Over halfway through our Guadalupe Great White season and with still many experiences still to share, we headed back to the island and once more where treated to some of the best conditions whilst diving with White sharks there is anywhere in the world.
At this point in the season the Islands weather begins to cool slightly but under the surface of the waters, the conditions remain incredible. We had our first shark on the bait straight away on the first morning and throughout the day where visited by 4 - 5 different animals. The viewing on our first day at the island are usually from the surface cages and once everyone of our guests are feeling comfortable with those, we start deploying our submersible cage during day 2. For our certified guests, the submersible cage is often the highlight of the trip and during the next two days we where treated to some incredible spectacles from some very large sharks at depth...................
We started the day getting a fantastic surface viewing of Bella who has become one of our favorite sharks of the season (she is an absolute beauty and massive in size!) Then to add to this, shortly after, another huge female turned up (with a very different personality altogether) named “Tzitzimitl” which means “Air Demon”! If Bella is the princess, Tzitzimitl is the ugly stepsister! She is slightly smaller than Bella and is absolutely covered in bumps and scratches plus she lacks the elegance in shape and is incredibly stocky!
We deployed the submersible at this time and down we went..............Descending to 30ft to see the islands sharks has to be done to be described with true justice but here goes...........Once at the depth, due to the fantastic vis found here you gaze up from the tiny bars looking up at the underside of the boat and the surface cages with a 360 view of sharks in all directions. When the sharks swim above the cage it feels like a small truck had just swam past and as you look up and they show you their white underside, you see the huge bulk these animals possess as well as their spectacular grace in this underwater world. When Tzitzimitl swam past within feet of myself and many of our lucky guests, time seemed to freeze as we shared one of natures great and humbling experiences, that of sharing the water with one of natures great apex predators.I was lucky enough to have my camera on hand for many of her passes and have many images in my head of my time underwater with her. It was an absolute privilege. 
Day 3 and the action continued - “CoriB” plus 2 females played host most of the morning for our guests and again we kept rotations going thick and fast in the submersible cage. One of the islands classic sharks “Horizon” also made a very brief appearance as he stole a bait from one of our handlers (a trait for which he is famous!)
We left the island to some great weather again making our trip home a calm one and made me realize that, although it is the longest Great White shark location in the world to get to, Guadalupe Islands diving conditions have to be the best in the world. Its true, each location (South Africa, South Australia, New Zealand and the Farrallon Islands) offer something unique with these sharks, however, Guadalupe has to be the one to go to for the ultimate diving and underwater viewing. Long may the guests keep wanting to return here year after year and long may the sharks keep turning up and continue to grace us with their sheer beauty in these pristine conditions.................
Next up............our freediving trip!!!!!!!
Next up............our freediving trip!!!!!!!
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