Photographer Captures Video of Awe-Inspiring ‘Super-Pod’ of Thousands of Dolphins |

This isn‘t the first time we’ve seen a dolphin stampede with thousands of the marine mammals, but that doesn’t make this latest footage of a rare, “super-pod” event any less epic.

Photographer Chase Jarvis from Seattle captured the event, which he describes on his blog as a “top 10 life moment” off the coast of South Africa. Jarvis writes on his blog that he and a colleague were sailing when the water appeared to “boil” with bait fish for about a mile — in all directions. He calls this a “ball of bait fish.” Then they saw the dolphins.

Photographer Chase Jarvis Captures Thousands of Dolphins Off Coast of South Africa

(Image: YouTube)

Here’s his account:

Only then did we realize we were experiencing the rare “superpod” of dolphins. Not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands of them — so thick you could have walked across their backs had they been game for it.

As they approached our boat and quickly surrounded us, our cameras were blazing…every camera, iPhone, point-and-shoot, DSLR, GoPros, every camera imaginable was firing off frames…until we realized that they were with us, and that the moment was actually too rare to shoot photos. After just a few minutes, we all put down our cameras, we stopped talking, and we simply took in the beauty with our eyes. In all of my days as a photographer, there have only been a handful where I’ve been witnessing / participating in an event like this and simply stopped shooting to take it in. This was one of those moments.