great white shark dive

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UWphoto--awesome pics....looks like the cage is just
beneath the water.....did everyone get to see a White
in the water ( I mean was it luck of the draw if you were
in a cage when a shark went by)......

What level of divers were on your trip? Does not
look that really makes a difference the way the cages
seem so close to the surface.....
 
The pic I posted was taken at Isla de Guadalupe, Mexico.
September 25-29 2002.
11 different Great Whites in 3 days of diving!
It was the record until the first trip of this season when they had 12, then 17 sharks on the second trip of 2003! Unbelieveable!

Check www.sharkdivermag.com
at the shark report section for a report on this seasons trips.

The season goes from September through November.

I went with Golden Gate Expeditions aboard the "Searcher".
www.GREATWHITEADVENTURES.com
The boat crew were fantastic, especially the cook, as were the folks from GGE.
Lawrence Groth (GGE) is a very safety concious shark dive operator and I would recommend him to anyone interested. This is the trip of a lifetime!

There were 12 people on this particular trip, with a max load of 16.

It is a 5-day trip.
One day to get there, 3 to dive, and one day to return.

These trips seem to be a very meat and potatoes type crowd.
You are aboard a fishing boat converted to a dive boat, no mints on the pillow on this live-a-board! The bunks are tight, but who cares, you only sleep there. And if the sharks are around at night you won't be sleeping anyway...you'll be in the cage!

A skiff is added to the back for shark trips, where the cages are fastened to the stern of the boat. They are deployed on the surface making entry/exit fairly easy for a resonably fit individual. The cage construction is superb and easily fits 4 divers at a time. On this trip we only had 3 people per cage, which was great!
All of this years trips are currently sold out as Guadalupe is gaining quite a reputation as THE place to view white sharks.
This is only the third season for these expeditions.

You don't need to be an advanced diver for cage diving.
Just have basic common sense, keep arms in the cage, be respectful of others in the cage, etc.
The people on this trip were all experienced divers, with the exception of a few.
Cage diving is as easy as it gets, and in my opinion, has the greatest reward when viewing white sharks.

If you are considering going to Guadalupe, you might want to book now.
San Diego Shark Diving is 99% sold out for 2004.
I will be getting my deposit to GGE real soon for next season.

There is a third Guadalupe Shark Dive operator, but I would not consider going with them, due to what I feel is a lack of experience with Great White Sharks. I won't name any names, but it's neither of the two mentioned above.

Anyways, I hope that answers your questions.
Let me know if you have any more.
Bill Fisher
 
Just checked my link to the sharkdiver magazine shark report and it seems they have taken off the Guadalupe reports and put in some new ones.

Anyways, it sounded like the trips this year were great!
Bill
 
Sorry I missed you original questions !

There was nothing about the crew on the Horizon or SD shark diving that I didn`t like - honestly the boat crew and dive operator were all fantastic.

Plenty of in water shark time - even tho we ended up down a cage after a GW got her nose stuck in one and wrecked it !

Excellent camera handling - I had 3 cameras on the go and they were switch back and forth very efficiently.

Food was up there with the Aggressor !



Experience levels - we had everything from a couple of people who were certified a few weeks before to people with 1000`s of dives
 
Sounds like you had a great trip!
I have heard nothing but great things about SSD.
I would like to do the blue/mako trip with them.
Have you done that dive with them?

I am curious to hear more about the cage being knocked out of service in Guadalupe.
What exactly happened?

Bill
 
Remember that scene in Jaws where the shark gets stuck in the cage and keeps thrashing until it destorys the cage ...

It was the first dive of the trip - we were just doing a 30 min session in the cage to get familiar with the entry / exit procedure - no shark have ever been seen on the first dives - 20 mins after getting in a 12 - 14 ft female shows ups - gorgeous - cruising back and fore in front of the cages - what a rush - she check out the tuna head bait hanging next to out cage and decides to go for it - lunges and misses - but she does cut the bait line and the tuna head floats freely directly in front of the cage - she turns and takes the bait - great shots as she snaps head on to the cage - she keeps moving forward slowly and her snot pokes into the cage - the guy next to me jumps back ( as you would when a 12 ft shark is coming at you ! ) which catches her interest - so she moves a little futher forward with a short spurt of speed - as the cage opening closes on her she realizes she is trapped and starts to thrash = 4 divers pile one end of cage while she trashes the other in attempt to get free - 35 secs later shes out and away - we are left with half a cage !!!!


Things I learned - sharks don`t have a reverse gear
cages are for the divers peace of mine - if the sharks want in .. ot out .. they can turn that cage into metal matchsticks quicker that you can open a tim can !
When it comes to a life threatening situation - the men will pile BEHIND a girl and push her between them and oncoming nashing teeth
"Ladies first" gets forgotton when it comes to getting out of a mangled shark cage.


pictures from the trip are here

http://www.fish-tail.com/guadalupe1.html
 
That cage was mangled!

Since the cages are deployed off the stern...
how did you get back back to the boat with the front of it gone?
Did you have to hang on to the other side with one side open as they pulled you back to the boat?

I would imagine that as soon as the shark broke free she took off like a bat out of hell?
She was probably as scared as you were!

A similar incident happened to me at Guadalupe.
It was my first dive (2nd group of the day) day #1,
acclimation dive (no cameras)
and a 10 foot male got caught in the viewing port.
Sharks were present 5 minutes after we anchored!

He twisted to break free and found himself trapped.
After about 8 seconds of thrashing and making the cage almost horizontal,
he was able to escape.
It was quite an experience!
Needless to say, we never saw that shark again the whole trip.
The cage held up great though!
I couldn't beleive your picture.

Nothing like looking at a great white inches from your face while it's chomping the heck out of it's jaws. huh?

Yeah...I have to agree with you, chivalry is dead!

Bill
 
When the shark got stuck she pushed the cage under the back platform of the boat - one she got out - the crew pulled the cage back out and we climbed out of the top of the cage. Buit yes we were all standing in a cage with one side and part of the front open to the world !

Asoon as she was free the shark left - but we did see her a few times on later dives - which I was glad about - she took a beating trying to get free and she did cut herself on the cage - I was happy to see she was OK afterward
 

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