Two playful creatures were waiting for the Michelssons next to their cottage in southern Finland. It was a sight to behold.
A rare sight of a dolphin at Pernajanlahti in Loviisa, southern Finland, on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Picture: Oliver Michelsson
On Wednesday, Oliver Michelsson received a call from his mother.
It was something about dolphins swimming at Pernajanlahti in the Gulf of Finland. That’s where their summer cottage is located.
At first, Oliver thought that his mother had lost her mind. But when Oliver arrived at the cottage, his brother surprised him with photos. They were photos of big fish taken by his brother earlier. Possibly, dolphins.
They decided to go looking for them with two small boats.
There were no signs of them at first. Oliver returned ashore. Then his brother called: “I’ve found them.”
Hurriedly Oliver and his sons jumped on the boat and returned near the islands where they had just been drifting in circles.
They shut down the engines. It was a quiet summer evening, the wind was mild and the gulf smelled fresh. Then—splash!
A video collage of the dolphins swimming at Pernajanlahti as filmed by the Michelssons.
Dolphins, two of them, a mother and a calf, approached them, slowly.
The mother dolphin seemed slightly bigger than their small motorboat, probably four meters in length from nose to tail.
The dolphins were playing close to the boats. There were clicks and whistles. “They were making very loud sounds,” Oliver said. “It was a surreal experience.”
Michelssons’ experience is the second recent sighting of dolphins in Finland.
There was one before.
But that was 70 years ago.
The mother and the calf are apparently Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, according to our research. Picture: the Michelssons
