October 16th – October 20th, 2017 #TripReport (Guadalupe Island)

We had three days of cage diving in Guadalupe island with the great whites. The first day the action started around eleven; with sharks swimming around the surface cages and good action in the deep cage too. We had five or six different sharks during the day.

The second day was the best, sharks all day coming and going. They were very active chasing bait and a couple of times the animals breached going after the chunk. A couple of females were in the area, one of them probably four or five meters long.

The last day the action was more concentrated on the deep cage. We saw five sharks during the day. This day the sharks didn’t approach much to the surface cages. The big female came back a couple of times close to the deep cage.

In general, our guests were happy with the trip. For some of them this was the first encounter with the Great White and they were excited of being here; for some others this was the tenth time doing this onboard Solmar V.

Thank you all!
See you next season!

Pablo
Dive instructor
Solmar V

October 11th – October 15th, 2017 #TripReport (Guadalupe Island)

We arrived to Guadalupe Island in a sunny day. The crew set the cages in the water and everything was about expectation and wait. The Great White Sharks were in deeper waters and the first ones to surface arrived in the afternoon .A big female of 4 m / 12 ft was around the cages at the surface, when another 2 males of 3 m / 9 ft arrived to do circles around the submersible cage. The next day the action begun early and we saw 5 different sharks during the day. A big male of 3.5 m / 11 ft with few scratches in the face, another male of 3 m / 9 ft with a rope all around its head. A huge female of 4 m / 12 ft , massive volume, with a couple of pilots fish around was giving hard work to the wranglers, swimming from the depth to the cages at the surface biting and pulling the bait, when another male of 4 m / 12 ft showed up. From the submersible cage we watched 3 to 4 Great Whites at the same time. They've been passing close to all the cages, but when they pass close to the submersible cage at the 20 Ft / 6 m and under the cage was absolutely amazing! The conditions were perfect to enjoy this dives , the water temperature 70 fº / 21C º and the visibility 50 ft / 15 m to 80 ft / 24 m. It makes of Guadalupe the best place in the world to interact with Great White Sharks!

The last day the action remain the same, 5 different Sharks, 2 of them arrived in the morning and a female of 4 m / 12 ft comes close to the cages at the surface while a couple of freedivers of the Pelagios Kakunja foundation were tagging the Great whites out of the cages under the supervision of the recognized Biologist Mauricio Hoyos which has the kindness to give a presentation to all our divers, about his studies about the Great white Shark in Guadalupe. A wonderful experience in the Island, meantime we are heading back to Ensenada with nice conditions and waiting for more adventures to tell!!

See you soon !
Ignacio Hernan Leyro
Scuba Instructor
Solmar V

Crossing : Ensenada to Guadalupe : 20 hs
water temperature : 70 F º / 21 º C
Visibility : 50 ft / 15 m to 80 ft / 24 m
Weather : sunny -temperature 26 º C / 78 fº

October 6th – October 10th, 2017 #TripReport (Guadalupe Island)

Hi Al!

Guadalupe Island continue to be a great place for Great White Sharks. Visibility was ranging from 50ft to 80ft/15m to 24m, water temp 71℉/21℃, air temp under the shade 70℉/21℃, sunny days toasty 77℉/25℃, current was a bit strong from North, it seemed sharks were happy in it swimming tight circles around submersible at 20ft/7m deep, coming from deep water we were able to see that smile they have, lots of bite on them in a up close view,  eye contact was imminent constantly, in deeper very clear the display of dominance! 

The surface was also interesting, completely flat ocean, we can actually see those sharks right below surface, swimming so slow, going around the boat hiding under it to launch a ambush attack, at times ignoring completely the bait by swimming inches below it, they wouldn't even take it! Mouth semi open swimming showing white teeth, pilot fishes along with them almost rubbing its snout, back in deep water mackerel fish swimming along with sharks taking the rear part of it, using it as cleaning station, the panga ride is also something like “u must do” to see those little sea lions in shallow water, a few female elephant seals, the reef below the panga with lots of Garibaldi fish so orange color, even a few lobsters! We had to return to on board to do more cage diving, up in the sun deck cameras ready for half body breaching, sharks started to gather again counting u to 4 in front of cages, at the end of the day we had counted a total of 7 different ones from 2.5 to 4.5m long sharks, 8ft to 14ft long.

Dive Inst Daniel Zapata

Solmar V. 

Traveling time Ensenada to Isla Guadalupe 19.5 Hrs

Isla Guadalupe to Ensenada 21 Hrs

October 1st – October 5th, 2017 #TripReport (Guadalupe Island)

Hello all,

Once again the Guadalupe trip report 13; started on Monday October 1st to Thursday 5th.

The first trip of the last month of the season was great! We started our trip with a lot of shark activity. We saw six different sharks during the day, three females and three males. They were passing all the time close to the submersible cage and also going after the bait. The guest in the surface cages saw the sharks breaching a couple of times.

On the second day we had non stop activity starting around eight am until 6:00PM. Seven or eight sharks kept coming, one large pregnant female about 15 feet/5 meters long and also we saw Garmin, the male shark.

The last day was a quiet day, the Great whites were less active, they stayed most of the time in deep water. We saw four or fives sharks chasing bait during the day, two females included. In general our guests were very pleased about the trip, and some of them said that the encounters with the great whites were beyond their expectations.


Pablo Dive Instructor
Solmar V

Weather conditions

Wind 0
Clouds 0
Current 2
Visibility 4
Temp 72F/22C
Crossing 20 hours

September 26th – September 30th, 2017 #TripReport (Guadalupe Island)

Dive Report- Trip N 12 (September 26 -30)

Hi everyone!!

One more fun trip to Guadalupe Island to confirm that the population of great white shark is healthy and growing. The weather temperature was 26 ºC / 80 F, sunny and warm, perfect to go inside the cages and watch this magnificent creature of the ocean.

The first day we set the bait and chum in the water and we've been waiting a long time for the great whites to show up, but finally the first one arrived to say "Hi, here we are!" Then later another one came swimming so fast against the bait. We can say that we saw 3 to 4 different sharks.

The next day we moved to another location and early in the morning we had the first great whites circling near the cages at the surface. The water temperature was 72 F /23 C and the visibility was 80 ft / 24 m, very clean and clear. The action was non-stop. We had great whites all day patrolling the area, circling the submersible cage, splashing the water at the surface, showing us their dorsal fin and showing their skills as hunters within the bait. We saw 7 different sharks during the day, one of them was a big male of 4m / 12 ft and was sad to watch that it has a hook and a long fishing line. We also saw a smaller shark which was darker and he had some marks of a rope around its body. A couple of juveniles were very aggressive biting the bait, showing us their jaws and they had no more than 2 m / 6 ft.

The last day in the Island we watched 4 to 5 different great whites in the area and we had lots of movement of divers getting in and out of the cages. Everyone was very enthusiastic about this amazing opportunity to watch the apex predator of the ocean in a shallow water and safe environment. The cage diving in Guadalupe is because the good visibility and number of individuals! It's the best place in the world to dot this!! Another incredible experience with The Solmar V!! See you soon!!
                                                 
Ignacio H. Leyro
                                                   
Scuba Instructor