marine expert Wade Doak said people tended to think increased sightings had something to do with marine mammals, but they were always around - "there's just more of us at sea".

"How can they play with people if they're not there? When we take to the sea we'll have more interaction."

A pod of 12 dolphins had been sighted around Phillips Island in Tutukaka Harbour on November 20 and two adults and a young one had "turned the whole village on" by swimming up Ngunguru River and doing flips on November 28, Mr Doak said.

Ralph Ruka  had been heading out fishing with his sister and mates on December 30 while other family members were doing waka ama training. During their afternoon outing they  had been spellbound by a large pod of enthusiastic dolphins. The marine mammals often played together in the bay, Mr Ruka said, but  it was the first time he'd seen up to 30 of them.

 One had jumped right in front of his 16-year-old son who  had been sitting in a waka.

"They were fooling around for ages - we stayed for an hour and left before them - we decided it was getting late for fishing."

Up to four other boats had stopped  for a look, including tour vessels returning from the Poor Knights Islands.

"We had a visitor with us from Sydney who had just paid $300 to see a dolphin in Australia  that didn't perform as well. I told him he could pay me $100."

It was Mr Ruka's sister Andrea who snapped the special moment, using a Sony Cybershot camera.

"We'd been trying to get that perfect moment and most shots showed the dolphin halfway out of the water, but when we saw this one we were buzzing."

Operations manager at Leigh Marine Laboratory Arthur Cozens examined the photo with primary vessel skipper Brady Doak (son of Wade Doak), and said it wasn't uncommon for dolphins to leap  so high.