The White Shark Experience
There is nothing quite as exciting as seeing a great white shark under water for the first time. They can be confused with no other fish, and you know at a single glance this is a serious predator. They will seem to be moving slowly, effortlessly, but something will give away just how much territory they cover with just a single swish of a tail. You'll notice the counter shading of gray above and white below, the black and empty eyes, the impressive girth, and of course the teeth. The very serious teeth. But as a photographer, it is all about proximity. How to get that beautiful animal close enough while you are in the safe confines of the cage? Even if you are a highly skilled photographer, without close and safe proximity, the shot can't happen. To that end, the first step in your quest is to go to where the white sharks are. White sharks permit their image to be taken only grudgingly, and that's what keeps us coming back time after time, wherever white sharks are found.

In South Australia, where sport diving for white sharks all began, there was a time when overfishing made encounters rare. I've gone on shark safaris there and found brief moments of exhilaration separated by endless days of tedium, simply waiting for a shark to show up. And those were the good days. On one trip I was totally skunked. Wrong time of year, wrong bait, wrong phase of the moon, wrong karma. Whatever the excuse, I came home with no shark shots that time. Now we hear the white shark populations are coming back again, and places like the Neptune Islands and Dangerous Reef are once again producing white shark encounters. We'll go back in February 2004 to give that a try again, but more recently, I've been going to places with a greater certainty of shark encounters.

We know from experience that South Africa is very productive for seeing white sharks. This past summer, we had a very successful shoot with numerous sharks each day off the world-renowned white shark Mecca of Gansbaai at Dyer Island. The challenges include turbid water and potentially rough seas. Still, South Africa offers the best opportunities for topside shots of white sharks, including the breaches documented in nearby False Bay, and the "jawing" shots made famous by shark wrangler Andre Hartman.

A new emerging favorite for white shark photography is Guadalupe Island, a 22-hour boat ride into Mexican waters south of San Diego. Noted for stunningly clear water and a large, albeit seasonal, population of white sharks. Doc Anes of San Diego Shark Diving tells me there may be as many as 100 white sharks around the island in October and November. Of course, there may be two to three boats visiting there in the heart of the season as well, for Guadalupe is no longer a closely held secret among the serious white shark community. For underwater shots of white sharks in clear water, Guadalupe is all the buzz these days. Naturally, our intrepid group of photo enthusiasts had to give it a try.

The Boat For those of you who have toured aboard "luxurious" live-aboards in the past, be aware that the 75-foot Horizon is not exactly that. She is more working boat than opulent cruiser, a fact that Paul "Doc" Anes and the San Diego Shark Diving crew are quick to point out. The boat spends much of the year hosting fishing groups, but she is well-suited to our needs for deploying shark cages and safely transiting 22 hours of open Pacific Ocean between San Diego and Guadalupe Island. Having said that, I think Doc and the gang understate the comfort level of the boat. There are only two heads, and they are up on deck, away from the sleeping accommodations, and not all the cabins are private (there is one section of the boat with simple curtained bunks). But she has a galley and a fine cook, fresh water, and a commodious rear deck for deploying shark cages. Maybe that's enough. Like Doc says, "This is a California dive boat. We don't put no stinkin' mints on your pillow. We give you sharks instead!"

Vessel Specs

• 2 Detroit diesel engines for cruising speed up to 11 knots
• Spacious sundeck, galley and dining area
• 2 auxiliary engines with generators
• State-of-the-art engine room firefighting systems
• Clothes dryer
• Full complement of electronic navigational equipment
• Circulating live game tanks & refrigerated game storage
• Unlimited free air fills to 3,300 p.s.i. from 2 compressors
• 110V household electrical current throughout the boat
• 2 water makers
• Privacy curtains on bunks, reading lights
• Full stern dive platform
• Carpeted & fully air-conditioned bunkrooms
• 2 heads, each with shower, and 1 deck shower
• Eight semi-private carpeted cabins
• Inflatable skiff, kayak
• 6 - 8 experienced, courteous, and helpful crew members

Day 1 This day is primarily about getting to the dock on time and stepping aboard the Horizon. A 22-hour steam lies ahead, so bring a good book, and maybe some sleeping pills. Actually, this is the perfect time to settle into the cabin, assemble cameras, and charge batteries. Preparation is crucial, for the shark action can happen very soon after arrival.

