Chris' Dive Experiences: Cage Diving With The Great White Sharks Of Guadalupe Island (Part 1)

Photo courtesy of Lesley Alstrand

Thinking back now, it seems funny that Guadalupe Island wasn’t even on my “must dive list” back in 2008. Lesley and I were booked to be diving with humboldt squid in Baja and when the operator ceased operations. We were given a nice refund check and forced to change our plans.

I had always wanted to see a great white shark and was fascinated as a child by them. The thought of diving with great whites excited me, but I was having a hard time with the idea of sitting in a cage for 3 days. This went against everything scuba diving was to me; the pure freedom to move both vertically and horizontally when you want to.


After talking about different trips and seeing lots of videos and pictures from Guadalupe at different scuba events, Lesley and I decided Guadalupe was the place to see. Guadalupe Island is a large volcanic land mass 250 miles southwest of San Diego and about 160 miles west of Ensenada, Baja. The island is inhabited 10 months out of the year by about 30 families’ of fisherman that dive for abalone and lobster, and also by 1 to 3 people that tag, track, protect and record the lives of the great whites. To get to the island you can board a boat in San Diego or take a short bus ride to Ensenada. After boarding your boat in Ensenada, you settle in for a 22-24 hour crossing to the island.

After our short bus ride from San Diego to Ensenada, we were greeted by our crew and welcomed aboard the boat. We had a good mix of divers from both the US and Europe. The boat had refreshments and a huge bowl of fresh guacamole with chips, jalapeño poppers and cheese quesadillas, waiting for us. I was in heaven! After a briefing by the captain, we started our smooth crossing to Guadalupe Island. Those 22 hours were spent reading, watching movies, snoozing, eating, and setting up equipment.


Not long after eating breakfast the call came out that the island was in view. Guadalupe Island jets up from the vast sea out of nowhere. It reaches over 4,200 ft at its highest point and has all the rich colors of a volcanic island.

As the boat was being anchored at the dive site called “Discovery Bay”, the dive briefing was beginning. The briefing went over a lot of the basics that you get on regular boat dives, but also a few new rules and tips unique to cage diving. One rule was to stay in the cage unless the shark comes into the cage. Another was "if you stick your camera outside of the bars and the shark comes to check it out, don’t pull the camera back through until the shark has swam away". They explained that if you pull your camera back in, the shark will continue to swim toward the cage, and possibly into the cage, expecting to feel and bump your camera, aka “the new shinny thing that’s in the free-for-all zone”, while investigating it.

After such statements during the briefing as: "This diving is as real as it gets”, “Anything can happen, this isn’t a zoo”, and “Once you enter the water, you are no longer at the top of the food chain”, it was time to gear up and dive! Both excited and a little apprehensive, I couldn't wait to see what was in store on this adventure!