Maui's dolphin

Went out for a morning surf to Muriwai today.
Im happy to report that after a nice couple of days things were still lookoing pretty good......actually it was pumping so the call to venture out in the wee small hours definetly paid off in that respect.......but to hang out with 4 of the world's smallest and rarest marine dolphin was just "MIND BLOWING........"

0645 I was at the beach and by 0700 I was into it.....2ft SW swell with a offshore breeze.......heaps of waves about and a good crew.
About 15 minutes into it and as we were waiting for the next set to arrive one of the boys suddenly sat up on his board and peered down..........then let out a laugh....."Hey cool Dolphins!!!!"

30seconds later 4 Maui Dolphins surface not more than a board length from me and then they just continued on thru the whole line up.
As I said being "THE" most endangered species I have to say I feel pretty bloody lucky to see and to play with 4 of them and I know that the rest of the crew out there all really enjoyed the experience to interact with these special mammals.

So it was 20 minutes of us against them as they surfaced and swam between us and then proceeded to show us up by taking on the waves as well..........Ill say it again....MIND BLOWING!!
Some info-
The Maui's dolphin is considered to be critically endangered (World Conservation Union - http://www.redlist.org/) with only 110 between Dargaville and New Plymouth (see map)

They are endemic to New Zealand and are whats know as a inshore dolphin which means they are most frequently found within 1-4 nautical miles from the shore.

There may only be 60 mature animals left out of that entire population.
The adult Maui Dolphins are only about 1.2 to 1.4 m long and weigh about 50 kg.
They live for about 20 years and usually swim in groups of between 2 and 12 dolphins tending to hang-out in the same area for many years,sometimes for life.
They play in the surf and use leaves and seaweed as toys.
Maui's Dolphins will swim over to investigate people swimming or in kayaks and boats.

Set nets are the main cause of deaths amoung these beautiful mammals and
DOC http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/podcover.aspx?id=33265
WWF http://www.wwf.org.nz/dolphin/index.htm
the general public and various other individuals and oganisations have taken steps to ban the use of set nets within known Maui's dolphins areas............one can only hope that enough has been done to prevent the extiction of these dolphins........