Boaters often encounter pods of dolphins, even very large pods. But only rarely do they encounter “super pods,” which are formed when several dolphin sub groups gather as one, and few have captured this event as beautifully as photographer Chase Jarvis and explorer Mike Horn.  Check below for the amazing footage!

DJ Matthew Tyler
 Aboard Horn’s 110-foot sailboat off Cape Town, South Africa, as many as 10,000 common dolphins appeared around the boat, swimming in what’s sometimes referred to as stampede behavior.

Horn adds in the video: “Even after sailing around the world seven times, 140,000 miles, this was the real first super pod I’ve seen. We were just standing there and all of us were dumbstruck and all of us, all of a sudden had this massive smile.”

Scientists believe that super pods are formed either as breeding opportunities or large-scale feeding opportunities–perhaps both.

Jarvis and Horn filmed this spectacle for only a few minutes, from a variety of angles, using every type of camera they could get their hands on.

Source: GrindTV