Cage Diving with Sharks in Guadalupe Island, Mexico & South Africa
Swimming with sharks has been a bucket list dream of mine ever since I saw Jaws as a kid. Rather than fear, Jaws sparked a deep admiration in me for sharks. I’m drawn to what I think of as “nature’s monsters”—creatures that remind us humans we’re not always at the top of the food chain. In the ocean, sharks are the true rulers, with evolutionary adaptations that make them perfectly suited to their role. Great whites, in particular, are the ultimate predator: they can grow up to 21 feet long, weigh over 2,500 pounds, and have few natural threats aside from the occasional killer whale. They’re ambush predators, equipped to detect blood in the water from miles away.
Although I’ve observed some smaller shark species, like nurse and blacktip sharks while scuba diving, they weren’t quite fearsome enough to fulfill my fascination. I knew that to truly satisfy my obsession, I needed to swim with the king of all sharks—the Great White.
Places to Swim with Great White Sharks
Despite the fact that great white sharks inhabit every ocean in the world except for the Arctic Ocean, there are only a handful of locations where you can consistently swim with them. While cage diving is generally considered the safest option, many experienced divers have shown that it’s possible to swim with great whites outside of a cage as well—though it’s definitely not for the faint of heart.
Some of the top spots for cage diving with these apex predators are:
- Neptune Islands, Australia
- Farallon Islands, California
- Gansbaai, South Africa
- Isla Guadalupe, Mexico
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to cage dive with great whites in two of these iconic locations: Gansbaai and Isla Guadalupe. Both experiences were nothing short of extraordinary, each offering a unique way to witness these majestic creatures in their natural habitat.
Gansbaai, South Africa
La Isla Guadalupe, Mexico
Gansbaai, South Africa
September 2006: I went to Gansbaai as part of a larger African trip that included a canoe safari down the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe that ended with a hippo capsizing my canoe. I chose Gansbaai to cage dive with Great Whites because it had almost guaranteed sightings and it was cheap in comparison to the other locations.
Great Whites are drawn to Gansbaa because of the large populations of Fur seals-60,000 of them. The drawback to Gansbaai, is that it is prone to big swells that can cancel boat trips, and the water visibility is very poor. So, poor that to allow divers to see the sharks, most cage diving boats use surface cages instead of submersible ones.
My friend Matt and I started the trip by flying into Cape town, South Africa. The next morning, the cage diving company transferred us a few hours from Capetown to Gansbaai. The drive was along spectacular, rugged shorelines and reminded me more of northern California than the traditional images of Africa. Along the way we saw Southern Right whales near the shore.
Tabletop Mountains
Tabletop Mountains
Gansbaai, a small fishing village on the coast of South Africa, had transformed thanks to the arrival of Great White sharks. Shark cage diving had become a thriving business here, with many local fishermen transitioning into the tourism industry, guiding adventurers eager for a close encounter with one of the ocean’s most fearsome predators. The practice, however, remains controversial. Some believe cage diving disrupts the sharks’ natural behavior, associating humans with food and perhaps impacting their natural instincts.
Yet, there is another side to this tourism. By drawing attention to the sharks, cage diving incentivizes conservation efforts to protect these misunderstood creatures. Sharks face severe threats worldwide, with hundreds of millions killed each year, primarily for their fins, contributing to a disrupted marine ecosystem. Shark tourism, if handled responsibly, may offer a way to save these apex predators and protect marine biodiversity.
Our boat was about 40 feet long, equipped with two large surface cages and crewed by an animated team of South African fishermen, full of energy and eager to show us the thrill that awaited us. After an hour’s journey out to sea, they set up the cages and began chumming the water with fish heads, creating a blood-scented trail to attract the sharks. Once everything was ready, we donned wetsuits and hoods and were instructed on the protocol: no air hoses—just snorkels—and a warning to keep all body parts well inside the cage. The cage bars, spaced just 2 to 3 feet apart, would be our only shield from the jaws of these great ocean hunters.
When the scout signaled, we took a deep breath and submerged. The visibility was poor—barely a few feet in front of us. I started to think it might have been a false alarm. But then, without warning, the Great White emerged from the shadows. It was everything I’d hoped for and more. The shark’s massive jaws opened, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, and for a few heart-stopping moments, I was face-to-face with one of nature’s most perfectly adapted predators.
