Moko, the bottlenosed dolphin, resident at Gisborne's Waikanae beach this summer, is believed to be heading north and could be coming to Tauranga.
Fishermen on the Gisborne trawler Eskdale reported Moko following them for the entire length of the East Cape on Wednesday.

File picture.

Moko is believed by Gisborne observers to have followed a fishing boat when he left Mahia for Gisborne last year.
Gisborne's Waikanae Surf Club manager Gary Stevens reports mixed feelings about Moko's departure.
'He's a pain for watersports people because he keeps disturbing their craft or stealing their paddles,” says Gary.
'Some people are pleased he has gone, but he's been a huge attraction. He's brought a lot of people into town. He just goes looking for the crowds, so he's liable to turn up at Mount Maunganui.”
Tauranga's Graeme Butler, skipper of ‘Butler's Swim With Dolpins', says there have recently been lots of bottle nose dolphin pods relatively close to the coast, usually near the entrances or Karewa – Motiti.
At sea, solitary bottlenose dolphins have been seen in company with large pods of pilot whales.
If Moko does show up in the Western Bay of Plenty, his advice is to treat him 'politely”, unlike the jetskier he saw recently circling orca in Tauranga Harbour at speed, or the boaties harassing a pod of orca in Tauranga Harbour with screaming children bow riding.
While Moko's sojourn in Gisborne appears to have been relatively brief, some like Fungie in Dingle Ireland have become fixtures. Fungie has been a Dingle resident for 20 years.
Debbie Gregory at the Gisborne Herald says Moko followed the trawler Eskdale from Gisborne. The Eskdale departed Gisborne on Wednesday, heading for Auckland via Tauranga. On Saturday the crew reported Moko was still following the boat.
The trawler wasn't in port at Tauranga today, Monday.
Moko was first seen off the Mokotahi headland at Mahia in 2007 by Mahia's Bill Shortt, who named him Moko.
The three-year-old dolphin received worldwide fame when he rescued two pygmy sperm whales at Mahia in March 2008.
Moko left Mahia in August 2007, turning up in Gisborne in August 2007.
He cruised on to Tolaga Bay a week later, stayed a while at the end of the wharf and was also seen a little further up the coast at Anaura before returning to Gisborne mid-October.