Dive Report –Trip No.9

Dive Report –Trip No.9

Hello you all!!
 We had our crossing from Ensenada to Isla Guadalupe was more turbulent than usual due to strong wind but once arriving to Guadalupe, it was nice and calm. The sky was very clear, and we had a wonderful view of the Island. Once the crew set the cages in the water everything was very calm, no waves, no current, and at the beginning, no sharks.  We knew that they were around and we would see them soon though. Not long after, a medium size male passed close to the cages at the surface showing us it's dorsal fin. The first group of divers of the day got in the cages and noted that this Great White Shark was almost 3 m/ 9 Ft. It stayed for a long time around the surface and a bit later an smaller male approach adding more action and fun. Around the submersible cage we noticed that the great white shark circling around the cages was tagged with a receptor on it's dorsal fin, this shark was circling and moving around from the submersible cage at the 30 Ft/ 9 m to the surface. During the day we had 5 different Sharks; the biggest one was a female that was almost 5 m /15 Ft. long, she was huge and fat, quite an impressive great white.  It made passes around of the submersible cage opened it's mouth and then it went down from the 30 Ft / 9 m to 60 Ft. /18 m or more before disappearing into the blue, then coming back to the surface! From this cages straight to the submersible, passing right on top of us, showing us its white belly.  Many times it turning around and came straight to us with a very sharky smile, then turning and passing very gently next to us.  In the afternoon we had seen three great whites swimming from all directions, up and down giving us a wonderful day in Guadalupe. It was a terrific first day trip, to finish the day nothing better than Mexican BBQ on the bow, taco time and a birthday for one of ours divers!  During our second day, the water temperature was similar to our first day of diving 72 Fº / 22 Cº. The weather was very nice 26 Cº / 79 Fº. Early in the morning we watched a group of beaked whales, swimming in a group of eight, while doing the preparations to start our second day of diving.  Very early in the morning we got everything ready but  this time no signals of sharks during the entire morning. We were waiting and only yellowtails and massive yellow fin tunas swimming close to the surface were the main sources of action in the morning.  It was a a good time for the divers to relax, to listen music on the sundeck. Surprisingly we didn't spot our next shark until early in the afternoon. At 1 pm in the afternoon the first Great White showed up and disappeared.  After a few minutes another two sharks came into the area, one of them had scratches on its face, evidence of a fight.  They were juvenile males of no more than 3 m/9 Ft.  They were very curious about the cages, and then finally all the action started! We had eight great whites over the rest of the afternoon.  The smaller juveniles were all males, and were very aggressive and active at the surface! They were splashing the water, showing their dorsal fin, a big male was breaching close to the swim platform and they were swimming around until the last minute of the day! Our last day of the trip the water at the surface was 75 F /24ºC. The sharks weren’t around again for a long time, the water temperature was a little bit warm and it wasn’t very helpful to find them, instead the yellow fin tunas showed up again swimming very fast and entertaining the divers in the cage! Some others divers were having fun in others ways. Around one 1 PM a great white passed swimming quickly past the cage before disappearing. After couple of long minutes, 2 Great whites showed up and this time the stayed around the cages for a long time!  The divers in the submersible cage watched them but a little bit further it disappeared into deeper waters.  At the cages at the surface we've had lots of action, especially when a big male comes up to check the surface, it was a big male at least 4 meters /12 Ft long! It was very active, and a little bit aggressive towards the bait, it must have been really hungry!  We can say that we saw four different Sharks today, all of which very active and aggressive, showing that in Guadalupe they are always around and they can show up at any time .

Ignacio H. Leyro 
Solmar V
Scuba Diving Instructor