Isla Guadalupe with Nautilus Liveaboards?

[waves_221]

What did you pay? Duration of trip? Time on-site?

Bill

I
It was around $2800 per person. 5 days total. 2 days of travel 3 days of diving.

 

[togatown]

How does the diveop get the sharks to come in?

From their website:

"What makes our diving especially unique is that we use only the bare minimum of tuna bait necessary to engage the interest of the white sharks. Great whites are able to detect even a single molecule of scent which makes it unnecessary to subject divers to slicks of oil, blood and chum on the surface..."

I
It was around $2800 per person. 5 days total. 2 days of travel 3 days of diving.

We are at about $ 3200 each for same time frame.

 

[Premo83]

I was there a couple years ago on the nautilus belle amie. I very much enjoyed it. Great boat and crew. I have been on two other trips on the belle amie to Socorro since. In my case most of the action was in the deep cages and rarely at the surface. However I think they changed the dive operation, now most of the action is at the surface. I'm going back in October on the Nautilus Undersea.

Here's a short video from the trip a couple years back:

 

[FettSolo]

I scored a 50% off deal last year and went on the Nautilus Under Sea in September 2017. I'd been once before, with a different company. The shark experience was similar (always amazing!), but the boat and crew really stood out in comparison to my prior trip to Guadalupe. Definitely my best liveaboard experience. Nautilus will be my only choice when I head to Socorro.

 

[togatown]

We are definitely looking forward to the trip in October. I am curious about one thing: since the air supply is topside and you use a hookah type hose, I assume you don't use your own regulator? So if not, does everyone just take turns using the ship's supplied regulators? If so, I hope they disinfect the mouthpieces in between dives, lol!

 

[JulieM]

Yes, they dip the regulators in some type of disinfectant. It looked something like mouthwash. The crew is fantastic about helping divers into the weight belt harness and providing assistance into the cage. You will not wear a BCD. There is also a scuba tank in the corner of the cage in case something happens to your hookah air supply. You will have such a great time!

 

[togatown]

Thanks for that clarification!

 

[AZTinman]

I've done the trip for the past two years (2016 & 2017). I use a different operator than Nautilus. Photographs from my trips are posted on my website (www.cortezbluephotography.com). The operation I use is quite good and I've produced some good photographs during the trips.

Some of the white shark operations at Guadalupe had to make changes to how they were attracting sharks during the 2018 season. The practices they were using violated the Guadalupe Biosphere rules. One of the worst practices was the use of bags of chum placed inside the cages with divers. In 2016, this resulted in a cage breach incident that was filmed, posted on social media and went viral. The Mexican government addressed the violation problems with the operators.

The shark action during my 2016 trip was pretty much non-stop. In 2017, we had fewer sharks, but the sharks were bigger.

-AZTinman

 

[togatown]

I've done the trip for the past two years (2016 & 2017). I use a different operator than Nautilus. Photographs from my trips are posted on my website (www.cortezbluephotography.com). The operation I use is quite good and I've produced some good photographs during the trips.

Some of the white shark operations at Guadalupe had to make changes to how they were attracting sharks during the 2018 season. The practices they were using violated the Guadalupe Biosphere rules. One of the worst practices was the use of bags of chum placed inside the cages with divers. In 2016, this resulted in a cage breach incident that was filmed, posted on social media and went viral. The Mexican government addressed the violation problems with the operators.

The shark action during my 2016 trip was pretty much non-stop. In 2017, we had fewer sharks, but the sharks were bigger.

-AZTinman

Yes, heard about that incident. What time(s) of the year did you go?

 

[AZTinman]

Oops, just noticed a typo in my original post. Operational changes (elimination of the chum bags inside the cages) were made for the 2017 season.

In 2016, I made the trip in late-September. My 2017 trip was in mid-October. Both trips were enjoyable!

-AZTinman