Moko followed the Tauranga fishing boat Eskdale from the East Coast, into port, June 2 and was still hanging around the trawler the next morning. The skipper tipped off SunLive that the famous dolphin was in town, and I just happened to conveniently have a kayak in the office garage. Not the flashest boat in the fleet, mind you - in fact the old school hunting kayak in camo. Not that Moko is fussy.

The Bay's boaties could be in for an interesting time if the lone dolphin Moko decides to stick around.

I spent an hour scouring the wharves area of downtown Tauranga, was just about to give up, when I had the daylights frightened out of me as a 3m torpedo came out of the depths at a rate of knots, seemingly from nowhere.
As his first interaction with a human in the Tauranga harbour, he seemed enthusiastic to see someone at water level and charged around the kayak like a mad Labrador. He gave the kayak a couple of nudges from underneath, leaving me in no doubt that I would be taking a swim, if and whenever, he decided.

He rolled on his side as I paddled gently along, sticking his nose out of the water and nudging my paddleshaft. The minute I rested it on the coaming to take a photo, he whipped the paddle off the deck and took off. Circling the kayak, Moko tossed and rolled the paddle around like a band leader's baton. I paddled clumsily after him with my hands, but he was far too quick and agile, seeming to enjoy the game of tease.
He then took off under with the paddle, resurfaced about 100 metres away, then took off along the surface at high speed in the direction of the Mount. I was left to hand-paddle back to the harbour bridge to retrieve the paddle.
I didn't see him again till the afternoon, when he turned up napping along a buoy in Pilot Bay. After being left alone for a few hours rest, Moko came into the shallows at the beach, much to the delight of about 20 people in the water and about 50 watching from the beach.
Back in the kayak again, I thought I'd keep a low profile, mill around the seaward side of the bunch and get a few snapshots of the people in the water with Moko.

After only a few paddlestrokes away from the shore, it was clear Moko had other ideas.
His head popped up from the middle of the huddle, and a large dorsal fin came rocketing directly for my kayak. He'd either recognised the boat and "his" paddle, or was ready for a change of playmate. He zoomed a few circles around the kayak and then rolled alongside, the nose coming up again and demanding his paddle back. He was quite pushy, but not as manic as our morning encounter.
I kept paddling slowly along and he kept nudging the paddle shaft. So I let go and he pushed it away, balanced on his nose and took the prize back to his friends huddled in a circle.
I'd come prepared this time, with a spare split paddle, so left him to cavort with his favourite one. He circled the group of people with it, maintaining a distance just out of their reach. Now and then he'd drop it, but as soon as one of the young lads tried to grab the paddle, he whip back underneath it, and push it away out their reach.
We spent an hour in the water with Moko at Pilot Bay, him soaking up all the human attention he could muster. He was much more mellow and gentle in the shallow water with the swimmers.

Later I read of DOC's commonsense rules for interaction with dolphins. Among the perfectly reasonable guidelines to keep everyone safe, was the comment not to take man made toys or objects to the beach for Moko to play with. I had a chuckle over this, because there is only one rule, and that is: Moko makes the rules!
He can take anything he wants anytime from anyone. Get used to it!

So Moko could be here for the long haul, or he could be gone tomorrow. Who knows. Maybe he'll follow his favourite fishing boat out again, hanging around the stabiliser arm that he likes to rub against, listening to AC/DC on Eskdale's stereo that Sprat and the lads reckon he tunes into.
Or maybe he'll hang around Tauranga longer, seeking the human company that this oddball loner seems to crave. There's certainly plenty here to entertain, a large population of keen beachgoers and Pilot Bay is a great place for a hang out.
Also a lot of boat activity but also some hazards, with a lot of water traffic and a shallow harbour with lots of tricky sandbars.

Whatever, we really are privileged to experience this fairly unique interaction. I sincerely hope the humans make his stay memorable for the right reasons.