A family was given an unexpected Christmas present when a dolphin joined them on a boat trip.

Dawn Young set off from Portland Harbour on her boat Star at around 1pm on Christmas Day.

On board was her fiancé Martin and her daughter Kimberley, who was visiting from Swindon.

Miss Young said: “We went out in the afternoon, which was a bit murky, but my daughter was down so we were determined to do something special.”

According to Miss Young, the boat had hardly left the harbour when a lively dolphin began swimming alongside it.

She continued: “At first I thought it was a whale. It scared the hell out of me. This huge grey thing jumped through the air, it was spectacular. It stayed with us for a while. We were out there for around 90 minutes and it was really showing off, swimming and jumping up and down.”

Miss Young said the experience ‘made her daughter’s Christmas’ who managed to take a selfie on the boat with the dolphin in the background.

The family also got the opportunity to hear the dolphin make noises, and Miss Young said they could hear it ‘chattering its teeth.’

She added: “It didn’t swim away once and when we were heading back to shore, it came with us as far as it could.”

“It is the first time, we have seen something like that. I have lived here for 18 months but haven’t seen anything like that before.

“We’re hoping to go out again on New Year’s Day to see if we can see it.”

It may be the same dolphin that entertained rowing teams off the coast of Weymouth and Portland in November, and has been spotted in local waters over the past few months.

The Echo reported how both members of Weymouth Rowing Club and Portland Gig Rowing Club had been treated to an up-close experience with a dolphin.

Bottlenose dolphins are regularly seen along the coast, including off Weymouth and Portland and near to Swanage. A marine project based at Durlston, near Swanage, records sightings of dolphins in the local area.