As my confidence elevates, so does my excitement level. In a single moment, I understand why divers travel from all over the world to experience these extraordinary waters. They simply are mesmerizing. I have come prepared to record this saline safari with two cameras because 1) I know you won't believe my tales of what I see, and 2) I want to make sure it is not a dream myself.

I have set up a little underwater work station in my diver-sized nest of the volcanic rock surrounding me. I have my Nikonos outfitted with a 20mm lens, lying on the rock in front of me, while my eye is glued to the video camera. At this point, the sharks are looking pretty darn big in the view finder. I have to peek around the camera to be certain that these bizarre looking sharks aren't going to run into me. This small movement of peeking causes instant panic in the school of hammerheads and they scatter. Suddenly I am alone in the water with my dive buddy, wishing the powerful giants would return. By the way, I now feel like Superman - able to terrify huge hammerhead sharks with a single movement. We also discover that exhaling our bubbles has the same "shark scattering" effect as sudden motion. But I only have to wait for about two minutes until another batch of "cautious" sharks come creeping back to inspect us.

The difference between simply reading about this encounter and actually experiencing your own hammerhead parade are worlds apart . . . you really have to live it for yourself to relate. So far, this dive has been the most exciting 15 minutes spent underwater in my entire life, and well worth the price of admission. Then I decided to "shoot some stills" for the cover of some distant magazine that seemed about a million miles away. I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't control myself. The overhead fly-bys are so spectacular that I can't even wait for my strobe to recycle before my maniacal finger trips the shutter again. I just keep clicking away, like some compulsive gambler. Finally, I come to my senses in time to capture a few head-on close ups. From my perspective it appeared as if the shark's big T-shaped head completely filled the camera's framer. Next, a manta ray flies by, followed by two cavorting green sea turtles and, finally, three playful sea lions.

Five minutes into the dive I'm out of film. No problem - I still have video. And since I haven't ventured from my original outpost, I still have 2,100 psi. I barely get the darned camcorder switched on when all the small fish in front of me scatter into the blue water. I had no effect on them before, so what could have caused this "swim for your life" reaction. The curiosity to glance over my shoulder was compelling. My heart stopped and my little brain froze as I realized I was looking straight up at the looming belly of Mr. Big or, as the locals call them, tiburon ballena, Spanish for whale shark - one of the real giants of the Galapagos. Heh, heh - imagine that: A real live whale shark gliding right over my very exposed head. Heh, heh. Apparently this gigantic fish had been watching me doing my shark photography, and its curiosity lured him to check me out.

First rule of videography: Make sure the red "REC" [for "record"] is displayed in the viewfinder. Some instinct in me must have taken care of this, because the next 10 minutes were a blur. From my position I could see that this specimen shark was a female, over 40 feet long, and as big around as a school bus. My buddy and I split up. He went for the right side and I took the left. As we were peering at each other across the back of this gentle giant, it was at this point that I got the most treasured video footage of my life. This whale shark had about six or seven remoras around her huge mouth. By huge, I mean big enough to hold both my dive buddy and me - and maybe a third diver as well. She led us out into the blue for what seemed like an hour, but it was actually only seven minutes. During those seven minutes, I had time to reaffirm that the Galapagos really is the "land of giants," but to see them, you have to get to the most northern islands of Darwin and Wolf at the perfect time of year.

Fortunately, we had selected the most experienced dive travel operators to get us to the right place at the right time. Anyway, I am breathing at such a rapid rate that I am now seeing little white spots, and a little voice of common sense whispers, "Break off the chase before you pass out, dummy." "OK, OK," I mutter back to myself, "but where the heck are we?" Then I hear the outboard motor above and a wave of relief passes though me as I look up and see my chase boat. Boy! Am I going to give him a big tip at the end of the week! He must have followed our bubbles about 500 yards into the blue, but something else was going on up there. Dolphins? Between rapid exhalations I could hear the squeals of bottle-nose dolphins, and I could now see their silhouettes. I signaled the thumbs-up, and my buddy confirmed. A nice long safety stop with dolphins really would be the icing on the cake. These large dolphins waited for us to ascend, and because we didn't chase them, they must have felt secure enough to hang around us. Now I really wished my wife were here, she would have been so delighted. Believing that my video footage would convince her to join me next time, and I can assure you there will be a next time, I diligently kept collecting evidence of these incredible "close encounters."

