Best Time to Dive in Guadalupe Island
Closed to cage-diving tourism since 2023. We keep the page for the record, but there is no season to plan around.
- Best time
- Jan–May
- Water
- 17–21 °C
- Visibility
- 20–35 m
- Season runs
- All year
- Dived from
- cage diving
- Tidal range
- 1.0–2.0 m
- Species logged
- 4
Where it is
111 km across · coastline from Natural Earth 10m
Diving in Guadalupe Island — monthly breakdown
A year of scuba diving conditions at a glance. Hover a month to isolate it.
| January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conditions | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data |
| Water temp (°C) | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 19 | 18 |
| Visibility (m) | 20–30 | 20–30 | 20–30 | 20–30 | 25–35 | 25–35 | 25–35 | 25–35 | 20–30 | 20–30 | 20–30 | 20–30 |
| Marine life | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data |
| Best time | Peak | Peak | Peak | Peak | Peak |
Long-term averages, 2016–2025. Visibility is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a. Water temperature is the surface mean; it is cooler at depth.
Guadalupe Island water temperature and weather
125 underwater observation records · 19 surveyed years of ocean data · 10 years of sea temperature
Water & weather
Guadalupe Island water temperature by month
The dashed line is the monthly average. Eight days in ten fall inside the band.
10th to 90th percentile rangemonthly mean
Seas top 1.5 m on 68% of days. Enough to cancel a day boat
Gusts over 40 km/h, about where a day boat stays in port
0 of them bring heavy rain
| Month | Swell | Gusts over 40 km/h | Wet days | Heavy rain | Air | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.3 m | 1% | 5 | 0 | 18 °C | 10.3 h |
| February | 3.3 m | 1% | 5 | 1 | 18 °C | 11.0 h |
| March | 3.2 m | 2% | 6 | 0 | 18 °C | 11.8 h |
| April | 2.8 m | 2% | 3 | 0 | 19 °C | 12.7 h |
| May | 2.4 m | 0% | 2 | 0 | 19 °C | 13.5 h |
| June | 2.1 m | 0% | 1 | 0 | 20 °C | 13.8 h |
| July | 1.7 m | 0% | 0 | 0 | 22 °C | 13.7 h |
| August | 1.7 m | 0% | 1 | 0 | 24 °C | 13.0 h |
| September | 2.0 m | 0% | 2 | 0 | 24 °C | 12.2 h |
| October | 2.5 m | 0% | 3 | 0 | 23 °C | 11.3 h |
| November | 2.9 m | 0% | 3 | 0 | 21 °C | 10.5 h |
| December | 3.1 m | 2% | 4 | 1 | 19 °C | 10.2 h |
Swell is the rough end of the month: nine days in ten come in under it. Sea temperature covers 10 years, waves 4.
Pick your week
Gear & storms
What to wear
Off the coldest water of each month, not the average — that is what the suit has to cope with.
| January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suit | January: 7 mm | February: 7 mm | March: 7 mm | April: 7 mm | May: 7 mm | June: 5 mm + | July: 5 mm + | August: 5 mm + | September: 5 mm + | October: 5 mm + | November: 5 mm + | December: 5 mm + |
- Jan–May7 mm semi-dry
- Jun–Dec5 mm with hood and gloves
Swell through the year
The rough end of each month — nine days in ten come in under it.
Amber is over 1.5 m.
Tides
Tropical storms
2 of the last 30 Octobers saw a tropical storm pass within 250 km. Anything has been recorded Sep–Oct.
Share of the last 30 years with a storm that month.
- NOAASea surface temperature, from OISST and MUR
- ERA5Wind, waves, rain and air temperature, via Open-Meteo
- OBISMarine species records within 60 km
- IBTrACSTropical cyclone tracks, 1996 to 2025
Guadalupe Island marine life — what you'll see diving
Only 125 records have been logged within 60 km. A thin record is not an empty reef.
| Species | When | Observed window | Reliability | Evidence | Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great white shark | Sep–Nov | Near-guaranteed | 56 | ||
| Sardine | Mar–Apr | Hit-or-miss | 28 | ||
| Humpback whale | Apr | Hit-or-miss | 9 | ||
| California sea lion | Jun, Sep–Oct | Hit-or-miss | 12 |
- Observed window
- Months with records. Peak is where most of them fall.
- Reliability
- Near-guaranteed in 60% of surveyed years or more
- Likely 30% to 60%
- Hit-or-miss under 30%
- Evidence
- Years it was seen, out of the years anyone surveyed.
- Records
- OBIS sightings within 60 km.
These are sightings people logged, not a full survey of the reef. A species missing from a month may just mean nobody recorded one.
Diving Guadalupe Island — common questions
- When is the best time to dive Guadalupe Island?
- Go January to May for the best conditions. We have no reliable wildlife season for this site. The wider season runs year-round.
- When is the diving season in Guadalupe Island?
- Diving runs all year in Guadalupe Island, at its best January to May.
- How warm is the water in Guadalupe Island?
- Between 17 and 21 °C at the surface across the year, coldest in March and warmest in September. It runs cooler below the thermocline.
- What wetsuit do I need in Guadalupe Island?
- A 7 mm semi-dry covers the coldest water of the year. In the warmest months a 5 mm with hood and gloves is enough.
- What is the visibility like in Guadalupe Island?
- Roughly 20 to 35 m depending on the month. That is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a rather than measured in the water.
- What will I see diving Guadalupe Island?
- The most consistently recorded species are Great white shark (near-guaranteed), Sardine (hit-or-miss) and Humpback whale (hit-or-miss), from 125 records within 60 km.
- Does Guadalupe Island get tropical storms?
- Yes. Over 30 years of records a storm passed within 250 km in Sep–Oct, most often in October at 2 of 30 years.
- Is there current in Guadalupe Island?
- The tide rises and falls 2.0 m around the full and new moon, against 1.0 m in between. How much of that becomes current depends on the shape of the channel.
- How do you dive Guadalupe Island?
- Mostly from a shark cage.