We had an exceptionally calm crossing, although the vessel appears seaworthy enough for a significant sea and is SOLAS-certified. Gratefully, we did not have to put her to the test. The highlight of the crossing was an encounter with a playful pod of Pacific common dolphins cavorting in our bow wake. There were easily 100 dolphins in the pod--sleek, acrobatic, and very fast. We amused them for a short while, and then they were gone. Otherwise it was uneventful, as well it should be.

Day 2 We got to the island about 7:00 a.m., and since we had been well-briefed the day before, we were all schooled in the safe donning procedures for the DUI weight system (a great improvement over a heavy conventional weightbelt, by the way, as it spreads the load over the shoulders and not the hips), and had our cameras well-organized. The first dive is kind of a check-out dive to acquaint us with the cage diving routine, but we are cautioned that there could be shark action even then. For those accustomed to the Australian routine of working a chumline for several days before the first white sharks appears (if at all), Guadalupe is a revelation. The crew saw a breaching shark when they were setting the anchor, and we saw our first shark no more than 15 minutes into the first dive.

They were a little timid at the start, but more sharks showed up over the course of the day and the action got progressively better by mid-day. We finally had as many as six sharks around the cage, although I doubt any of us saw more than three at a time. The big females ruled when it came to access to the food, but the smaller males would dart in and try for the bait as the opportunity presented.

The daily routine is rather frenetic aboard Horizon compared to other white shark trips I've been on. First, there is your personal shark rotation, which lasts precisely one hour. There are two cages, for four people each. So, each group of eight has one hour in the water, followed by an hour out. This really runs with great punctuality, so in the off-hour we had to download memory cards, put batteries on charge, and take care of any personal issues that might arise. Plus, during the dry time there were occasional opportunities for topside photos or polecam work outside of the cages. However, the topside photo-ops are minimal. This is an in-water cage dive shark adventure for sure.

Speaking of polecams, one of the local San Diego shark enthusiasts, Bob Gladden, rigged an interesting underwater view of the cage vicinity that feeds directly to the monitor in the main salon. This allows the deck crew to see when the sharks show up, although not with the field of vision and acuity of a diver in the cage. But it does give a good sense of the visibility at any given time. As we would discover, mostly it is quite good here, but the near shore water is rather turbid, as you might expect when thousands of pinnipeds take a dump. When the prevailing currents bring the shallows past the cage, visibility degrades. Whatever the cause of what they call "the mung," when it is upon us it does step on the visibility in a very real and substantial manner. Gratefully, the current blows it by as quickly as it arrives, and rarely does it seem to last more than 30 - 45 minutes. Of course, that's unfortunate when it is your hour in the cage and sharks are happening, but at least the polecam helps moment-by-moment diagnosis.

The in-water time proved to be a bit of a challenge. One cage seemed to get more action than the other (naturally it was the cage I was not in), and in any group photography effort there is frustration of seeing closer/better shots appear on someone else's computer. In the old days of film, you could always be content with thinking you had wonderful shark images already in the can, but with digital you know who has what right away. So, image-envy is part of this New Age, and like any competitive shooter, I wanted my images to be the objects of desire. When the action is in the other cage, it is pretty hard to be competitive, for this is not telephoto work. You should be there with a wide-angle lens while the action happens no more than four feet away from the cage. The morning was a bit exasperating for me, but in the afternoon my luck changed and I was getting reasonably close encounters as well.

