Where do I start? My week at Guadalupe with the Great Whites was one of the most awesome, awe insprining things I have ever done. The are incredible creatures and spending that time in the water with them shatters many of the preconceptions you have about white sharks.

I`ll start from the start, so feel free to skip over the boring bits :) I met with the other 16 divers on Wed morning and we were soon on our way down to the Mexican border. We fortunately got the green light at the border, which meant we didn`t have to pull out all of our bags for customs to go through. The amount of luggage that 17 underwater photographers can bring is incredible...I think we would have been there all day long! We were also lucky and didn`t have to pay the $25 visa entry fee. Apparently in previous years they have had to pay it so were expecting it again, but the immigration man said we didn`t have to. If you ask me, it depends on who is on the desk that day and how light their pockets are feeling!

We arrived in Ensenada at around 11am. They weren`t exactly sure where the boat was but we eventually managed to find our home for the next week. The M/V Andrea Lynn is a 130ft steel boat that is mostly used for fishing charters. While she`s not a very luxuirious boat, she was well suited to our purposes, with a large deck and dive deck. The rooms were small but they were literally only used for changing and sleeping so that didn`t matter.  Each room also had an ensuite which was good.  For reasons I didn`t know until the end of the trip we were delayed for five hours leaving Ensenada - turns out that the chef had quit at the last minute and they had to find a replacement! The guys were filled in seemed to do the job well and it is basic authentic mexican most nights (not that I ate any of it!) Everyone else seemed to enjoy it though. We were also lucky to have an open bar for the trip, I think to make up for being so late leaving. Unfortunately they ran out of vodka and soft drink after a couple of days, but there was plenty of beer to keep everyone going :)

It`s a long 19 hours out to Guadalupe Island, especially when the boats maximum speed is 12knots. I`d made sure I`d dosed up on the sea sickness tablets before leaving and as a result I felt perfectly fine during the trip.  I wasn`t taking any chances though - the packet recommends a maximum dose of 2 tablets in the first 24 hours and then another one every day after that if still required. As I said, I wasn`t taking any chances and i think I`d had about 6 tablets in 24 hours! We finally arrived at Guadalupe around 2pm the following day.

Guadalupe is an interesting island. You are not allowed on the island without a permit, so we were restricted to doing a shoreline tour. The highest point on the island is just over 4000ft and as a result it creates it`s own weather. It can be really sunny and calm around the island and just a little way away it`s cloudy and rough. You can actually see this on satetlite photos of the weather splitting down either side of the island and then meeting and swirling all together again once it moves past the island. There used to be goats on the island, left by the explorers, however they destroyed all the vegetation and have since been killed off as the goverment want to try and return it to its natural state. Other introduced pests are cats and rats which decimate the bird population.  There are also colonies of Seals, sea lions and elephant seals on the island.

The cages and first divers were in the water on the first day by about 4pm. As a result of the late departure from Ensenada we lost almost a days diving. The diving is done in rotations, with two cages holding 4 divers each. As there were 17 divers on our trip this worked out well meaning we got one hour in the cage and then one hour out. There was also a submersible cage that held another 3 - 4 divers, however this was off to the side and didn`t see a lot of close action. Within about 10minutes of the second group getting into the cage, the first shark turned up.  It wasn`t a particulary large shark and it didn`t do anything really interesting  but it was just amazing to watch. After it swam away, the reality that I was in a cage with great whites swimming around hit me and I think I spent the next 5 minutes shaking like a leaf with my heart going at 100miles an hour.  We ended up with some good action that evening with Scar a male shark putting in an apperance. Scar is a bit of show boat and like to splash around at the surface while trying to steal the baits. He was also very distinctive with a ragged fin and red nose (apparently from investigating the wet paint of a boat). i wonder if all the other sharks laugh at his red nose? The cages are pulled from the water at around 6pm as it`s getting too dark in the water to see the sharks anymore.

