Sept 14, 2015
Hola All!
On our latest journey to Isla Guadalupe, despite some stormy conditions in the atmopshere, the surface of the ocean was good to us!
16 hours after our departure, in the distance we can only see the clouds covering the island, but we know it is there! As we got closer to the area where the island is, we can start to see a hint of the island, wild and isolated with no visible life aside from the fur seals and elephant seals that call this place home. We could barely see the beaches of Isla Guadalupe, as the clouds rolling over the island touch the calm waters of the Pacific Ocean, below the water the apex predator of the ocean awaits!
We've got an exciting day ahead of us today, everything is set, our divers are very excited and don't want to waste a second on the main deck, then all of a sudden we hear the words everyone has been waiting to hear "SHARK! SHARK!" Just seconds later, a huge dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water just in front of the cages! This shark is easily 14' long. The first rotation of divers get into the water (cage) and from the surface we can tell with all the movement that they're having a really good time! This massive shark is named "Big" and he was actively going after our bait, over and over, it kept our shark wranglers on their toes! This shark had lots of stamina, it was the type of shark that if you were watching a movie, it would make you jump out of your seat! It was time for our second rotation of divers and the shark is still going! From the surface many of our guests got shots of the big great white shark launching half of their body out of the water with a wide open mouth showing lots of sharp teeth! A second shark came into the area, and we noticed that the first one went deeper as the second shark arrived.
Dolphins came into the area, about 6 of them including one calf, they didn't seem to be worried about anything, swimming in a relaxed mode by the cages, and then disappeared into the blue.
From our submersible cage, our guests were able to take in an alternative perspective to see the great white, we can see how quickly they change direction to go after the bait, swimming slowly with their mouths barely open, they swam by the cages, just feet away, allowing us a close look at scars, mutilations, skin wrinkles, freckles, all good identifying features, with 3-4 sharks at a time!
A combination of sun breaking through and drizzling made a rainbow appear between us and the island, we could see the dark island color behind it, with both ends of the rainbow touching the water, it was so close we could almost dig for gold while shark wrangling!
The return home was smooth as a lake, an extra bonus was to witness more than 1,000 dolphins near Punta Banda, close to Ensenada, a big thanks to our Captain Gerardo for putting us in the position to see this kind of action, and for giving us many opportunities for great shots for over an hour! In the end this was a trip with many sharks combined with lots of dolphins!
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata
Solmar V
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