A few quick observations from viewing the results from the first day's shoot:

• The best "bite" shots come from the end of the cage nearest the bait. Other positions in the cage are good for "fly-bys" and shark ID shots, but the greatest drama happens nearest the bait. No surprise there, but it does point to the need to establish some democratic rotation to the sweet spot in the cage.
• The water is very clear--usually. Sometimes there will be a layer of detritus from the island which can seriously hamper water clarity. But it comes and goes pretty quickly, enough so that the vis can change from 80 feet to 15 feet pretty rapidly. But gratefully it can change back again just as fast. Overall, we probably averaged 60 - 80 foot visibility, unless we drifted directly into the chum being ladled into the ocean from above.
• The cages are fine for four people, unless one of the four has giant strobe arms. You don't need lots of arms or dual strobes, although a single quickly-recycling strobe is a good idea. Especially for the early morning or late afternoon cage rotations.
• Even though we might have had a half dozen sharks around the cage this day, rarely would more than two ever appear in the same frame.
• Most of the shots I was taking were more at the 24mm end of the 12 - 24 zoom. So, from where I was in the cage, the sharks weren't all that close usually. But sometimes they did come within two feet, and those were my best shots of the day. Even in crystalline visibility, a shark photo 8 or 10 feet away will suffer in terms of resolution and color. As with any other underwater photographic subject, closer is better.
• A fast shutter speed is a good idea. At least 1/125th second because the shark is moving, but so is the cage. There are four shooters jockeying for the right angle, and their in-cage movements can make it tough to hold steady. The cage is closely tethered to the Horizon, so all the combinations of shark/boat/cage motion can induce soft images. I lost several shots that first day to camera shake. Images looked great on camera LCD, but when blown up to "Actual Pixels" in Photoshop some were just too soft to use. It hurt to pitch some of those in the recycle bin, but the bar for white shark photography has raised very high these days, and marginal images have no future. Digital images allowed me an early diagnosis, for there is no E-6 aboard Horizon and film shooters had to wait until they get home to see how they did.
• Sometimes the sharks seemed to like to dart in from the sunny side of the bait, not unlike a jet fighter pilot striking with the sun in his opponent's eyes. Other times, they just go for the bait no matter what. Their actions are variable, and as soon as you think you've got them figured, it seems as if they'll change the attack trajectory or even work as a tag-team.
• Artful handling of the bait is absolutely essential in bringing the action close to the cages, and prolonging the encounter.

Cage Diving Tips
Successfully working with white sharks is all about the bait. The chum slick lets the sharks know we have arrived, and a chunk of juicy tuna will be used to attract the shark to the boat. That's where the skill of the wrangler comes in, for it is his job to get the shark within camera range, yet preferably with the bait out of the way at the "decisive moment." This is a finely honed skill, and the wrangler is as important to the shot as is the photographer.

On our trip the water was about 69 degrees, although it can be as cool as 66 during the white shark season. Most of our guests wore either a dry suit or a 6 - 7mm conventional wetsuit. Even though the water is relatively warm (by white shark standards), you tend not to move much inside the cage, and it can get cold. Hood, hooded vest, gloves, ankle weights, and booties are critical accessories. The boat's DUI weight systems are typically set up with 40 pounds each, so we were able to weight ourselves very heavy, and still be comfortable.

Calm seas make cages far more comfortable. If it is rough, you'll get tossed about and it is tough to shoot. The boat anchors in a protected bay, so the seas normally remain pretty calm. Since the boat is rigged for hookah, there's no need to bring a BC, regulator, dive computer, or fins. Bring your favorite mask, plenty of thermal protection, and ankle weights.

Day 3
One of our guests volunteers for Shark Watch early this morning. These sharks are pretty sneaky, and a set of eyes in the water is more efficient than watching from above. Sure enough, a shark is spotted about 15 minutes into the Shark Watch dive, but in the next hour we see only fleeting glimpses of a cautious predator. In fact, this would remain the pattern all week--very light activity on the first couple of cage rotations, and then good action before and after lunch. I'd say our most productive images happened between 9:30 and 3:30 daily. As my friend Dennis put it, "I'll put days of preparation, travel, and cage time into white shark photography, but find it all comes down to 10 good minutes a day." You just need to be ready when those 10 minutes happen to you.

This day we had eight different sharks swim by the cages, two were impressively large females in the 12 - 14 foot range. The other thing about the cage rotations that can be frustrating is that it seems the best shark action happens five minutes before the end of your rotation. Women are prettier and sharks are friskier around closin' time. You know the logic of one-hour shifts, and you know if you were the one on the deck waiting you'd be angry to lose even five minutes of your allotted cage time. But when you wait around watching sharks in the distance (if at all) for 52 minutes and they get close finally in the last eight minutes of your shift, you know you'd better make it count. There is no overtime, only sudden death. When they bang on your cage signaling the end of your shift, you are done for another hour.