Each day then followed a similar pattern with the cages going in the water at first light. On the first full day of diving. the first shark turned up about 10minutes after the cage went in the water and on the rest of the days, the sharks were there even before the cages went in the water. The first three days we had some incredible action and the last two days were slower but still steady shark action. You get to know the sharks, their personalities and hunting styles. The most common sharks we saw were Scar, Jacques &  Harvey. The most sharks I saw on a single dive was 4 at a time and I think each day we had 6 - 7 different sharks. The biggest shark we saw was Bruce who is 16ft long. Once white sharks reach 10ft long, for every foot in length they grow, they also grow a foot in girth. Therefore, Bruce was HUGE! And he had the attitude to match. Sharks have a social hierarchy where the size each other up and the biggest shark gets to stay. Needless to say when Bruce put in an appreance all the other sharks dissapeared. What Bruce wanted, he got. There was no messing around with Bruce - he just kept on taking those baits. The next biggest shark was Jacques, who was a frequent visitor. Jacques also typifies that image of great whites hunting you have in your head. He has perfected the vertical lunge from the depths right onto the bait. It`s quite incredible to see this huge shark just appear right in front of you. I learnt to watch the mackeral hanging around the baits - if they dissappeared in a sudden it meant that Jacques was on his way up! Scar as mentioned was very much a show boat trying to steal the baits and was most peoples favourite shark. There was also a group of smaller 10ft sharks that would hang around, affectionately called the `brat pack`. These guys wanted the baits, but weren`t just quite sure what to do and what it was all about. They almost looked offended when the shark wranglers on the deck moved the bait out of their reach! A lot of the sharks were cautious - much more so than you expect. They would come up and inspect the bait carefully before deciding on if they wanted to go for it. Even after that they would often only make half hearted attempts to go for the bait - it was almost like they knew they were on show and couldn`t really be bothered, but because we were all there watching they`d put on a little performance for us. Certainly though, there was no mistaking when they actually wanted the bait.

The water temp for the week was 21C which sounds plesent, but when you are in the cage, you are basically standing sill for the hour. Therefore you can get very cold. I took my drysuit with me and for the first day and half wore trackies and a jumper underneath, but I then had to switch to my proper undergarments. Even then especially by the last day I was noticing the cold after about 20mins. At Guadalupe, the viz can be up to 130ft. We didn`t have it that good for our trip - it probably maxed out at around 20m. It was amazing to watch these huge creatures just appear out of no where. We also had this green hair algae that floated in during the afternoon, making photography harder and more frustrating. The crew said this was the first time they have ever seen the hair algae so we`re not sure what caused it. The best time for photography was generally in the morning when the light was good and the water was clear.

A couple of standout highlights were when Scar swam into the cage and got stuck for about 10sec. Fortunately he managed to free himself without doing too much damage to himself and no damage to the people in the cage. I wasn`t in the cage that Scar swam into, but was in the prime corner position of the other cage so I had a perfect view. It was quite funny to watch the people in that cage for the rest of the hour - it was like they were pinned to the back of the cage...no one was daring to move forward! Another highlight was watching one of the sharks breach right next to the boat. Unlike the great whites in South Africa, the White sharks here do non-prediatory breaches. It`s not known why they breach but it is thought they are showing off to other sharks in the area, showing how big and powerful they are. Unfortunately no one was able to get  a shot of the shark breaching, which would have been amazing as there is only one recorded photo of a shark breaching at Guadalupe.

On the last day we got underway for the trip backc to Ensenada at around 6pm. It was a pretty swelly trip back and once again I was dosed up on sea sickness medication. However the boat was rocking back and forth and side to side do much you could barely walk and the smartest thing to do was go to sleep. I`m just glad I was on the Andrea Lynn and not one of the smaller boats that also does the trip and that could have been messy!

We arrived back at Ensenada and were cleared by immigration to disembark around 3pm. For the first time there was a random bag check and mine was one of the ones to be checked. We then headed back to the border which was an interesting experience. We all had to get off the bus with all our suitcases and walk to the border and customs/immigration where they put all your luggage through an xray machine and clear you for entry to the US. From there it`s a long walk to where the bus is parked to load all your stuff back on. Surely there  has to be an easier way?

From there it was back to San Diego to spend the night before catching my flights back to Ireland. It was about 12 hours flying time from San Diego to Shannon via Atlanta and the flights were a little rough at times due to the residual hurricanes that were around.

If you ever get the chance to do a white shark trip, you should jump at it without a moments hesitation. As I mentioned, it is one of the most amazing things I have ever done and it`s certianly something I will remember for the rest of my life.

Make sure you check out my pics and I`m going to try and upload a slideshow in the movie section also.