Brittany diaries : An incredible dolphin encounter

On our last day in Brittany, we popped down to the port of Brest on the way home, to see the Recouvrance, which is a big replica schooner. We decided that the figurehead looked like a mermaid and took a few snaps.

Then we looked out to the harbour entrance and looked at each other in amazement as a big black fin appeared out of the water. My first thought was that it was a shark (a small one, not a Jaws sized man-eating one !) but Juliette squealed "Mum, I just saw a dolphin" ... and she was right ! It came right over to the side of the boat and just sat there. 

According to some of the locals, it was a dolphin that had been injured and rescued by the local sealife centre and, after its release, it keeps coming back to get food and swim around in the harbour.

It's certainly not scared of people, coming right up to the jetty where some of the kids even stroked it, before someone shouted down that you shouldn't touch it because apparently it has parasites (I have no idea what kind). 

Being well-behaved, law-abiding citizens, we stayed up the top and didn't venture on to the jetty that gives access to the boats, because it had a gate that was open but said you weren't allowed down there. 

Then, as lots of people started going down, we followed them. I thought he would be long gone by the time we carefully walked down the wobbly bridge but he stayed there for ages.

Eventually someone came along and asked everyone to go back up, then locked the gate, but not before we'd taken loads of photos and heard it clicking, splashing and blowing water out of the hole in the top of its head.

The kids were totally mesmerised - even the grown-ups thought it was a pretty magical experience, especially as it was so totally unexpected. It was only a spur-of-the-moment decision to go down to the port and we just happened to be there at the right time. 

It made it even more special that he was free to swim off whenever he wanted but stayed for ages. We watched him for about half an hour, then went to look round a few shops and went to see him again until it started raining. He was still there when we left !

 The perfect end to our week in Brittany.