I'm jealous...just two weeks ago today I was at Guadalupe diving off the Horizon. Be prepared for an incredible experience once the sharks show up.
Heres a few tips and comments:
1. Several people on my trip got seasick on the ride from SD to Guadalupe even though everyone took something. My observations (disclaimer - I'm not a doctor) were that everyone who took bromine did ok. Strangely, everyone who got sick used the patch. What worked for me on this trip and everyone in the past is to start taking the sea sickness medicine 24 hours before you'd normally take your first dose. The instructions are 1-2 hours before your trip, so I took one 26 hours before my trip and again 2 hours before. I kept taking it every 12 hours until I hit solid ground in SD (just in case). The good news is that everyone bounced back by our arrival the next morning.
2. Pack some warm cloths. For me a fleece and sweatshirt did the duty. Although it can also get hot on Guadalupe, if there wind off the water, it can feel cold especially after a day of diving. Where the sweatshirt served me best was in my cabin which was very cool.
3. If you're on the Horizon, the food was outstanding. I still can't believe they turned out high quality meals in a small boat galley. You will not go hungry or thirsty.
4. The sharks and getting in the water is really why you're going. Be prepared for the sharks to look even larger than you thought. I've studied sharks for decades and have been on numerous shark dives, but wasn't prepared for my first great white shark. I was the first diver in the cage once we arrived at Guadalupe. I only had to wait about 5 minutes before the first shark showed up. I thought I was looking at a 20' shark. After consulting with our dive master, he confirmed it was only about 10'. We saw about 10-12 different great white sharks during our trip with 3 at a time the most seen. We also saw one mako shark and one blue shark. Its amazing how small they looked after seeing the GWS.
5. Be prepared to be cold sitting in the water for an hour at a time multiple times per day. Hoods and gloves were provided along with the wet suits and boots. Although I dislike wetsuit diving, I always brought the hood with me and started the time with it pulled down. Ended up using it on about 1/2 the dives. No used gloves since we were all shooting pictures. The typical routine is you get in, see no sharks and start to get cold. Then a shark shows up and you forget about everything...you could be naked with ice cubes floating past and you wouldn't notice the cold. The simple key is to get out of your wet suit as soon as you end your dive, dry off, and work on getting/staying warm. I'd drink some hot tea between dives. The reason for wanting to rewarm yourself so quickly is you are suiting up to get back in about 45 minutes after you get out. If you sit around in your cold wetsuit after you get out, it gets real cold getting back in the water. The average water temperature when I was there was 70 degrees. Doesn't seem that cold until you spend over 14 hours in it over 3 days. Secret tip if you're diving on the Horizon --> Right before you get in the water, go to the outdoor shower on the port side of the boat. It has really hot water. I used it to fill my wet suit entirely with hot water before I got it.
6. If you are going to be taking photo's, let me know as I have lots of info on that. The net of it
is you really don't need strobes since you are right at the surface in very clear water. Also, the cages get full with 4 people in them and if even one had strobes it would be a circus. If you want to shoot with strobes, the cages are usually less full towards the end of the trip. Besides the usual magic shot of the shark with jaws agape, some of my favorite photos of the trip were those I took from behind my cage mates. It put a human perspective into the photos. One nice thing on my trip is everyone shared their photos and video. Well over 4,000 photos and video as a group, so even if I missed a shot, I knew someone had me covered.
7. If you are taking pictures, stop every once and a while and just enjoy the exerience. Although it was hard for me to do, I didn't bring my camera on several dives so I could just watch the sharks. I saw so much more doing this...i.e. through your viewfinder sharks have solid black eyes, but when viewed directly you see they have blue lenses.
8. The sharks were definately there in #'s a couple weeks ago. I saw at least one shark on my first 10 dives. Sometimes we had to wait 57 minutes into our hour shift for them to show, but still made the dive great. Only my last two dives were without sharks. I was planning to sit out my last one, had my gear packed away, had taken a shower, and was back in street cloths when a shark passed next to the boat with 5 minutes until my shift. I proved it was possible to get in your wetsuit, hood, and boots, defog your mask, grab your camera, put on your weight harness, and be at the cages in 2 minutes. Of course, I got in the water and never saw a shark on that dive.
9. Finally, I uncovered an unknown curse at Guadalupe. I thought it would be cool to get a shot of me in the shark cage wearing my college's football jersey. On my last dive I wore our star QB's game day jersey. Got a cool shot but he had a career ending ACL tear that weekend. I suggest wearing only your rivals jersey.
Digest this and let me know if you have any specific questions or areas you'd like me to expand upon.
Regardless, you'll have a great trip and the sharks will blow you away.
