Upon returning home from my trip to the Southern Channel Islands, I was greeted by an email from Captain Mike Lever of the Nautilus Explorer, the same boat I was on in Alaska back in June. Mike had some room on a trip to Guadalupe Island, Mexico, a hot spot for great white sharks. Without hesitation, I knew I wanted to go. However, my camera was still dead, and I had an art show. Once again, my amazing girlfriend gave me the green light to borrow her camera and leave her to run the art show by herself on the second day. Am I a lucky guy or what?

The adventure factor increased when some friends offered me a flight down to San Diego in the single propeller Cessna. Alright, a custom flight! Leaving from the Watsonville airport, we flew mostly at 5,000' elevation. The fog bank off the coast made the flight a little less scenic than it could have been, but it was still amazing. We arrived in SD, met Mike Lever at the hotel where the bus would take us to Ensenada, and then had some fried seafood, beers, and soaked up the setting sun over the boat harbor. This was turning out to be quite the trip.