Guadalupe Island, Nature Photography Blog

This great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) was photographed at Guadalupe Island, Mexico. I think I have made about 15 trips to the island, a mix of open-water diving trips and shark cage photography trips. I am hoping to get down there again for scuba diving, freediving and just plain exploration (no sharking or cages) with Skip in Summer 2010. More details about Skip’s return trip to the island will be sent out soon to those who have accompanied Skip and me on past trips to Guadalupe and elsewhere. See some past blog posts about Guadalupe Island if you are interested in the island.

A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Mexico’s Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and use it as a staging area before journeying farther into the Pacific ocean. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 19465   Common name: Great white shark Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

More photos of great white sharks, Guadalupe Island photos.

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This is one of my favorites from this year’s trip on the M/V Horizon to photograph great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) at Guadalupe Island.

Great white shark, underwater. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 21346   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Shark Diving resources: Horizon Charters and SharkDiver.com. Also, be sure to check out our hundreds of additional Guadalupe Island photos and photos of great white sharks.

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Here is the face of a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Check out the detail in the shark’s eye, he is looking straight back into the camera. This was shot with a 24mm lens, full frame sensor, no crop. Pretty tight.

Great white shark, underwater. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 21347   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Shark Diving resources: Horizon Charters and SharkDiver.com.

Be sure to check out our hundreds of additional Guadalupe Island photos and photos of great white sharks.

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Many of the great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) at Guadalupe Island are known to researchers and appear in the white shark ID database. Some of the sharks have even been “tagged” and now sport small pop-up satellite transmitter tags that collect data about the shark’s environment and behavior, eventually transmitting the data via satellite back to researchers. Shown below are a pair of satellite tags, located just below the dorsal fin of a great white shark:

Two satellite tags, below dorsal fin of great white shark. The tags record the sharks movements, relaying data to researchers via satellite. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 21391   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Shark Diving resources: Horizon Charters and SharkDiver.com.

Be sure to check out our hundreds of additional Guadalupe Island photos and great white shark photos.

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When a Guadalupe Island great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) first approaches the boat, it is often deep. If there are divers in the cage they typically get a look at the shark as it swims slowly beneath the boat. It seems the shark is surveying things before making a decision to move shallower and approach the boat and cages more closely. Occasionally a shark rises from the deep suddenly, straight up, leveling out only when it reaches or breaks the surface. That’s what this male white shark did. (You can tell he is a male by his two claspers visible on his ventral surface.)

Great white shark, underwater. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 21362   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Shark Diving resources: Horizon Charters and SharkDiver.com.

Be sure to check out our hundreds of additional Guadalupe Island photos and photos of great white sharks.

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Each day on a Horizon Charters great white shark trip to Guadalupe Island starts with the crew lowering the huge aluminum cages into the water as guests enjoy breakfast and the morning calm. Often a shark will show up circling the boat and inspecting the cages before any divers have even had a chance to enter the water. Check out how flat the water is in these photos. The shark diving location, near the lighthouse in a broad protected bight at the north end of the island, is typically flat calm and sunny with blue water.

Lowering a shark cage into the water alongside M/V Horizon. Large, strong aluminum cages protect divers while they are in the water viewing sharks. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 21380   Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Shark cages in water, astern of M/V Horizon. Large, strong aluminum cages protect divers while they are in the water viewing sharks. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 21370   Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Great white shark, dorsal fin extended out of the water as it swims near the surface. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 21353   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Shark Diving resources: Horizon Charters and SharkDiver.com.

Be sure to check out our hundreds of additional Guadalupe Island photos and great white shark photos.

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This great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) had a particularly pointy look to him, really streamlined and sleek, with little beady black eyes. When you see a white shark in person its no wonder they are known as white pointers down under.

A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Mexico\’s Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and use it as a staging area before journeying farther into the Pacific ocean. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 19465   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

More photos of great white sharks, Guadalupe Island photos.

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This is my favorite shot from my Shark Diver trip last week on the liveaboard boat Horizon to see great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) at Guadalupe Island. One shark in particular took to circling the boat clockwise and would pass very close to the starboard side cage. As it did so, I managed to get some close photographs with good detail of its eye, gills and the ampullae of Lorenzini on its snout.

A great white shark swims toward the photographer. Perhaps the shark is considering him as possible prey? The photographer, a “shark diver” is safely situated in a sturdy metal cage. The best location in the world to “shark dive” to view great white sharks is Mexico\’s Guadalupe Island. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 19457   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

Here are all of the photos from the trip.

