Norbert Wu Productions

Great White Sharks, August 18–25, 2007
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Join master underwater photographers and digital gurus Norbert Wu and Eric Cheng to see Great White Sharks in Guadalupe Island!!!

August 18–25, 2007
Aboard the luxurious Solmar V
Depart and return from San Diego!

The great white shark is a magnificent predator, an animal that is on many diver's dream lists. In the past, divers had to pay $10,000 and travel to South Australia to see great white sharks. I know; I spent several weeks and $20,000 on South Australia trips back in the 1990s. Seeing great white sharks was never a certainty — after three weeks of trying, I had only two days where I had significant time in the water with sharks.

Things have changed for the better in the past five years. 200 miles southwest of San Diego, Isla de Guadalupe has become the world's best great white shark destination. Almost every trip has had white sharks around the boat for most of the days, and the visibility is often more than 100'. My co-leader on this trip, Eric Cheng (a noted underwater photographer, digital photo expert, and founder of wetpixel.com) says, "I've been to Guadalupe three times, and each time, we had white sharks around the boat within 30 minutes of arriving. It is not uncommon to see a dozen or more individuals during the course of 5 days of diving."

We'll be aboard the Solmar V, a 112' luxury vessel. The staterooms are air-conditioned and have private heads and showers. We will not fill the boat to full capacity! The boat holds 22 divers, but we will cap the trip at a maximum of 16 divers (including Eric and myself), so we will have plenty of space on board. I've been on this boat while filming a National Geographic television segment, and I can say that it is one of the most luxurious, comfortable, and workable liveaboards that I have been on.

Eric and I have been on many diving expeditions, and so we know what makes a diving trip work. In particular, we've strived to make our great white shark trip better than normal Guadalupe white shark charters in many respects.

How is this trip better than other Guadalupe great white shark trips?

1. You will have two more days with white sharks. We are on the Solmar V for SEVEN days, including travel time from Ensenada, Mexico. This gives you five full days in the water. Normal white shark trips are only 5 days long, which only gives you three days in the water. I went on one of the 5-day trips in 2006, and while it was good, we spent MORE time steaming to the island than we did at the island with sharks! As a photographer and serious diver, I greatly preferred having a full five days at the island. Those days went by in a flash.
2. You will have more time in the water, since we won't fill the boat to capacity. The boat holds 22 divers, but we will only take 16 divers on this trip, giving every diver ample time with the sharks.
3. We will have more cages in the water. We are bringing along a 2-person "cinema cage" in addition to the two usual large 4-person cages. The cinema cage has two large windows and will be lowered down to 20' below the surface. A normal rotation will have two surface cages, each with three divers in it, plus the cinema cage, which will house two divers. This allows us to have 8 people in the water at one time, with plenty of space while in the water.
4. You will leave and return from San Diego. You will fly into San Diego, stay overnight, and take a short bus ride across the border in the morning. We will join the Solmar V in Ensenada, Mexico. Leaving from Ensenada shaves off many hours of transit time aboard the boat (normally a 24-hour steam from San Diego). Both hotel fare and bus ride are included in the price.
5. Our boat will be the only one at Guadalupe during this time! Currently, there are no other boats scheduled to be in Guadalupe during August 2007. Guadalupe is getting crowded, with up to 6 dive boats there from September through November. In August, most boats in the area are booked for tuna fishing season. White sharks are known to be in Guadalupe in large numbers in August.
6. Eric and I will be on hand to give tips in underwater and digital photography. In case you don't know me, I am a long-time underwater photographer. My newest book, Under Antarctic Ice, has drawn rave reviews, as have my other two large-format illustrated books on the ocean. I just finished a six-month stint consulting for Apple Computer on their new Aperture software for digital photographers. Eric Cheng does his digital photography magic on PCs, so our combined Mac and PC expertise should be able to answer most of your questions about digital underwater photography. We'll be on hand informally to answer your questions, and we'll also give evening talks about diving destinations and marine life.

Trip cost is approximately $4100 (prices subject to change and depends on fuel costs). For more information, please contact Norbert Wu Productions at or call us at (831) 375-4448.

Thanks, and I hope that you will join Eric and me on this trip. It's going to be a good one.

P.S. We just returned from our 2006 trip, and everyone was happy. We had sharks around the boat every single day. Steve Dohring, a participant on the trip, has written a review of the 2006 trip at:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14965

P.S. Eric has posted two travel journals of past trips to Guadalupe. Please check them out to see what to expect:

echeng.com/travel/guadalupe/200309/
echeng.com/travel/guadalupe2004/

But remember — our 2007 trip is aboard the Solmar V. The travel journals show trips aboard the Horizon and the Searcher, both vessels that will get you close to sharks — but without the comfort of the Solmar V.