Matt and I In the cage waiting to dive under for a shark
Great white attacking my cage
The shark’s beady, lifeless eyes rolled back as it lunged, its jaws snapping at a fish head suspended on a rope just inches from our cage. Locked into ambush mode, it crashed against the bars with bone-rattling force, sending us sprawling backward. We scrambled, pulling our hands and feet closer, wary of the gaping mouth so close to our flimsy metal barrier.
Time and again, the scene repeated—each approach swift and fierce. I alternated between peering below the water, where its shadowy form loomed, and surfacing to catch the explosive display above as it breached the water, gnashing its teeth in a frenzied attempt to snag the two-pound tuna head dangling from the crew’s rope. The shark’s relentless leaps, jaws snapping just inches from us, were as exhilarating as they were terrifying—a primal encounter with a creature at the pinnacle of the ocean’s food chain.
Great White shark next to me in the cage
Great White shark next to me in the cage
Guadalupe Island, Mexico
Great white from 30′ feet deep in a cage
October 2019: South Africa was an unforgettable experience, but if you want to truly witness the majesty of the Great White Shark in its element, the Mecca of shark diving is Isla Guadalupe, Mexico. The catch, though, is that it’s an expensive endeavor. To get there, you need to book a weeklong liveaboard boat trip, which can add up quickly. But for a true shark enthusiast, the cost is worth every penny.
Isla Guadalupe is a remote, protected island located 200 miles southwest of San Diego, off the coast of Baja Mexico. It’s known as one of the best places in the world to observe Great Whites in their natural habitat. Like South Africa, the sharks are attracted to the island due to the abundant food source: fur seals and sea lions. But what sets Isla Guadalupe apart are the conditions—this island is incredibly isolated, offering crystal-clear waters and 200-foot visibility, which is perfect for shark viewing.
The calm waters surrounding the island make it a prime spot for cage diving, and it’s not just the visibility that makes this place so special; it’s the sheer size of the sharks that frequent these waters. Isla Guadalupe is home to some of the largest Great Whites in the world, particularly the massive females. These sharks can top 20 feet in length and weigh over 2,000 pounds. They typically arrive in October and November, making this the prime time to visit if you want to see these giants in person.
I came to Isla Guadalupe with one goal in mind—to see the big females. These incredible apex predators are the true titans of the ocean, and there is no better place to observe them than here, where they roam the waters in all their fearsome glory.
Coastline of Isla Guadalupe
On Halloween weekend in October 2019, we set off from Ensenada, Mexico, on a journey to see real-life monsters. After 20 hours of navigating through Mexican waters, we finally arrived at Isla Guadalupe. The waters were calm and an intense shade of azure, stretching endlessly. We anchored just a few hundred feet from the shoreline, where thousands of sea lions barked and fur seals groaned—a stark contrast to the silent depths that lay just beyond.
But hidden in those few hundred feet of water was one of the largest concentrations of Great White sharks in the world. Isla Guadalupe sits atop a deep-water canyon, and the ocean floor plunges thousands of feet just off the island’s edge. It’s an ideal haven for these powerful predators, and we were about to experience it up close.
For me, Isla Guadalupe was everything I’d hoped for and more, a place of unmatched beauty and thrill, where I could encounter one of the world’s most awe-inspiring predators in the depths of the Pacific.
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Great White Attacking a Bait Fish Pulled on a Rope
For the next three days, we spent our daylight hours submerged in both surface and submersible cages, face-to-face with Great Whites in their own domain. Each evening, we’d unwind in the hot tub on the top deck, sipping margaritas under the stars—a strange but welcome mix of relaxation and adrenaline. Mexican regulations at Guadalupe, unlike South Africa, prohibit wranglers from dangling bait in front of the cages, a measure put in place to protect both the sharks and the divers. This rule was established after a terrifying incident when a shark, in a feeding frenzy over a tuna head, charged a cage and somehow wedged itself between the bars. Thankfully, everyone—shark included—survived the ordeal.
