Guadalupe Shark Diving

[Giap]

Altough i would love to see a great white sharks ,i fear that been stuck in a cage would only be interesting for a couple of hours,the time to take some photos.
What about the real diving ? I m sure Guadalupe has a potential for great scuba diving ,with the presence of many types of seals and a lot of fish life (the island been a mountain in the middle of open sea ,just like socorro or the islas cocos.)
Are there any operators on guadalupe that would allow "normal scuba diving" ,and not only cage-diving with fish blood and guts been thrown in the water ?

 

[phillybob]

How did you like the Sea of Cortez?

It was nice. While we didn't see any Hammerheads, the Sealions and Whale Sharks made up for it.

 

[phillybob]

Altough i would love to see a great white sharks ,i fear that been stuck in a cage would only be interesting for a couple of hours,the time to take some photos.
What about the real diving ? I m sure Guadalupe has a potential for great scuba diving ,with the presence of many types of seals and a lot of fish life (the island been a mountain in the middle of open sea ,just like socorro or the islas cocos.)
Are there any operators on guadalupe that would allow "normal scuba diving" ,and not only cage-diving with fish blood and guts been thrown in the water ?

If I'm getting good pics and HD video, I can hang in the cages pretty long. I don't know how good an idea it would be to dive Guadalupe. There is diving at San Benito, not too far away. There is a combo trip where you do both. The N.E. doesn't chum. Supposedly with two cages at 40' chum isn't needed. The sharks just come. That's what is supposed to be so great about Guadalupe as opposed to Australia or South Africa. And the viz and water temps are better at Guadalupe, too. I'll see in August.

 

[Giap]

Thanks ,
keep us updated about your trip.
apparently a live aboard from San Diego makes a combo san Benito/Guadalupe :
Nautilus Explorer - San Benitos Island and Baja California

 

[Giap]

Thanks ,
keep us updated about your trip.
apparently a live aboard from San Diego makes a combo san Benito/Guadalupe :
Nautilus Explorer - San Benitos Island and Baja California

 

[mwall04]

I've taken this trip two years in a row and planning a possible third year for August/September. If you love sharks or are even fascinated by them, this is the trip for you. Both times I booked through sharkdiver.com. They use the Horizon as their dive boat. The boat is solid, the crew is very helpful, Chef Marko is the best live-aboard cook around, Martin is a very safe, knowledgable dive master, etc...

The first year was a mid/late September trip. I was the first diver in the water on day one and saw my first shark within 5 minutes. I make 4 one-hour dives per day over three days. I saw great white sharks on 11 of the 12 dives. Needless to say, I came back with over 2,000 pictures of GWS's on that trip.

Year two was a very late September, early October trip. This trip was very different, but awesome non the less. I didn't see a shark (possibly one at a distance) on day 1. Until my 3rd dive on day three - nothing. Then Shredder, one of the larger sharks at Guadalupe decided to visit. I got several awesome photos from less than 3 feet from his noise. Stayed with us for about 2 hours before another large shark came in. Needless to say, everyone quickly forgot about not seeing sharks the first day and couldn't stop talking about their encounter with Shredder for weeks. Saw a few more sharks during the last day.

Both trips were worth it. While the first trip was non-stop action, there is nothing like have a 16+' GWS brush by your camera housing. The FAQ's are pretty accurate. More sharks early in the season, but the bruisers show up a little later.

I've heard good things about the Solmar and not so good about Aggressor, but will leave input on those to people who have been onboard.

Definitely would recommend this trip. In two years, don't know anyone who was disappointed. I know a couple dozen who won't stop talking about their adventure.

 

[Hollywoodivers]

I have been 5 times and we are going again on Sept 5th. So There is only one other place i would go this often if I could afford. Darwin Arch Galapagos islands. However, we are talking Great White Sharks and you won't see Great Whites at Darwin Arch.
I live in Los Angeles and Guadalupe is so close I can't refuse.
We have had people fly from N.Z., New York, Vermont, and even south Africans on our trips. None of them have been disappointed.
This trip is a lot like an African Safari. You travel to a remote area to see animals that could eat you, but they won't because you are inside the van or jeep. You take the long 300mm lens and the Lions lay under the tree and sleep.

Same here, you are inside a cage observing the animals from a safe area. And because of the clear water you can see the ones that are close to the cage and the ones circling in the distance. No sleeping sharks though. Unlike Lions, these huge animals are active. They swim right in front of the cage.
It is a blast. Can't wait to see more. BRING A CAMERA. Even a cheap camera will work. I have seen people with 15$ film cameras get some good shots.

 

[champ]

If I'm getting good pics and HD video, I can hang in the cages pretty long. I don't know how good an idea it would be to dive Guadalupe. There is diving at San Benito, not too far away. There is a combo trip where you do both. The N.E. doesn't chum. Supposedly with two cages at 40' chum isn't needed. The sharks just come. That's what is supposed to be so great about Guadalupe as opposed to Australia or South Africa. And the viz and water temps are better at Guadalupe, too. I'll see in August.

Technically it is against the law for the opporators to chum at Guadalupe; however, most opporators use "inspiration" when the government observers are not around. The N.E. and other opporators claim they do not chum. The mexican navy has a base on the other side of the island but they only have little pangas and the shark opporators can see them coming 45 minutes before they arrive at the boats. The government is also allowed to place observers on the liveaboards if they are not sold out. It will probably not be a very good trip if your boat (or another boat at the island at the same time) has an observer.

There is one outfit that does do some cageless diving (or at lest did in the past) with the sharks. I forgot the name of the actual boat (it was not the N.E. or Aggressor), but I found this link to Big Animal Adventures who schedules cageless trips.

Diving with Great Whites – Cageless | Divescover.com Blog

 

[Mossman]

Technically it is against the law for the opporators to chum at Guadalupe; however, most opporators use "inspiration" when the government observers are not around. The N.E. and other opporators claim they do not chum. The mexican navy has a base on the other side of the island but they only have little pangas and the shark opporators can see them coming 45 minutes before they arrive at the boats. The government is also allowed to place observers on the liveaboards if they are not sold out. It will probably not be a very good trip if your boat (or another boat at the island at the same time) has an observer.

There is one outfit that does do some cageless diving (or at lest did in the past) with the sharks. I forgot the name of the actual boat (it was not the N.E. or Aggressor), but I found this link to Big Animal Adventures who schedules cageless trips.

Diving with Great Whites – Cageless | Divescover.com Blog

Interesting that your article quotes Nachoum saying he "lightly chums" on his trips if that's in violation of the law. You'd think a written admission of flaunting the law would get him banned from the area.

Apparently the M/V Sea Escape is the boat taking the risk that its customers might come back in pieces. According to Nachoum's site: "... you’ll have ideal conditions for both in-cage and out-of-the-cage encounters with one of the world’s most misunderstood creatures. (Yes, for an additional fee, some of us do venture out of the cage as well, after thorough preparation and with very close supervision. We’ve been cage diving with the Great White in Australia, South Africa, and Guadalupe since the early eighties. With gradual experimentation, we began out-of-the-cage diving in South Africa. Since 1995, we’ve been swimming free with the Great Whites peacefully and without mishap.)" And again, on his site, the written admission that "we just chum the water lightly".

IMO, he and the boat are taking a big risk.