Who's Going To Guadalupe This Season?

It sounds like there are a few of us going on trips to Guadalupe this fall to shoot Great whites. I am curious how many others are planning trips this year. I am also look forward to reading your reports and seeing your images. I will be on the Searcher from October 4th - 11th and plan to post a trip report when I return.

Keith

I will be going on Eric's trip next August. Looking forward to reading your report. Stephen Frink has posted a good article on his website.

I returned from Guadalupe trip last week . I went on The Searcher, for the second time.

We had great vis and 2 days full of action, third day was slow . Vis was aprox. 120 ft ( you can see the anchor line from the cage) most of the time and water 70-72 F.

Tips that works for me:

Pack light , you will not need many clothes . A wind breaker is good for late afternoon and night. Use sun protection .

Spend most of the time outside , most of the time you will have interesting oportunities for surface shots and make editions or arrangements of your pics at night.

Take 2 camera bodies with you . That way you can have a backup if something happens and also you don't have to take your camera out of your housing for surface shots. Don't leave your second camera inside becasue you will have problems with condensation . Best thing is to have it ready to use inside a dry case around the deck.

Regarding lenses i found that most useful are the 12-24 mm and 18-70 mm for u/w and 80-400 mm + 18-70 mm for surface ( i'm nikon user )

Bring plenty of batteries ,memory cards and chargers , mark everything with your name to avoid confusion with the equipment. Also spares for your u/w equipment. Be sure to try your equipment befor the trip and don't leave any part behind.

I think that a dry suit is too much hassle i was great with 7 mm and 3-5 mm vest/hood and i am from the caribbean.

Stobe , useful when the sharks are very close to the cage , but most of the time sharks are around 6-10 ft far from the cage , at that range strobe is only good for backscatter ( it's crystal clear water but you will have chumming and bubbles around ) .

A fast reciclyng strobe is mandatory , the wider beam the better and must be compact and very close to the housing ( cage can be very tight if you have 3 other photographers with you ) .

Good luck

El buzo

Great info. Will keep this in mind for next year. Would love to see some of your photos. Are ankle weights needed?

Thanks for sharing.

YES YOU WILL NEED ANKLE WEIGHTS BUT THEY WILL PROVIDE IT , SO NO NEED TO TAKE YOURS.

ACTUALLY I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY COMPUTER BUT HERE I HAVE ONE PIC FROM LAST YEAR . THAT WAS ON FILM WITH A NIKONOS V .

SALUDOS

EL BUZO

THREE MORE TIPS

BRING 2 TOWELS . ONE FOR YOUR CAMERA AND YOURSELF ON DECK AND ANOTHER INSIDE FOR AFTER THE SHOWER.

WHEN INSIDE THE CAGE CLEAN OUT THE MICROBUBBLES FROM YOUR DOME .

A DOME SHADE IS VERY USEFUL TO AVOID TO SCRACHT YOUR DOME . NO MATTER WHO CAREFUL YOU ARE , IT IS A SURE THING THAT YOU WILL BANG YOUR DOME AGAINST CAGE´S BAR AT LEAST A COUPLE OF TIMES .

HAVE A NICE TRIP

EL BUZO

Thanks for the tips El Buzo! Sounds like you had a sucessful trip, I look forward to seeing your images! Nice to hear about the wet suit working out as that is what I am planning on bringing. Any water warmer than 50 degrees sounds like a bathtub water to me.

A couple of questions if you don't mind.

1. Did you stay in one spot for 3 days or did you move around to different anchorages?

2. Also, by the 3rd day, were some folks sitting out their cage rotations?

3. How many different sharks did you see? Were the same ones hanging around for the whole trip?

Thanks, Keith

A couple of questions if you don't mind.

1. Did you stay in one spot for 3 days or did you move around to different anchorages?

2. Also, by the 3rd day, were some folks sitting out their cage rotations?

3. How many different sharks did you see? Were the same ones hanging around for the whole trip?

Here you have

1- We anchored very close to shore , almost the same spot as last year and we didn´t move in 3 days.

The Solmar V was there when we arrived ( aprox. 100-150 mts. far from us ) and we share the island for 2 days . Then at the end of second day Solmar leave and early in the morning of third day the Horizon arrived . Last year we spent the whole time without any other boat.

By october you will have more boats, so you will share the sharks . It will be interesting to know how this will work. Maybe you will have more sharks maybe not .

2- First day everybody is hyper , by the second day some people skips some turns mainly if they are not photographers , third day only the hardcores doesn´t skip some turns. I was able to spend a lot of time inside the cage.

3- Last year we made a count and i remember that we saw around 14 different individuals . This time we didn´t make a count but i think that we saw at least 10 different ones including the smaller one ever ( as per Scott - the shark expert ) a beautiful 6 footer without any scars.

Most of the sharks are in the 12-14 ft. range and sometimes you can have several sharks circling the boat at the same time .

You will see that they have different moods and when you have a player around , be ready with your camera.

Regards

El buzo

PD. I posted 1 pic from last year . I will post more as soon i arrange my new computer , including my experience with the magic filter.