Paul "Doc" Anes

My prime 10 minutes happened late in the day. There were two sharks circling the bait, while anglers on the boat were fishing for tuna. The crew uses any fish that might be caught for food or chum, depending on the quality of the catch. It was my good fortune to have a tuna caught on 30-pound test near my cage, and the tuna's misfortune to attract the attention of a white shark. It happened so quickly that all I could do was to shove my camera out of the cage and snap in the direction of the white shark biting the tuna in half. But when I brought the camera back inside the cage and reviewed the LCD, I saw I'd captured the decisive moment when the shark hit the fish. The blood bursting out of the fish proves this was a live fish and not bait, and the sheer mass of the shark overwhelms what would have been a nice catch of tuna. This was my hot shot for this day. Good for the shark, good for me, but very bad for the tuna.

That night Doc Anes reminisced about how all this white shark diving came to be in Guadalupe. He first visited in 1986, not knowing what to expect but figuring from the maps there might be some pelagic activity off a big island so far into the deep blue Pacific. Actually, he saw very little that first trip and kind of wrote it off as a bust. Still, the potential seemed obvious, so in the early 1990s he tried again, with similarly unimpressive results. There simply wasn't enough good shark action here to justify the long cruise.

Then by the year 2000 reports began coming in from the tuna fishing sport boats that they were losing maybe 50% of their catch to white sharks. They were catching big tunas and landing only heads. The rest went to the "landlord" as they began calling the white sharks of Guadalupe. Time for another expedition, and this time Doc and his friends saw an honest 18-footer in the same bay they work today. Suitably inspired, they began running charters to Guadalupe, and have continued doing so over the past three seasons. Now two other boats have joined the Guadalupe white shark observation business, so it is possible to have as many as three boats working the same bay competing for the same sharks.

You may find the following link from underwater photographer Phil Colla helpful for general information about Guadalupe Island: http://www.gygis.com/guadalupe_island.html

Shark Photography Tips Underwater white sharks are the province of the wide-angle lens. Some recommended optics include:

• Nikonos V - 20mm and 15mm lenses
• Housed film SLR or full-frame Canon digital SLR - 17 - 35mm or 16 - 35mm zoom lens. Fixed wide lenses like the 20mm are good too, but modern zooms are optically exceptional, and working inside a cage you will come to appreciate the ability to zoom, depending on the shark's proximity.
• Housed digital - I most often used my new digital-only Nikkor 12 - 24mm as my primary on my Seacam D1X. See http://www.stephenfrink.com/seacam/1224zoom.shtml. A 17-35mm or 18-35mm is likewise a good choice. I also brought a housed Canon EOS1DS on this trip as well, and for that used the 16-35mm zoom. Incredible camera by the way, offering stunning digital files.
• Nikonos RS - 20 - 35mm zoom or perhaps 28mm. I didn't find the 13mm exceptionally useful, except perhaps to photograph others inside the cage or cage-to-cage shots. I did use my RS and 13mm as a polecam, however.
• Strobes - I prefer a single strobe that offers quick recycle, something like an Ikelite 200 or DS125. If you use other strobes with disposable batteries like an SB105 or Sea and Sea YS90, make sure you get some Nicad or Nickel Metal Hydride. You can't be waiting for a strobe to recycle for 5 seconds when white shark action is in front of your dome! Dual strobes are a pain in the butt inside a cage, both for you and your cage-mates. Plus, you are only looking to illuminate a single animal in a field of blue. You don't need dual strobes.

A note about TTL - The classic failure of TTL exposure control is a fish surrounded by a field of blue water, because there isn't enough subject matter to bounce the light back to the sensor. Like maybe a single white shark in the distance? I figure it takes a subject filling 75% of the frame for TTL strobe to be accurate. You'll need to know the ambient light level of the water, either by means of an external light meter or continual inspection of your camera's LCD. Figure your strobe to be fill light to complement the available light. Unless of course the shark is big, bold, and in your face (dome). In which case the strobe could overexpose the white belly and lower jaw of the shark.

