Great shot, but the guy in the boat may have one better

Teo bottle-nosd dolphins paly at the entrance to the Whangateau harbour 30 july 2015 as a man wiith a camera in the dinghy misses the shot picture supplied credit: DENIS O'CALLAGHAN

Denis O'Callahan says he "got lucky" when he snapped this picture of a pair of dolphins diving out of the water at Omaha Beach, north of Auckland.

The retired 74-year-old has been living there for nine years.

He was doing conservation work in a bird nesting area on the Omaha Spit when, about 2pm last Thursday, he noticed some boats watching the dolphins.

Mr O'Callahan got his camera out and wandered down to see if he could capture them in action. After taking several photos he got lucky.

About six dolphins were swimming in the area at the time.

His picture created quite a bit of interest when he showed it around, Mr O'Callahan said, and would be featuring in the local residents' newsletter.

"It's a pretty spectacular photo with the two dolphins crossing over, one going clockwise, the other anticlockwise. It was very special."

He said dolphins could be seen swimming at Omaha Beach reasonably frequently.

"When there's a surf running, they sometimes surf in the waves."

Mr O'Callahan said the Whangateau Harbour in Omaha was one of the best preserved areas of water around Auckland, and was great for wildlife spotting.

It was relatively undeveloped and unpolluted, he said.

A seal had even been seen taking up residence there.

As for the other character in his photograph, Mr O'Callahan said he would love to know the boatie's identity. The man, who was also armed with a camera, may have some even better photos because he was so close, Mr O'Callahan said.

"I'd seen him a few minutes earlier with his camera on a tripod on the harbour side ... And then he suddenly packed up his tripod, jumped in his dinghy and went out to the heads."