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Bucket list experience:

Last updated: 03 October, 2022

Guadalupe Island, off Baja California, Mexico, teems with these infamous predators – dive operators have identified more than 75 different individuals – who come to feed on fur seals. If you’re crazy enough to share want to dive with a great white shark, this is the best place in the world to do it – sightings are virtually guaranteed, the water is a pleasant 18°C-20°C, and the excellent visibility up to 40m allows unrivalled views of those impressive teeth.

Price from: £3,500
Minimum age: 18
Age suitable: 18+
When: All year around
Duration: 5+ days

Getting there & doing it

Divers are usually collected from the Ramada Hotel at San Diego Airport and transferred to Ensenada, a port on the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

A basic itinerary is 5-days/6 nights, which includes spending three full days at the site (and a 20-hour journey each way to get there). Divers do three 60-minute dives per day in groups of four to six. You can also do longer itineraries of 8-10 days which include other stops to swim with dolphins and manta rays.

You don’t need a dive qualification to do this; you’ll get a safety briefing onboard instead. Dates are limited, so book well ahead.

When to do it

Trips operate from July to end of September. Seas are too rough at other times.

Round-ups that include this experience

23 World’s best scuba dives

Multiple countries

Passionate scuba diver, journalist, author and diving expert Tim Ecott recommends the world’s best scuba dives, from spellbinding wrecks to dazzling reefs, whale sharks to wobbegongs.

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