For topside, I use a wide-to-short-telephoto zoom, and also a dedicated TTL speedlight. In the Nikon line, I find the 24-120mm with the SB28DX or SB80DX strobes to be versatile tools for the very rare times the sharks lunge out of the water for the bait. This is the hot shot in South Africa, but doesn't seem to be in the Guadalupe repertory. You won't be allowed to go on the island (Mexican regulations), so the topside photo-ops are really kind of sparse. This is about underwater sharks almost exclusively.

Ladling chum

Day 4 Clock is ticking and it is time to nail some more shark shots. This is the last opportunity, and we only have until about 4:00 p.m. before we start the long ride home. The Santa Ana winds are gusting hot and powerful, even way out here. They say it is 100 degrees in El Cajon this day in late October, and while I wouldn't normally worry about the climate in El Cajon, any breeze strong enough to blow hot wind over 150 miles of ocean is bound to make the ride in the cage a bit more challenging. And the ride home a bit more bumpy. But oddly enough, in our protected bay it is not bad, and the cages have enough spots to wedge into for stability.

Like the two days previously, the first hour in the cage is an exercise in futility. The 10:00 a.m. rotation does finally generate some good images for most of the shooters, in either cage. So, by now we are treating any images we get as bonus shots. I think we all have our "white shark ID" photo, and, truthfully, many of the ones I've thrown away this week are better than the best shots I ever got in Australia. So far anyway. For in-water shots of white sharks, Guadalupe exceeds expectations. Yet I'm still looking for the definitive "bite shot." Something to define the power and predatory force of the great white shark, and it is the cage dive after lunch this day that proves to be the best underwater shark action I've ever had the privilege to view.

For the first 45 minutes of this cage ride I don't think I snapped a shot, unless it was of the little fish feeding on the hang-bait taken out of sheer boredom. But that all changed with Ms. Attitude swam into the scene. First, she turned her attention to a "bait-cam" Bob had rigged. This was a small video mounted to a floating PVC contraption so the camera was prefocused on the bait, the theory being it would catch a close shot of the shark hitting the bait. The shark missed that memo though, because she came in from off-camera to the rear, trashed the PVC frame and cut through the video lead in a single gnarly attack. Then, amped up in attack mode, or maybe lightly jolted from just biting through an electrical cable, she came and hit our baits just a few feet in front of the cage. Compliments to the shark wrangler, for he prolonged the dual as long as he could. But inevitably the landlord got her share, and luckily I was there to see it. Big, powerful, and very impressive, this shark sliced through the tuna effortlessly. But unlike other areas where the shark will bugger off after snagging a bit of bait, these guys keep coming back for more.

We had two very active sharks, so each cage got a great show, but, fortunately, my luck remained strong. For this performance, I was situated in the hot spot--the outside slot on the starboard cage. This had offered the most consistently propitious camera angles all week, but it had never been my turn to be in that spot. This was my one and only chance for that spot, and to get the right real estate and a brazen shark made my day. Actually that 10 minutes was justification enough for the trip.

The action continued for maybe another half-hour, so those in the next rotation did well too. But by then the winds were howling, the anchor dragging, and it was time to go. Somewhat sadly we watched the cages get winched back on deck, but knowing we all had some pretty cool shots in the can made it easier to weigh anchor on this particular adventure.

In retrospect, Guadalupe was a damn fine expedition. I pray these sharks elude the longliners and "sport" anglers that are decimating our oceans. I hope that Guadalupe continues to be the world's best place for in-water viewing of white sharks. Maybe the Mexican government will realize what a rare and unusual place this is in the world and protect it, at least during the tuna migration which seems to be the reason these sharks visit Guadalupe the same time each year. No one knows what will become of the white sharks of Guadalupe, but my best advice to anyone interested is to see it at your earliest possible opportunity. I don't have enough confidence in human nature to believe this destination can be insulated from the greed of man. Unless something dramatically proactive happens, I fear Guadalupe will be one of those stories we tell our grandchildren rather than sharing with our kids. I hope I'm wrong, but just in case, now is the time of Isla Guadalupe.

