Amazing Footage of Dolphin Pod Joining Swimmer on Eight-Hour-Long Journey Across Strait

Adam Walker, a record-breaking open water swimmer, might have welcomed the pod of dolphins that joined him for his 16-mile jaunt across Cook Strait in New Zealand, especially since some think they were helping ward off something potentially more dangerous.

According to a New Zealand news website, a pod of about 10 dolphins swam with the British swimmer for an hour of his eight-hour, 36-minute journey. And according to one theory, they were protecting him from a looming six-foot shark.

Image source: Adam Walker/Facebook

Image source: Adam Walker/Facebook

Image source: Adam Walker/Facebook

"Rolling waves, big currents but more important than that [was] a dream come true swimming with dolphins [for] over an hour!!" Walker wrote, describing the swim on Facebook. "I'd like to think they were protecting me and guiding me home!!! This swim will stay with me forever."

Watch this footage of the swim:

Walker's swim across the strait is the latest in his attempt to complete the Ocean's Seven marathon, which involves swimming across the English Channel, Gibraltar Straits, Catalina Channel, Molokai Strait, Tsugaru Strait, Cook Strait and the Irish Sea.

Walker's Ocean's Seven marathon is raising money for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

(H/T: GrindTV)