Location: Guadalupe Island to Ensenada and return back to Guadalupe Island, Baja California, Mexico
Comments: You know the old saying “does a bear – ahem – in the woods?” Well today we had visual confirmation that at least one of the great white sharks of Guadalupe Island does indeed – ahem – poop in the water. And boy when they do, is there ever a lot of poop!! It was my turn to play at shark wrangling when I spotted a big female swimming under the boat. Something looked odd – as if she was trailing something. Some of our guests were watching from the hot-tub deck and shouted out “2 sharks,” “no, 3 sharks,” “no, 5 sharks,” “man, there are 6 sharks there.” By that point in time, I had figured out what was going on and shouted back “heck no, that is one very big shark taking a personal moment in front of you!!!” Digital and video evidence confirmed my contention. The amount of discharged material was quite astonishing but I suppose, not unreasonable for a 2500 pound animal that is 17 feet long.
Shark sightings were otherwise absolutely remarkable. We saw more white sharks today than I have ever seen before at Guadalupe Island. They were around the boat continuously from when we opened the cages at 06:30 am until dark. Our guests were so sated with the shark diving that nobody could be bothered to get in the cages after 5 pm, despite the number of white sharks still swimming around!
It will be a while before I forget standing in the dining room after lunch and pointing out the window at a great white shark swimming past on the surface. The uniform reaction from our guests was “oh yeah, we are too busy on our laptops to look out the window!” Incidentally, the number of sharks surface swimming this year has been quite remarkable.
Peter Benchley had it quite wrong in “JAWS” by the way – the caudal fin of a great white shark sticks up out of the surface just as far as the dorsal fin, if not further. So you always see 2 fins moving through the water with one of them swishing back and forth. Never just the signature great white shark dorsal fin moving through the water. Cheers from Guadalupe Island all.
–Captain Mike
P.S. Our last crossing from Isla Guadalupe to Ensenada was flat calm with virtually no motion on the boat. The return crossing was about average with 4 – 6 footers and some rolling but not a lot. Nobody got seasick either way.
Weather: Another beautiful day in Mexico, air temperature mid 70’s, clear skies, winds light and variable, low swell in our anchorage but mostly calm.
Water: Water temperature 70F, visibility 100ft plus.
