“I was blown away, I’ve spent my whole life on the ocean and I’ve never seen anything like that before,” dad Ricky told 9News.

And it wasn’t just the one dolphin, the entire pod hovered nearby.

“It would just dive in the water and jump up,” Noah recalled.

The curious interloper even followed the pair when they moved their tinny.

“We actually left [the] fishing spots and went a couple Ks away and it rocked up again. We turned around and he was almost inside the boat again,” Ricky said.

Bottlenose dolphins are known for their curiosity but this behaviour is unusual. Experts say it’s more common of animals raised in captivity.

About 35 years ago, dolphins were kept at Atlantis Marine Park in Two Rocks. When the facility closed, some of those dolphins were released into the wild.

“It was very friendly, and so was the whole pod,” Ricky said.

“[There were] up to around 20 dolphins, yeah they were just playing around the boat having a great time.”

The pod made a splash and left a lasting impression on the father and son.

“I’ll never forget that moment,” Ricky said.