We are now well into the latter part of our 2012 Guadalupe season, and as is the norm here now is when we start to see the big females start showing up. The past two trips have still been dominated in numbers by the males, but the much bigger females have been slowly but surely increasing their appearances. Having our submersible cage surrounded by rowdy male white sharks is always exciting. To witness a fat 5 metre female great white shark materializing from the limits of your visibility and swimming towards you with the deliberate and supremely confident presence that they possess is another feeling altogether. Those big females are the ones that are here to remind you who’s the boss. Trust me, they are. Today we got a taste of that adrenaline-inducing encounter with one of our resident females here, Bella. Truly a beautiful shark, with her solitary pilot fish working hard to keep pace, she took over the show for an hour or so with extreme close-ups around the submersible and surface cages. One dive like that with a gorgeous female is enough to keep me going all day long. That being said I want at least one more tomorrow. Not to take anything away from all our male whiteys, we had at least 5 of them entertaining us throughout most of the day, including Chugey and Bite-face, two of the bigger males. A really nice first day with lots of sharks and beautiful conditions above and below the water, with two more days of diving for this Guadalupe White Shark expedition.
Captain Gordon Kipp
Diving conditions: Visibility 120ft, water temp 22-23C Surface conditions: Sunny skies and light winds, air temp 22C nighttime, 27C daytime
To witness a 5 metre (16 foot) great white shark materializing from the limits of your visibility and swimming towards you with supreme confidence is another feeling altogether – Guadalupe, October 15 2012
