We have just left Guadalupe Island and are heading back into the port of Ensenada in northern Baja California after our latest expedition to dive with the white sharks of Guadalupe. This week was an extra special trip put on by the Historical Diving Society. Featuring some of the biggest and most well known names in the industry including pioneers like Stan Waterman, Ernie Brooks, Howard and Michele Hall, Valerie Taylor and many more, this trip was a celebration of Stan Watermans 89th birthday. For those who are not familiar with the name Stan Waterman he was involved in the filming of the original Jaws, Blue Water White Death and countless other productions. His voice is one of the most recognized in the industry as a narrator for underwater productions. This was my second time in the past 5 years that I have had the pleasure of having Stan onboard and he is as classy, witty and charming as the last time. He’s an amazing story teller and he has a lot of them to tell! We delayed our departure by a day while waiting for what was left of Hurricane Paul to pass through the area and finally got underway late on the 18th. After the weather delay we enjoyed a very smooth transit and arrived in time to spend a quiet night at anchor before getting in the water the following morning. Despite the lost day we managed to have two great days enjoying the wildlife at this dramatic offshore island. In addition to the great white shark action we also had some really big yellow-fin tunas shooting around the cages and several california sealions nosing around. On several occasions I could see from my spot on top of the submersible cage 2-3 white sharks, a couple of sealions and a handful of yellow-fin tuna all in the same frame. Conditions this week featured a bit of everything. On the first morning a wraparound swell from the north made it quite bumpy in the cages. By the afternoon though it had calmed down and was calm and sunny. On day two the sea state in the anchorage was as flat as it ever gets, with sun for the first part of the day before some low cloud cover moved in.
Captain Gordon Kipp
underwater conditions: visibility 75-100ft, water temp 72F