Itinerary The following itinerary and information is courtesy of and copyrighted by Paul Anes, from web site http://www.sdsharkdiving.com/Guadalupe/intro.htm.

Day 1: Transit - Divers board the Horizon after 7:00 a.m. Store your dive gear on the sides of the main cabin. There will be a cabin assignment diagram located on the podium as you enter the salon. Stow you personal gear in your assigned cabin. Photo cases can go into the camera storage areas both inside the salon and on the camera shelves at the back of the salon outside. Please be onboard no later then 8:30 a.m. for check-in and orientation.

The captain will conduct a boat orientation and safety at sea presentation around 8:30 a.m. Then the chef will outline the galley procedures and meal times. The shark crew leader will introduce the shark crew and give a brief rundown on what to expect. There will be a videographer aboard who will be taping both topside and in-water footage for those who would like to purchase a trip video. We are scheduled for a 9:00 a.m. departure, which depends upon the cooperation of all the passengers. Once we leave the dock, the Horizon will travel through the harbor about 20 minutes to the bait barge to load on live sardines or anchovies to use for fishing at the island. This is a great place for photos since there are lots of birds and sea lions about. After loading bait, we'll head directly for Guadalupe Island, 210 miles to the south and a 22-hour boat ride away. For those who want to fish for some of the "big ones" at the island, a fishing seminar will be conducted by one of the crew. Afterward is the time to assemble your camera equipment and charge up your batteries and strobes. You want to be able to use your underwater cameras and videos just as soon as we hit the island. There have been times when the sharks have shown up before we've even gotten the anchor set. After setting up your gear, you can place your large camera boxes either in your cabin or up on the foredeck. Relax, take a nap before lunch, work on your tan on the sun deck, or watch for whales and dolphins. Following lunch the shark crew will pass the DUI weight trim system manuals out to each diver. Please read through the entire manual and sign you name on the last page to verify that you have read and understand the information pertaining to the weight system, then return the signed manual to one of the shark crew. After reading the manual, you need to find your weight trim system outside on the deck. The crew will have placed the weight systems along one of the rails. Your galley number will be on the weight system you'll be using during the trip. The crew will assist you and make sure the weight system is properly adjusted for your body.

Just before dinner, the chef will fire up the blender if you'd like to try one of his tasty Mango Madness or Mudslide drinks. If you'd like a cold beer, just ask one of the galley crew. Wine service is included with your evening meal. After dinner, the shark crew will conduct a complete shark dive briefing. They will explain the cage entry and exit procedures and in-cage etiquette. The rotations into the cages and "shark watch" will be outlined so you'll have a good idea of what the diving day will be like and also how the practice dive will be conducted. One of the shark crew will also present a synopsis on the individual white sharks we've been able to identify and their characteristics. See if you can identify them yourself during tomorrow's dives.

After the dive briefings, you can enjoy one of the shark diving videos or perhaps a feature movie. Most people find that everyone usually retires early during these trips.

