Shane Crabtree captured an incredible video of dolphins racing through a backwater canal near Sirenia Vista Park in Cape Coral, nearly knocking him off his paddleboard. “They’ll fish and you’ll see a fin here and they’re going past, but not like they did when they ripped past us this time,” Crabtree said. The man behind the camera said dolphins were moving at an impressive speed. “These dolphins were doing 20 miles an hour up the canal, chasing something straight at us,” Crabtree said. I got the perfect video of them, and they almost knocked me off my board.”The unusual sighting occurred in a part of the waterway that is typically too shallow for dolphins, but the high tide made it accessible. “They’ve never been that far in because it was normally, it would probably be knee-deep water,” Crabtree said. “This is somewhere they normally could not get to, but the tide it was probably almost waist-deep and their fins were out of the water because they couldn’t get any deeper. They were cruising.”Experts were not surprised by the dolphins’ behavior, explaining that high tide brings food closer to the surface. Abigail Haddock from the Dolphin Research Center said, “They’re going to go where there’s easy prey to catch. If that affects the fish in that area, it’s also going to affect the dolphins.”The expert with the Dolphin Research Center also noted that Crabtree and his group did everything right during the encounter and emphasized the importance of being aware of wildlife while on the water. “I think a lot of people love dolphins and want to get them close and see them, but unfortunately, that can lead to things like illegal feeding of wild dolphins,” Haddock said. “It can cause them to ingest things they shouldn’t if people feed them inappropriate things, it causes them to come into conflict with fishermen.”Crabtree expressed his gratitude for witnessing the dolphins’ display, saying, “You don’t get to see stuff like that all the time, so it was really cool.”DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.

CAPE CORAL, Fla. —

Shane Crabtree captured an incredible video of dolphins racing through a backwater canal near Sirenia Vista Park in Cape Coral, nearly knocking him off his paddleboard.

“They’ll fish and you’ll see a fin here and they’re going past, but not like they did when they ripped past us this time,” Crabtree said.

The man behind the camera said dolphins were moving at an impressive speed.

“These dolphins were doing 20 miles an hour up the canal, chasing something straight at us,” Crabtree said. I got the perfect video of them, and they almost knocked me off my board.”

The unusual sighting occurred in a part of the waterway that is typically too shallow for dolphins, but the high tide made it accessible.

“They’ve never been that far in because it was normally, it would probably be knee-deep water,” Crabtree said. “This is somewhere they normally could not get to, but the tide it was probably almost waist-deep and their fins were out of the water because they couldn’t get any deeper. They were cruising.”

Experts were not surprised by the dolphins’ behavior, explaining that high tide brings food closer to the surface. Abigail Haddock from the Dolphin Research Center said, “They’re going to go where there’s easy prey to catch. If that affects the fish in that area, it’s also going to affect the dolphins.”

The expert with the Dolphin Research Center also noted that Crabtree and his group did everything right during the encounter and emphasized the importance of being aware of wildlife while on the water.

“I think a lot of people love dolphins and want to get them close and see them, but unfortunately, that can lead to things like illegal feeding of wild dolphins,” Haddock said. “It can cause them to ingest things they shouldn’t if people feed them inappropriate things, it causes them to come into conflict with fishermen.”

Crabtree expressed his gratitude for witnessing the dolphins’ display, saying, “You don’t get to see stuff like that all the time, so it was really cool.”

DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.