Location: Shark Bay, Guadalupe Island, Baja California, Mexico.
Just a couple of passes down deep and a baby mako was seen before breakfast. The rest of the day was great! Most of the time we had 3-4 sharks coming and going for the rest of the day. A huge HUGE! Female with an enormous girth of maybe around 16-17 feet long came up straight to the cages both sub and surface. We estimated her to get on a weight of around 4000 pounds! You really feel small and the males that you think are impressive really look like midgets beside her. To sit in the submersible and get a big old mother like that passing over you makes you feel almost naked and unprotected even if the cage is very heavy-duty and designed by a naval architect (so it should hold…) This is our 8th trip with the submersible and becomes to be the crew’s favorite toy and very much appreciated by guests. You see the sharks from a different view and they definitely show interest in it. It has also helped to drag these sharks higher up, yet keeping them in an environment where they belong so that we could study their interaction in-between each other. Also, now we can get lowered down under the big school of mackerel that likes to hide in the shadow of Nautilus and witness tunas chasing them on horizontal level with the sharks. It is just great! Gives a new dimension to cage diving!
Again we witnessed the tunas tailing the great white sharks several times. A sealion had also decided to play with a great white. It is a bit funny to see the animals that are supposed to be on the Great white’s menu to be chasing the predator and even now and then to see the sealion nibbling the tail and playing with it. I suppose it prefers to be behind than in front of one of these Apex predators. We got a full breach from one great white not far away from the stern of Nautilus. We had sharks until we had to pack up and head back towards the mainland this evening. No one of us wanted to leave. Divemaster Sten and Sharkmaster Sam.
Weather: Sunny in the morning with a bit of wind that calmed down after midday and warm and sunny in the end.
Water: Underwater conditions very clear.. Easily 150 feet. 70 degree water temperature.
HUGE "momma" female great white shark at Guadalupe Island and a baby mako
