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| An awesome crew, team & group |
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| Lawrence Groth and James Moskito of Great White Adventures |
Thank you to Great White Adventures for dedicating time towards bringing people together to respectfully interact with Great Whites and learn how amazing and intelligent these sharks really are. Thank you to the captain and crew of the Solmar V for an outstanding job and making us all feel so welcome and comfortable...and keeping us well fed.
If you have ever thought about diving with Great White Sharks I highly recommend Great White Adventures, with sister company Shark Diving International, and the Solmar V. Everyone was extremely helpful and went above and beyond expectations. Everything was well managed from start to finish which made for a worry-free trip. The sharks were 'jawsome' and hung out all day, each day. Delicious and fresh meals were cooked and enjoyed by all. I really respect that the crew not only supplies the best shark locations but also educates us on sharks behavior, habits, awareness and conservation. I can't wait for my next trip with Great White Adventures and the Solmar V. Check our our video compilation for some of our jawsome footage compiled by Neil Sharkey.
We flew into San Diego on August 2nd and stayed overnight in the Best Western. I was so happy to spend time with my good friend Carey who is now stationed in San Diego with her husband Jake. She drove down to catch up over drinks and dinner with me since I was staying overnight before heading south to Ensenada where our Great White Adventure was to begin.
The bus picked us up at our hotel at 9:00am on the 3rd and we started our journey south to Ensenada. I met a few of the other group members and listened to James of GWA go over our first briefing. After about an hour we made our way through the border control in Tijuana and onto the Solmar V where we were to spend the next 5 days aboard in Guadalupe. We were greeted by the crew, had some lunch and another briefing by Lawerence Groth of GWA. We got our assigned staterooms, unpacked our gear, went over safety protocols and then started on drinks and getting to know each other.
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| Blue Whale Sighting c/o Brant S. |
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| Blue Whale Sighting c/o Brant S. |
It was an overnight boat ride to Guadalupe and although I didn't sleep great, I was still relaxed. I had never slept on a boat before but I think my adrenalin was pumping because I knew the real adventure was soon to begin. I was up by 6am and enjoyed a fresh breakfast of fruits, eggs, bacon and hash browns. We arrived at Guadalupe about 9am on the 4rd and were escorted in by a pod of dolphins, even a baby was along for the ride. Once at Guadalupe we had our dive briefing, changed into our swim attire and started our rounds into the surface cages. I was in the second group to get in the surface cages yet standing topside was quite enjoyable. We watched and waited for a short bit until our first Great White arrived. It was a known shark named CC, short for Cut Caudal. CC has been showing up on these trips for a few years now. He stayed around for a bit and put on a good show. It was finally my turn to get in the cage. Since we didn't have to bring out fins, BCD or regulator, it was nice getting in without all that gear. Except to keep us under water we wore a 35-50 pound weight belt/harness and weights on our ankles. After scooting carefully into the surface cage for the first time and seeing my first Great White up close and personal was beyond words. I think I had more water in my mask from my tears of excitement than the saltwater around me. I stayed in the cage for an hour before finally crawling out and warming up with the hot sun and some amazing hot soup that our chef, Tony, made. After we all had our first dip, it was free range. Whenever there was an empty spot in a cage, anyone could claim it. It was a full day of shark excitement.
7:00 rolled around and we enjoyed another incredible dinner this time at
the bow. The crew had grilled beef, chicken and chorizo, had fresh
salsa, flour and corn tortillas, and all the fixins for Mexican tacos.
It was delicious! I washed it back with a margarita and some beers and
relaxed on the upper deck on the lounge chairs reminiscing about the
amazing first day. I finally made it to my bed and could hardly sleep
knowing what was in store for tomorrow.
I rose to the sun coming up and the smell of breakfast. The morning sky looked the same as it did yesterday, dark and cloudy. However I now knew better, as the sun would rise, the clouds would part and give us another clear blue sky. Guadalupe has this amazing cloud formation that stays pretty much 24-7 and it almost looks like a waterfall, which I have dubbed a "clouderfall". Sure enough, at about 8am the clouds were parting and I was gearing up to get in a surface cage and great some new sharks. The submersible cage would be operational today so I was even more excited.
While the surface cages were being occupied a few of us took a ponga ride along the island and saw the Fur Seals, Sea Lions and Elephant Seals. There were hundreds of adult and baby seals all over the rocky shore and playing in the water. We cruised around for about an hour then were ready to get back in the water with the sharks. CC showed up again today along with a couple that were not distinguishable. Not to say they haven't been there before but the crew wasn't sure by their markings which Whites they may have been. I hung out in the surface cage for a bit until I was quite cold 
then got out and warmed up on the upper deck while watching the action below when finally it was time to get in the submersible. I was slightly nervous and excited 
at the same time. The decent was a nice slow, steady pace so it was easy to clear along the way down to 40' where we were then able to climb out the top of the cage and hang out in the blue as the sharks swam by. I have to say I really enjoyed the submersible for the different experience you get while viewing the sharks. We stayed down for only 20 min but it was worth it and I knew I would get more chances, so when we surfaced I went straight into one of the surface cages and stayed until I was shivering, hungry or had to pee...whichever came first.
Lunch was served, another hot, yummy soup and huge burgers. Everyone was cycling in and out of the surface and submersible cages in between dining on our delicious lunch. There were a few of us hanging out on the upper deck enjoying the sun when we were all in awe of the large mass approaching the boat. Finally we recognized it to be a Blue Whale, which swam right under the two surface cages and then under the submersible. I kicked myself for not being in the cage however being on the surface and seeing it was still an amazing experience. Thankfully one of the divers, (Matt S.) got a pretty good video and shared it with us all. The Blue Whale was the talk of the day and there were few instances when a cage was not full.
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| Hanging out of the submersible c/o Joe Murray |
As night approached and dinner was served a few of us enjoyed some cigars provided by Neil on the upper deck and gazed at the stars. I asked Neil to see if we could get the boat lights turned out for a bit and he managed to get the job done. Once the lights turned out the sky just exploded with stars, it was amazing! I have never seen a sky so clear of light pollution and full of stars. The crew was nice to leave the lights out for a good 30 minutes so we just laid out and enjoyed the view and searched for satellites.
The next and final day was just as good as the days before. Three sharks hung out with us all day, Meli, Harvey and an unknown one. I had two rounds in the submersible and was constantly in and out of the surface cages. Sadly final call came for the cages but it was still an epic day with great shark activity and beautiful weather. The crew started cleaning up and bring in the cages as we all got our gear rinsed and hung up and got ourselves cleaned up. We shared pictures and videos, watched some TV and dined on our final dinner, prime rib, baked potatoes and veggies. Margaritas
were being poured and we had started our journey back to Ensenada.
As you can see there were so many highlights of this trip, however another great highlight was meeting so many great and adventurous new people. I had such a great time getting to know everyone and sharing this adventure with them. Thank you again to Lawrence and James of Great White Adventures and the entire crew of the Solmar V, you all made this a trip of a lifetime.
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| c/o Joe M. |
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| c/o Brant S. |
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