Playful dolphins leap to join surfers riding California wave. See ‘memorable’ moment
A photographer recently captured one of his “most memorable shots” in California.
Nick Liotta, a Santa Barbara-based surf photographer, said he was sent to Rincon Point, a popular surf spot in the area, by his company, Surfline, to capture a “crazy swell that day” in the water.
But he videoed so much more — a pod of dolphins catching a wave with surfers.
“It’s been going viral, which is kinda crazy,” Liotta told McClatchy News in a phone interview about the video that’s garnered more than 2.1 million views on Instagram as of Jan. 3. “I’ve never had anything like this happen before.”
Rincon Point is one of Liotta’s go-to spots for shooting, so on Dec. 29. he did his usual routine of setting up his tripod and waiting for the content.
“It was kinda towards the end of the day,” he said. “I was pretty much just hanging out with friends on the beach, about to leave actually.”
Liotta said dolphin sightings are normal, especially in that area, so he didn’t think too much of it when they “started to ride the wave.”
“They were just doing what they do,” he said. “At first they were barely breaking the surface, but I think a huge break coming through got them excited.”
Liotta, who’s from New Jersey but moved to California 15 years ago, believes the “bigger the wave, the more excited they get.”
To Liotta, the “dolphins did all the work.” He was just able to capture the moment on a whim.
Liotta said the pod consisted of six to eight dolphins and he’d “never seen them jump that high out of the water or that close to surfers.”
Liotta, also an avid surfer, said he’s seen a group get underneath his board, consistent of their curious nature.
“It’s actually a really welcoming surprise,” Liotta said about spotting the dolphin pod. “The area can get kinda sharkey, so it’s kinda a good omen when you see dolphins because they tend to scare sharks away. They’re just good vibes.”
Liotta said there must’ve been 100 beachgoers and 300 people in the water.
“It was cool to see the whole beach erupt when it happened,” Liotta said. “I shoot surfing pretty much every day, and as a surfer I get excited on high-quality surf footage. But it was cool to see the response from the whole world on this video because I think it can speak to the masses that you don’t have to be a surfer to enjoy that footage.”
But Liotta, although loving the support on the video, was caught by surprise when it blew up.
“It was insane. I made the post on my company’s account, and I didn’t have excitement right off the bat, so I posted it and went to bed, but when I woke up the video was exploding,” he said.
Liotta said capturing the footage has been “really eye-opening.”
“It made me take a step back and not take things like that for granted anymore,” he said. “Not everyone gets to see something like that, so I’m really fortunate.”
Rincon Point is in Santa Barbara County about 80 miles west of Los Angeles.
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