Guadalupe Island, the first word that comes to mind upon the mention of this awesome locale is...WOW! 22 hours by boat, due south of San Diego, California we traveled. My particular trip was a scuba diving adventure onboard 'Horizon' of Horizon Charters Liveaboard Adventures. This company also leads Great White Shark tours to Guadalupe, but later in the year than the trip I was on.
The crossing was not on a calm sea unfortunately, yet with a fun bunch of people (18 total) to mingle with and plenty to see on the sea, I was never bored! We found dolphin and whales enroute along with a myriad of sea birds.
The island is 19 miles long, similiar to Catalina. Most of the diving is done on the leeward side and the south end islets of Afuera and Church Rock. Beautiful walls, crystal clear water, a mixture of temperate and tropical species. Pinnepeds galore and dolphin encounters! We even encountered a white shark - at a distance thank goodness. What a beautiful creature just inside the edge of visibility, which happened to be over 100 feet on that particular dive! Don't look for nudibranchs though, almost non-existant. Wide angle city and great video. We saw schools of yellowfin tuna as well! There is no giant kelp here either, only a tall version of palm kelp.
The trip I was on was 10 days in length, and we spent the entire time at Guadalupe. If the conditions are unfavorable the captain will sometimes travel to San Benito Islands, 150 miles to the east. I've heard that place has the best true California kelp diving of anyplace. The captain told me that it is probably like the California Channel Islands were 100 years ago. I can't wait to go there next, but probably going to CoCos first.
Horizon Charters is the only company offering liveaboard scuba trips to Guadalupe. They know their island, I'd go with them again in a heartbeat. The boat (Horizon) isn't the largest or most comfortable of the liveaboards I've dived, but the crew is fantastic and the food is out of sight!
|
|
|