Submersible Cage
Submersible Cage
Me in the Submersible Cage
The surface cages provided plenty of thrilling moments with the Great Whites, but the submersible cages at 30 feet below the surface were my favorite. Unlike the action-packed surface dives, the submersible experience offered a more surreal and immersive encounter with these apex predators, though it required diver certification to enter. Once in, a mechanical winch system would lower the cage, which dangled from two thick iron chains, submerging us into a world that felt like we were floating in endless, unfathomable depths.
From within the cage, you were entirely surrounded by the deep, blue vastness of the ocean. Although the boat hovered only 30 feet above, it looked much farther away—almost surreal in the murky distance. There, with no seabed in sight, you felt like genuine shark bait. This plunge into the sharks’ domain offered a unique perspective; down here, you were no longer the observer but more like a guest in their world.
The submersible cage dives attracted the true giants of the sea. While the smaller, more agile males typically chased after the bait on the surface, the massive, intimidating females ruled the depths. They’d often approach the cage, curiously circling with the calm, calculating presence of a creature that knew it was in command. Being face-to-face with these behemoths was exhilarating and humbling—a reminder of both the mystery and power of the ocean’s most formidable hunters.
Great white from the cage
At one point during a submersible dive, three enormous 20-foot female Great Whites circled our cage. Being inside with these giants all around us was both electrifying and unsettling. The cage fit four people—three divers plus a dive master—and our air hoses were connected to an air compressor on deck, running along the chain that suspended us. Out of curiosity, I asked one of the dive masters what would happen if one of the air hoses were severed by a shark. They reassured me it was unlikely, but I later learned that it could, and had, happened before.
In earlier days, fish bait was sometimes attached to the submersible cage to draw the sharks in closer. On one dive, a shark aggressively pursued the bait and ended up biting the air hoses, cutting off the divers’ air supply. With no other option, the divers had to exit the cage, vulnerable in open water, and swim to the boat with the shark nearby. As a safety measure to prevent such emergencies from turning dangerous, the dive teams now place an oxygen tank inside the cage, providing a backup air source if anything goes wrong.
Knowing the history of these close calls gave the whole experience an extra layer of thrill. It made the sight of those three massive females slowly circling feel even more raw and real—just one reminder of how unpredictable and awe-inspiring these creatures truly are.
Big 3′ foot long tunas on the hunt
The underwater world around Isla Guadalupe had so much more to offer beyond the thrilling sight of Great White sharks. The massive tuna, swift and precise, put on a show of their own as they darted through vast clouds of minnow-sized fish that gathered around the boat. These clouds of fish, so dense they sometimes blocked our view of the sharks, became a hunting ground for the tuna, which zigzagged at incredible speeds, feasting on them. From the submersible, we had a perfect front-row seat to this natural spectacle, watching the food chain in action in all its frenetic beauty.
Adding to the diversity, we spotted a graceful sea turtle gliding past, a few jellyfish drifting like ethereal, living chandeliers, and even a Calico Bass cruising by. Each encounter brought a new layer to the experience, making every dive feel unique and unpredictable in this rich, vibrant marine ecosystem.
Calico Bass
Clouds of Minnow size fish
Naturally, the Great Whites stole the spotlight, and their presence was constant, adding an ever-present thrill to each moment underwater. Even when they weren’t lunging for the bait on the surface, these massive predators hovered nearby, curious and observant. Their stealthy movements made each dive unpredictable—they would appear from the blue haze, gliding with an elegant menace, always watching. Their intelligence and curiosity were undeniable, giving the impression that they were studying us as much as we were marveling at them. Being so close to these apex predators, especially when they weren’t directly interacting with the bait, added a raw intensity that made every second in the cage unforgettable.
Menacing Looking Great White
Megalodon Looking Shark Looking Extra Scary. Stupid small fish ruined my camera focus.
View from a surface cage
Surface Cage
Monster Great White
After each day’s dives, we’d unwind in the hot tub, sipping margaritas and beers, replaying the highlights of our underwater encounters with the Great Whites. It was surreal to go from the intensity of the deep-sea cage, face-to-face with such powerful creatures, to the warmth and relaxation of the hot tub under the open sky. Everyone had their own stories—moments when a massive shark circled a bit too closely, or when they felt the rush of awe and adrenaline. These end-of-day gatherings felt like a celebration of the adventure, bonding us over shared awe of the ocean’s most iconic predator.
Jimmie and Richard relaxing at the hot tub at the end of the day