Day 2: White Sharks - We should arrive at our primary dive site around 7:00 a.m.--hopefully the weather will allow us access to the spot. If not, then we'll have to motor down the lee side of Guadalupe until we can find a sheltered site to anchor and conduct the practice dive. As soon as the anchor is set, the cages will be deployed and the first group readied for the practice dive. The practice dive will last approximately 30 minutes. It gives everyone a chance to see if they are weighted correctly and that all their equipment is functioning properly. It allows you to run through the entry and exit procedures you'll be using for the rest of the trip. It is highly recommended that you bring ankle weights with you to help keep your feet on the bottom of the cage. After the practice dive (if no sharks have shown up), we will then go into "Shark Watch." Shark Watch is open to anyone who wants to be in the cages functioning as our eyes in the water. Often the sharks will approach the boat at depth and can't be seen from the deck. The shark watchers are our early warning system. When they sight a shark, they pop up to the top of the cage to let the deck crew know that a shark has appeared. From that point on, we begin the rotations. The reward for the shark watchers is that their time in the cage doesn't begin until a shark is sighted. We fill any empty slots in the cages and begin the one-hour rotations. The next group will be given a verbal countdown warning until the next rotation at 15 min., 10 min. and 5 min. before they must be ready to go into the cages for their rotation. Please make sure you are ready for your turn in the cage. That means that you have ALL you gear on, and are standing by the gate with your camera ready to hand off to the crew at the gate. If you think you might use more than one camera during your one-hour turn in the cage, bring all you cameras back to the aft deck and place them on the fish hold hatch cover. Please make sure you have labeled each of your cameras with your name and camera number; i.e., Jones #1, Jones #2. Duct tape and sharpie works for this. That way when you pop up in the cage to shout for a camera change and request Jones #2 we know which camera it is and where the camera is located. There's nothing more frustrating for the crew than to have a diver pop up and ask for a Nikonos with a 15mm lens that's somewhere in the salon. Heck, there are probably a half dozen Niks in there! If you are not ready when you name is called, then we'll just go on to the next diver. Pay attention! The rotation times will be posted on the marker board above the camera shelves at the back of the salon. The names of the divers will be listed under those rotation times. If you want to pass on your rotation, please let one of the shark crew know. We'll move someone else into your slot for that rotation. You've got plenty of options when you're not in the water--you can reload your film or video battery, fish for tuna or yellowtail, relax, sunbathe or take surface shots. Hey you're on vacation, you're supposed to relax and enjoy it! We will continue to rotate divers into the cages until around sunset. The cages will be pulled out of the water just before dark and the dive day will be concluded. Time to shower up, catch a couple of cold ones before dinner and perhaps view some of the videos taken during the day. The captain will usually make an announcement after dinner and one of the shark crew will do a synopsis of the day's sightings. The crew will rig up the fishing rods so if you want to help us fish for scad mackerel for tomorrow's chum bucket, jump right in! It's a lot of fun, especially if the squid show up! Most folks crash around 8:30 p.m. and sleep like rocks the first night on the anchor.

Day 3: White Sharks - The crew will have been chumming throughout the night to keep the scent in the water around the boat. The cages will be deployed at first light. Sometimes the sharks will hang around the boat all night so we might be going into the first rotation right away. If there are no sharks once the cages are set, then we will begin "Shark Watch." Again, once the first shark is sighted we begin the diver rotations, so be ready. There are often situations where there are multiple sharks around the cages. This makes for some interesting photo opportunities and surface shots. These are very intelligent sharks and quickly learn to modify their attack approaches on the hang baits laid out for them by the wranglers. If a well-focused wrangler jerks the bait away from the shark at just the right moment the shark misses and often changes its next effort based upon what it saw previously. Please give the wranglers plenty of room to operate. They often have to heave the baits out in front of the cages. If you hear "fire in the hole" watch where you are or else you could end up with a 20 lb. tuna head on the side of your face! You'll often hear us shout "Don't talk to the wranglers!" It breaks their concentration when someone tries to engage them in a conversation while they need to focus on the bait, so don't talk to the wranglers! We again continue the rotations until just before dark. The cages are pulled shortly thereafter.

Day 4: White Sharks - Hopefully the sharks will still be with us when we launch the cages at first light. If not, then its "Shark Watch" time again. Then into the rotations once the first shark appears. We will dive until just before 6 p.m. when we need to pull the cages and clean the boat. All the gear is secured for the return transit. This is the time when you must also secure your personal equipment. Make sure your gear is in a safe spot so that it won't be damaged during the transit if it gets rough. If we have time and enough daylight, we might do a short shoreline tour with the Horizon for surface shots of the elephant seals, Guadalupe fur seals, and California sea lions. Time to head for home.

Day 5: Transit - The Horizon should arrive at the dock around 4:00 p.m., depending upon the weather and strength and direction of the prevailing current.

There is no E-6 film processing available on board.

Gratuities: Live-aboard gratuities are typically calculated at 10% of the charter price. Figure between $200 to $250 for this charter, either cash or credit card, at the end of the charter.

FAQS

Q. What water and air temperatures can I expect at Guadalupe Island?
Generally water temps vary between 62 - 72 F depending upon the month. Air temperatures can be low 70s in the evening to mid-80s during the day. It is usually cooler when there is cloud cover. Do use sunscreen liberally during the trip. The sun can be intense down at the island.

