Dive Review of
Great White Adventures in
Mexico (Western)

South Florida, New England, Bahamas, Caribbean, Australia, Red Sea, Italy,
Malta, Greece and Holland

Dive Conditions

Restricted to diving in shark cages with surface supplied air  

Solmar V provides a generously sized camera table on the aft deck, complete
with a stowage shelf for camera cases and air nozzels to dry off gear. Dive
crew is is quick to retrieve and rinse cameras in two large freshwater
rinse bins. Media center provides means to review video and digital
photography on large  flat screen tv and smaller monitors located around
the main salon and dining areas.  
  

Overall Rating

For the second year in a row, San Francisco-based Great White Adventures
(GWA) has chartered the Solmar V out of Encenada, Mexico from mid-August
until December, to run its "luxury" live-aboard trips to
Guadalupe Island, specifically to dive with great white sharks. The $2,775
price tag includes a one night stay in San Diego at the Hampton Inn
Downtown, a two-hour bus ride across the Border to Encendada and five days
and four nights on board the Solmar V. The crossing to Guadalupe from
Encenada takes about 20 hours and can be a little rough - we had steady
6-footers the whole way over. Definitely recommend the dramamine, even for
those not prone to motion sickness. Since the vessel anchors on the leeward
side of Guadalupe Island, wind and seas are not an issue once you are
there. Diving is conducted in two four-person cages attached to Solmar's
dive platform by two specially designed brackets to minimize cage movement
and to facilitate entering and exiting the cages. Air is surface supplied.
A two-person deep cage is deployed on the second day (depending on current
and surface conditions). After a thorough dive briefing by
GWA's founder and President, Lawrence Groth, divers are split into four
four-person teams and assigned to rotating one-hour shifts per cage. After
the first couple of rotations, cage time becomes more flexible as many opt
to sit out rotations and observe the action from the upper deck, which is
equally as exciting. The first shark showed up within 18 minutes of
deploying the hang baits. After that and in the three days to follow, we
had a total of 15 sharks, ranging in
size from 8-12 feet and one in the neighborhood of 16 feet. The Solmar
crew was exceptional, the food and drink was plentiful and the quality of
accomodations on board was first class.   
 

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