Our first day of diving at Guadalupe started out a bit slow. Calm conditions, a beautiful sunrise and our first diver in the cages before 7am, but shark sightings remained few and far between for most of the morning. The first round of submersible dives surfaced with only a few reports of sharks deep and shy from the cages.
Finally, around 10am, a large splash and excited yells of “SHARK!” from the dive deck marked our first big breach of the day by large female Persephone (ID #210). Cameras were grabbed by all possible free hands and cages filled quickly. From the submersible cages, we had beautiful visibility all the way to the anchor chain, 20C water temperature, and only a few scattered mackerel scad as we enjoyed some great interactions from the sharks.
Shark action remained consistent throughout the water column for the rest of the day, with at least 6 different sharks sighted, including some incredibly close circles by large male Kenric (ID #149) and female Persephone, as well as brief sightings of SadFace and a tagged, very speedy juvenile. We often had two or three sharks around at once, keeping us on our toes as they came from every direction and provided amazing first day photo opportunities.
After some great dives and sharing photos for Shark ID, we concluded our first day with an awesome taco fiesta on the top deck of the Nautilus Explorer. All guests are very excited about the action from our first day and can’t wait to see what we encounter tomorrow.
– Divemaster Maya Santangelo, Australia
First day photo opportunities
