A PHOTOGRAPHER got a surprise when she was joined by a pod of dolphins off the coast of Hartlepool.

Angy Ellis, a photographer and member of the Jet Ski Club at Tees and Hartlepool Yacht Club, decided to make the most of the warm Bank Holiday weather and still waters on Sunday.

She and three other members of the club left the harbour in Hartlepool at 10.30am and headed towards Steetley Pier with the intention of taking photos of the coastline.

She said: “One of the guys shouted ‘look at the edge of the pier’ and we spotted them. We watched them for a bit and they started swimming towards us.”

Ms Ellis estimated the pod to be between 25 to 30 dolphins. The jet-skiers swam with the pod until the water became too shallow for the dolphins and both groups parted ways.

She added: “It’s important to say that we respect marine animals so we weren’t trying to bother them or touch them, we just followed them gently and let them swim by us.

“We swam together all the way back to the pier. It was 15 to 20 minutes of fun.

“It was simply magical. We couldn’t believe it.”