From the time I was a starry-eyed elementary school student with grandiose dreams and an optimistic outlook on life, I have dreamed of one day seeing a Great White Shark in person. Like the majority of people however, the life I had mapped out for myself as a child and the reality I found myself living were somehow vastly different.

That realization hit me hard last year. I had somehow found myself trapped inside an office all day working with computers instead of gallivanting around the world as a famous marine biologist and swimming with every possible shark variety known to man. My only glimpse of the childhood dream remained on the TV screen during Discovery’s Shark Week. How could I have ended up here, staring at the four walls in my cubicle prison instead of exploring the deep blue sea?

Fortunately, there are places for cubicle dwellers to make their dreams come true - if only for a moment in time. My fantasy became reality about 220 miles southwest of San Diego near the beautiful island of Isla Guadalupe, Mexico.

The adventure began at Fisherman’s Landing Marina in San Diego, where I hopped on board the 88’ Islander with much anticipation about making a lifelong dream come true. I could hardly contain my excitement as the boat puttered out of the marina and began its 22-hour journey to the island.

After a nice day of getting to know my shipmates, looking for whales and watching dolphins play off the bow of the boat, we sat down to our first dinner on board. The meal was the equivalent of anything served at some of the finer restaurants in the Bay area – a far cry from the greasy burgers one might expect to eat on a typical fishing vessel. With a fantastic meal and some red wine performing an elegant dance in my belly, I descended down into my bunk to let the boat gently rock me into my oceanic slumber.

Early the next morning, I crawled out of my seafaring cocoon and ascended to the hustle and bustle of the crew preparing for the first dive of the trip. I could barely eat any breakfast as the butterflies in my stomach seemed to be competing in the winged-insects Olympics.

The cages were dropped, dive rotations began and it wasn’t long before the first shark appeared from the depths. I found myself in the cage in somewhat of a daze. Was I dreaming? No, this was for real. The extra shot of adrenaline in my system put a quick stop to the butterfly Olympics and there I was looking at the famous Great White Shark - out in the wild and up close and very personal.

Words cannot express the elation and pure awe I felt at that moment. I also have to admit that somewhere in the depths of my brain; I heard a very distant, yet familiar tune. Maybe it was something from a movie (duh duh….duh duh…ring a bell, anyone?).

The first surprise in seeing these magnificent creatures in person was their sheer size. Everything I had ever read or seen about these sharks stated that they were very large fish, but nothing prepared me for how immense they truly are. When you see something the size of a small bus with rows and rows of teeth coming at you, it can literally leave you breathless.

As if size alone isn’t enough to make you take an extra hit from your regulator, there is the little matter of the way the sharks look at you with their almost lifeless, coal-black eyes. It is almost as if they are looking THROUGH you.

By far however, the biggest shock for me was how graceful, cautious and almost timid these behemoths seemed to be. They didn’t violently attack every ounce of bait that was dropped in the water and they certainly didn’t appear to be the mindless, man-eating hunters that famous filmmakers had made them out to be. Instead, they seemed to approach everything with curiosity and hesitation - sometimes circling the bait several times before actually trying to taste it. That particular reaction just didn’t register properly in my brain. How could one of the world’s top predators have a cautious bone (or cartilage as the case would be here) in its body? That question is still burning in the back of my brain.

All bewilderment aside, this trip turned out to be proof that reality can be better than fantasy. These creatures are truly spectacular and definitely a sight to behold.

Maybe the true secret to remaining young is to tap into your inner child by grabbing on to some of those childhood dreams and turning them into reality. Perhaps it is time to put aside all doubts and inhibitions and pursue a lifelong dream. You’ll be glad you did. I know I am.

For more information about diving with Great White Sharks at Isla Guadalupe, check out Shark Diver’s website at sharkdiver.com.

Christy Fisher is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in California. You can see some of her underwater work at: marketplace.kodakgallery.com