Guadalupe Island

Please note, Guadalupe Island is currently closed to tourism and no great white shark cage diving is permitted.

It is not yet known when or if the park will reopen for tourism.

Guadalupe Island is a small, volcanic island located 150 miles off the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California. This is probably the best place in the world to get up close and personal to great white sharks. The island attracts large numbers of great white sharks  every year, which are closely monitored by scientists with over 260 individual great whites already identified in their database. With such numbers visiting the island, sightings of great white sharks are virtually guaranteed and in beautiful, clear waters, with visibility typically ranging between 25m – 40m.

Due to its isolation, Guadalupe Island can only be reached by liveaboard. The sea crossing to the island takes around 24 hours each way, from Ensenada, in Mexico, and minimum trip duration on board is five days, which will give you three full days cage diving in Guadalupe.

The port town of Ensenada, in Mexico, where the liveaboards for Guadalupe Island are berthed, is very easily reached. A popular air routing for Guadalupe trips is to San Diego, in California. We recommend you take one night’s accommodation there prior to the liveaboard. From San Diego, the liveaboards offer a courtesy bus transfer across the Mexican boarder (they will take care of the Visa for you) and the journey time to Ensenada is about two and a half hours.  Another option is to fly to Tijuana, and from there you can take a bus to Ensenada. We will happily advise which option is best for you and to give you all the details.

Stay a bit a longer

Guadalupe trips are not particularly easy to combine with other diving spots, but there are endless possibilities for extending your stay. If you choose to travel via San Diego, adding a domestic flight to see other regions of the United States is very straightforward and quite cheap. Popular choices are to head over to visit the Grand Canyon National Park and Monument Valley, or Los Angeles or San Francisco. The choice is yours!

For flights via Tijuana, then staying on in Mexico is your best option. This is a wonderful country to explore. You can head inland to the countryside, or visit Mexico City.

If you did want to add on something that included diving, then you could – if you are happy to allocate a full day of travelling – consider flying over to the Yucatan Peninsular, where you can dive the Cenotes Cave systems, Cozumel and visit ancient Mayan ruins.

If you’d like to add on to your Guadalupe trip we’ll be happy to guide you and assist with your travel needs.