Our combined experience... is what sets us apart

Now after eight successful seasons, we have maintained a 100% success rate at Guadalupe island and a very successful rate at the Farallons. We have encountered some of the largest White Sharks in the world.

With eleven years of operations at the Farallon Islands and eight years of operations at Isla Guadalupe, we have more experience with White Sharks than any other U.S. operator. Operating at two locations gives us the opportunity to gain a wealth of knowledge about White Shark behavior. It also allows us to contribute to the science and research of the White Shark.

When working with wild animals in their natural environment, it is impossible to guarantee either favorable weather conditions or indeed the desired animal encounters. Great White Adventures is confident enough in our skill, experience and success history to take this expedition to market - BUT success is by no means assured or implied.

GWA was founded in 1998 by Lawrence Groth, a commercial diver and professional mariner. Lawrence's goal was to assemble a team of professional divers and begin a series of expeditions to find and observe White Sharks here in California. After some careful research and investigation, the team began the first of many expeditions to the Farallon Islands in August of 1998.

We used a variety of small and large craft to cross the Gulf of the Farallons from San Francisco Bay to the islands, where we spent a great deal of time diving and searching. We tried several methods of attracting the sharks. Our success came slow as we learned how elusive the White Shark can be, but patience and perseverance paid off. We began to find patterns in shark appearances and their absences. We learned what the sharks reacted to and what they did not react to. We determined when and where we could find White Sharks with regular frequency.

Great White Adventures was the first company to begin making expeditions to Guadalupe island. Our fist expedition was in September 2001. Over the last four years we have encountered over 100 individual White Sharks at Guadalupe (honestly we stopped counting at 100). We have seen some sharks repeatedly over time and have grown very familiar with them. Some White Sharks are easily identified by scars and markings on their bodies. We do have many favorite sharks that show up on almost every trip. PSYCHO and TOP NOTCH were the stars of our last season.

We have named many of the Guadalupe white sharks by simply using obvious markings or behavior characteristics to recognize them. Psycho is a very aggressive male shark that is known for biting the boat and cages and other Sharks! This 14 foot male showed up on several expeditions. Top Notch is aptly named because he has a notch on the top of his dorsal fin. Top Notch was very cooperative throughout the season. He put on quite the show ta king baits from the crane, He liked lifting most of his body out of the water to eat the large yellow fin tuna we hung from the crane.

We have learned much more about white shark behavior and communication ability during the last 7 seasons. We do know that combat is common between white sharks for several reasons such as territorial claims, competition over prey and of course mating rights. We know that White Sharks are intelligent and sentient beings that communicate and cooperate with one another. Our observations and research will continue in 2008.

Patches was seen again on 5 of our 12 expeditions to Guadalupe. "Patches" is a young male white shark and was only 6 feet long when we first met him, now Patches is over 9 feet long and appearing with the larger sharks. Patches made an appearances on 8 of the 10 trips in 2003. Patches has a very prominent patch of dark skin on his right side. This darker pigmentation could be just natural or an old scar. Our clients were very impressed with the different personalities and dispositions of each individual shark. It is amazing to share space with these wonderful creatur es and actually see that they are so very unique in both looks and character. Spending a great deal of time at Guadalupe and diving many days with these incredible animals has been an incredible experience. My passion for these animals is surpassed only by my respect for them.

Experience and Professionalism is what we are all about.