Q. What is the visibility like on these trips?
Usually excellent! Many experienced and well-traveled underwater photographers and videographers consider Guadalupe Island to be nirvana for filming these animals. Over the last two seasons, the visibility has averaged 80 ft., occasionally getting better than 120 ft. On a bad day or when a "mung" layer swings out from the shore vis might drop to 20 ft. for a short period until the wind and current swing the boat away into better visibility.

Q. Will we be going to several dive sites?
If the weather cooperates, we usually will set up in our favorite site and stay there for the duration of the trip. We have found that the sharks will often stay in the area around the boat. We chum throughout the night to keep the scent in the water. Occasionally the white sharks will appear before we can get the cages into the water. There is an old fishermen's saying, "Don't leave fish to find fish"!

Q. How much dive time can I expect during the trip?
That's up to you. Most divers have averaged 10 - 15 hours in the water with the sharks. The rotations in the cage last one hour each. "Shark Watch" is also an opportunity for more water time. Believe me, you'll get plenty of water time, but there are lots of other things to do when you are not in the water. You can take surface shots of the white sharks attacking the hang baits or cruising down the side of the boat, you can fish for BIG tuna or yellowtail, or you can relax. Hey, you're on vacation, enjoy it!

Q. What is "Shark Watch"?
"Shark Watch" is open to anyone who wants to be in the cages functioning as our eyes in the water. Often the sharks will approach the boat at depth and can't be seen from the deck. The shark watchers are our early warning system. When they sight a shark, they pop up to the top of the cage to let the deck crew know that a shark has appeared. From that point on we begin the rotations. The reward for the shark watchers is that their time in the cage doesn't begin until a shark is sighted. We will then fill any empty slots in the cages and begin the one-hour rotations.

Q. What is the average size of the great white sharks at Guadalupe Island?
The white sharks we've seen over the last couple of seasons have ranged from a small 10 ft. male to a hefty 16 ft. female. I did see an honest 18-footer during the exploratory trip in 2000. Some of the guys on the boat thought it might have been 20 ft.! The thing to remember about these white sharks is that they get REAL BIG in girth as they grow.

Q. Can we get outside the cage to dive with the white sharks?
NO! Once you see how many white sharks and how aggressive they are at Guadalupe Island, you'll know why. We are using bait to keep the white shark near the boat; you don't want to be mistaken for a tuna!

Q. Can we go exploring on the island?
No. This trip is not geared for exploring the island. Guadalupe is a bio preserve. In order to go onto the island a special permit is required from the Mexican government. Before a foreign vessel lands on Mexican soil the boat must check in with the Port Captain at the first available port, Ensenada in this case. On the departing leg of the trip the boat must once again check out with the Port Captain in Ensenada. Immigration officials will check everyone's passport, and customs will search the vessel and all baggage for contraband. This takes half a day if everything goes perfectly. Upon entering San Diego harbor the boat must proceed to the Customs dock where US officials will inspect it. Again, another delay taking several hours.

Q. What kind of sportfish can we expect to catch during the trip?
Yellowfin tuna is the prime target for the sportsfishermen on these trips. We've caught them in the 40 - 60 lb. range and had one lost near the boat that was estimated over 100 lbs. It took over 1 1/2 hrs. to get the fish close enough to the boat just to see it. Trophy-sized yellowtail are also caught during these trips. Guadalupe is the haunt of the homeguard "mossback" yellowtail, as the big ones are known. We also fish for the scad mackerel during the evenings after dinner. They are "chunked" up and put into the chum bucket along with the ground up fish to create a scent trail to attract and keep white sharks near the boat. If the large squid show up at night, it can turn into a real funfest catching those things.

Departure: Weather permitting, the boat should get back to the dock around 4:30 p.m. on October 23rd. Of course, that is following a 22-hour steam, against the prevailing currents, so consider this anything but an exact science. Even though the airport is only 10 minutes away, I would be uncomfortable booking a return flight any earlier than 7:30 p.m. Even 8:00 p.m. might be safer.