NOSTALGIA: Dolphins in Portsmouth Harbour    Â

There have been many sightings of dolphins and porpoises off Southsea but one reader once saw the mammals close up.Â
A pod of dolphins.A pod of dolphins.
A pod of dolphins.

 

Bob Thomson, now of Milton, was brought up at Rudmore and back in the early 1950s he and a couple of pals were sitting on the dockside at Rudmore Quay, which has long disappeared.

Bob says: 'One hot summer's evening, at high tide and 200 yards away towards where the royal yacht was moored off Whale Island, a pod of about half a dozen dolphins came to the surface diving over and under the flat sea.

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'A lone animal approached the quay submerged. It must have realised it had reached a dead end and, to turn back, it leapt high out of the water, twisting, before crashing back into the sea to rejoin its pals. It headed out to sea never to be seen again.'

Bob adds: 'It was the most marvellous sight and I have never witnessed anything like it since.

'It was a weekend with few people about otherwise there would have been more witnesses.'

The ferry port was built on the site so there's little chance of ever seeing that there again.

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