See also: great white shark photos, Guadalupe Island, Isla Guadalupe, Carcharodon carcharias photos.

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This is the dorsal fin of a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) at Guadalupe Island, sticking above the water as the shark cruises at the surface.

Dorsal fin of a great white shark breaks the surface as the shark swims just below. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 19493   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

See also: great white shark photos, Guadalupe Island, Isla Guadalupe, Carcharodon carcharias photos.

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I was pretty lucky to get this photo. This is a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) that I photographed at Guadalupe Island while I was on a Shark Diver trip last week on the liveaboard boat Horizon. This one, a medium size (e.g, 12-13′) male, surprised us all. We were cooling our heels in the cage during a five minute lull, a rarity on this trip as virtually every minute we had at least one shark visible underwater. I happened to be staring off the port stern corner of the boat when suddenly this shark came streaking in from the edge of the visibility, took a huge bite at the bait and missed. I have never seen a shark swim so fast in my life. What motivated him to approach like that was a mystery. Typically the sharks at Guadalupe swim rather slowly around the boat, accelerating only with two or three final thrusts of their tails to take the bait. But this guy was going full steam the entire time, even as he disappeared into the gloom on the starboard side of the boat. His momentum carried him in front of the cage with his mouth still agape, which was awefully impressive. When I returned onto the deck later, the crew even commented how they were caught offguard by his rocket approach and how he left a pressure wave on the surface as he pumped his tail below. That such a large creature could move through the water with such speed was a real eye opener for me.

A great white shark opens it mouth just before it attacks its prey with a crippling, powerful bite. After the prey has been disabled, the shark will often wait for it to weaken from blood loss before resuming the attack. If the shark looses a tooth in the course of the bite, a replacement just behind it will move forward to take its place. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 19452   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

See also: great white shark photos, Guadalupe Island, Isla Guadalupe, Carcharodon carcharias photos.

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This is “Shredder”, aka “Scar”, a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) often seen at Guadalupe Island. In 2003 Shredder bit the anchor line of the Ocean Odyssey clean through, severing the boat from its anchor. He is named for his shredded dorsal fin. Shredder is about 13-14 feet long. Note that in this photograph he is sporting three satellite tags on his left flank just below his dorsal fin. They are covered with algae but are probably still operational. These tags collect information about his diving habits and water temperature and transmit this information to a satellite for use by researchers.

A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Mexico\’s Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and use it as a staging area before journeying farther into the Pacific ocean. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 19470   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

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Just back from a quick trip to Guadalupe Island to photograph great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). I had heard that this season has been a particularly good one for white sharks at Guadalupe, and I managed to get a few days off to get down there for a look on my favorite dive boat, the Horizon out of San Diego. (Patric Douglas at Shark Diver runs a series of trips each fall aboard the Horizon to see white sharks at Guadalupe.) Guadalupe is my favorite island, I love the place. I think I have made 15 trips to the island now, most for diving but at least five for white shark photography. I am always looking for an excuse to visit Isla Guadalupe as it never fails to offer up something extraordinary. This time was no exception. During three days at the island and about 18 hours in the cage, I saw probably 15 different white sharks ranging from about 8 feet to 13 feet or more in length, a mix of males and females, some I had seen and photographed before and some that were new to me and perhaps new to the white shark photo identification project. We’ll see on the latter once I submit the images to the researchers. We had only about one hour total where there were no sharks around the boat. We often had two at the boat, and on a few occasions had four within sight at once and six at the boat during a dive. There are a lot of white sharks at the north end of the island right now and from the sounds of it there have been for at least a month. It will take me a few weeks to sort through the 1700+ photos that I shot, select the keepers and get them processed for the web. Since I was using a new camera housing and lens, I was not entirely certain of how sharp the combo was so I pulled a few shots up on the computer between dives on the first day to check sharpness and exposure. Here is one:

A great white shark swims through the clear waters of Isla Guadalupe, far offshore of the Pacific Coast of Mexico\’s Baja California. Guadalupe Island is host to a concentration of large great white sharks, which visit the island to feed on pinnipeds and use it as a staging area before journeying farther into the Pacific ocean. Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico. Image: 19473   Species: Carcharodon carcharias Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico View this Image in Google Earth!

See more great white shark photos.

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