These bottle-nose dolphins were much bigger than I had imagined: 400 pounds, nine to 10 feet long - and they were everywhere. If a diver holds still, these friendly beasts will swim to within a few feet of you, look you over, zap you with their sonar and converse amongst themselves about their discovery: You. Dolphins communicate with squeals, whistles and clicks, and you definitely can tell that they are communicating with each other about you. Suddenly, they completely disappeared, but I could still hear their squeals. "Patience," I said to myself, and it paid off. Two or three minutes later they were back. "Stick a fork in us, we were done," I muttered into my mask. We couldn't take any more in one dive. We broke the surface screaming, arms spread, indicating to the dinghy driver that we had seen Mr. Big or, actually, Mrs. Big. He smiled ear to ear because when we're happy, the crew is happy.

Back on the Reina Silvia, our luxurious five-star floating hotel, we discovered that we were not the only divers to have had a "close encounter" with whale sharks, hammerhead sharks and dolphins. Anything and everything can and most likely will happen while diving in the Galapagos at the northernmost islands of Darwin and Wolf. Don't expect to find this kind of "high voltage" diving in the central archipelago.

Even the seahorses in the Galapagos are giants. The adults are seven to eight inches from snout to tail, which is pretty darned big, as far as seahorses go. They are bright orange with lighter horizontal stripes about every inch, and covered with metallic-bright silver speckles. It's hard to discipline your eyes to stay focused on the black coral for these ornate seahorses, because another whale shark might wander by and you wouldn't want to miss it. This is where the buddy system really comes in handy. One looks into the blue, while the other searches the reef.

When we're not diving, we're exploring the islands on foot. Our first land excursion was on North Seymour, where we were greeted by five basking sea lions. Next, we saw the magnificent frigate birds. The males puff out a pouch on their necks the size of a cantaloupe to attract females to the nests they have made for mating. We also saw marine iguanas, surfing sea lions, Galapagos hawks, land iguanas and blue-footed boobies with their young. Another land expedition revealed four bright-pink flamingos that allowed us to approach within 15 feet. We saw fur seals, and deep red and orange Sally light-foot crabs. On the last day, we traveled to the highlands to see the giant Galapagos tortoises. Some were said to be more than 100 years old, weighing in excess of 400 pounds. All in all, the land portion of the trip was as exciting as the diving portion.

Aquatic Encounters tour operation orchestrates this perfect combination of land expeditions and dives. The naturalist / dive guide is extremely knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of these enchanted islands and, what's more, he's entertaining, fun-loving, and takes sincere joy in making sure we're having a great time. If we aren't, he fixes it. Equally as important are the Aquatic Encounters representatives who accompany each expedition. They are the enthusiastic trip leaders who keep the tone positive and solve problems if they arise (which is so much better than having a problem all week and having no one to help you solve it - you can't make up for problems once your vacation time is used up). They also fix dive gear, but most of all, they can instill confidence and excitement in every diver. These folks make sure all goes as planned, from the expedition's beginning to its end.

The Reina Silvia, our floating hotel, is the epitome of comfort. She is 90 feet long and fully air-conditioned. Each of her eight cabins (owner's suite available upon request) is complete with a private shower and bath. The plush lounge area is complete with stereo, CD, VCR, and not one, but two televisions. So bring your favorite CDs and VCR movies for après-dive relaxation. The built-in compressor with a cascade system allows for five-minute tank fills. The ship's newest amenity is a satellite phone so guests are never out of touch with family and land-locked friends. The crew on the Reina Silvia is excellent in every department and very safety minded. Most of them have been with the Reina Silvia for more than nine years and work together as a well-coached team.

December, January, May and June are the best months to dive the northern islands of Darwin and Wolf. Divers are split into two groups depending on their level of experience. Less experienced divers receive as much supervision from the patient divemaster as they need in order to feel comfortable. The more experienced divers usually want very little supervision - just a good pre-dive briefing; and then, attentive and experienced chase-boat drivers, a skill in which the Reina Silvia crew specializes.

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