Hi All,
I just got back from a Guadalupe White shark trip aboard the Nautilus Explorer. This is my second time out to Guadalupe, and this time we went late in the season when the big females show up. It is hard to estimate size underwater, but these girls were a good 17-18ft long! They made the males look positively diminutive.
They are magnificent animals and incredibly photogenic. As many people have pointed out they interested in the divers, but clearly not as prey. However, it is funny what they are interested in. One day I was standing on the back deck getting my wetsuit on while we had a strong wind blowing. One woman lost her glove to the wind and it blew into the water about 10 feet behind the boat. We were joking with the boat crew about swimming out to get the glove (to which they politely declined). At that moment, a giant white shark blasted out of the water and nailed the glove. The divers in the cages got great video of the shark chewing on the glove like it was a piece of chewing gum. The point is that like most wild animals, they can be unpredictable. Most of the time they were just cruising around checking us out. Just when you convince yourself that they are sedate steady swimmers, something small, like a glove floating on the water, can switch them to attack mode. It was truly impressive and humbling. Here are a few photos. It is hard to capture the size and scale of these animals. Enjoy.
Spectacular Sunrays on a Spectacular Shark by - drsteve -, on Flickr
Swim with the big fish by - drsteve -, on Flickr
Sharks like sashimi. Who knew? by - drsteve -, on Flickr
There are more at gallery at
