We woke up just after sunrise and looked out our cabin window...We were still in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no land in sight!
We were still several hours away from Guadalupe Island!
Looking out the windows during breakfast in the dining room we finally saw our destination - Guadalupe Island! Way out into the Pacific Ocean Guadalupe Island is the westernmost land of Mexico!
We were approaching our anchorage off the northeast tip of Guadalupe Island. Our captain chose this location because it is protected from ocean winds since it is next to the island's tallest (4,257 ft) mountain - Mount Augusta! That makes this location one of the calmest and most protected anchorages along Guadalupe Island and a great place to find Great White Sharks!
Even though it looks like no one lives on Guadalupe Island there are a few people living here. A small weather station on the south tip of the island has a few people from the Mexican Navy there. There is also a small fishing village on the west side of the island with less than 150 people living there permanently.
We will not be going ashore during our visit here because Guadalupe Island is a protected national park. We had to buy a special Mexican national park permit to dive at Guadalupe Island, but because the island is a biosphere reserve we are not permited to go ashore on the island.
Guadalupe Island is a biosphere reserve with eight different ecological habitats that are home for many different plants and animals. Three of the variety of animals that live here are of particular interest to Great White Sharks - Northern elephant seals, Guadalupe fur seals and California sea lions! These animals are the favorite foods of Great White Sharks!
With abundant food, and protected clean water Guadalupe Island is the world's hotspot for Great White Sharks! Shark researchers have identified over 270 individual Great White Sharks who regularly visit here each year between August to December!
Great White Sharks usually keep to themselves but at Guadalupe Island both the males and females gather in large numbers because Guadalupe Island is a mating hotspot for Great White Sharks!
We arrive at our anchorage about 10:30 am. As our crew is anchoring Socorro Aggressor near the island we scan the narrow rocky beaches for activity...and can see several Guadalupe fur seals napping on the rocks! We don't see any Great White Sharks patrolling the beaches looking for seals, but we do see some Great White Shark activity around three other dive boats that are already anchored nearby! We guess that the sharks don't need to go to all the effort to try to catch seals because the sharks are being feed by the shark diving boats!
(THIS IS GREAT! Seeing Great White Sharks nearby as soon as we arrive means that this will be a FANTASTICALLY SUCCESSFUL expedition! On our Australia Great White Shark Expedition we did not see a Great White Shark until early in the morning of our second day at anchorage!)
We are all ready and excited to get in the water with the Great White Sharks but first the crew has to put our shark diving cages in the water!
Day 2a
