Here is a roundup of recent divemaster blogs from the Nautilus UnderSea and Nautilus Belle Amie, describing their encounters with the great white sharks of Guadalupe. Enjoy!
Woooo! Another awesome day here at Guadalupe on board the Nautilus UnderSea. Guests all were awake and ready with excitement to hop in the surface cages for 6 am sharp. Within minutes of our first bait, we had a 3-4 metre male white shark! After spending a bit of time observing this guy in particular, I began to realize it was a familiar face. His name is Luca Arnone (#163 in the photo identification book of the Guadalupe). Two years ago when we first met Luca, he suffered some severe entanglement in rope or fishing line that was possibly life-threatening. We made reports to local researchers about his condition and later heard back that they eventually caught him and cut him free of his entanglement. Glad to see him back in action and is looking healthy and bigger than ever! It totally made our day!
–DM Garret
What a great first trip of the season for us here on the Nautilus Belle Amie. It was a great pleasure to return to Guadalupe and the best great white shark diving on the planet. We had great encounters every day. The best of which for me was the morning of the third day in the cages. We had sharks come up from deep water vertically at great speeds (30Mph) and breach as they attempted to eat our tuna bait. It happened many times and we had four sharks around the boat all morning with over 100ft visibility. Great last day of diving on a great first trip back. Bring on the next one!
–DM Martyn
The great white season is starting off with a bang! We spent three days in Guadalupe and we have had very good shark action. We have had up to 3 sharks at one time every day, and consistent passes and strikes all trip long. The visibility just got better and better, on the last day we could see the sharks coming from beyond the anchor line! What an amazing trip. We are all so excited to be back with these majestic animals, I can’t wait to get back in the water for more!
–DM Casey
First trip of the 2018 Great White Sark season onboard of the Nautilus Belle Amie. So excited to be back after the last trip made last November! We had a good start first day; at sunrise, we were wrangling and in less than 15 minutes we had our first encounter with our beloved Guadalupe white sharks. On the second day, the visibility improved to 100ft, and we had 2 sharks at once. The water temperature is 21˚C, warm for this time of the year. The shark sizes are 3 meters plus, not as large as when the big females show up later in the season, but these guys are bolder during the wrangling. Warm water and a lot of action with males and young sharks, that is why I like to come and dive this time of the year (July and August).
–DM Pedro
Three days of incredible interactions. Breaching from white sharks on every day, pods of dolphins swimming past, flat calm seas and all varieties of white shark from 6ft juvenile males to 14ft pregnant adult females (early in the season to be here). A complete trip with such a great group of people with singles, couples, groups of friends and families (the youngest in the cage was 7yrs old!!). It was a great time and very interesting for us in the cages as well!
–DM Martyn
Today was an amazing day. We were wrangling from 6:30 am until dusk, and the sharks did not leave us all day, absolutely making our day! We spotted three sharks at one time, some getting so close to the cages that they made the divers a little nervous. Water visibility was not as great as it usually is at only 40ft, but there was no current, which made the cages very stable for taking pictures. The water temperature was 21˚C, not too cold for Guadalupe. Let’s see what is in store for us tomorrow, I’m sure it will be awesome!
–DM Pedro
What an amazing trip! I absolutely love the beautiful blue waters of Guadalupe Island. It has been a very sharky few days, we had shark sightings on every dive with up to five sharks at one time on some of the dives. The action on the surface has been spectacular, we have witnessed many breaching great whites over the last three days. The water was relatively warm at 70˚F, and the visibility was over 90ft, and sometimes even 100ft+. The ocean has resembled a lake as well, very calm seas and no wind. I can’t wait for the next trip!
–DM Casey
