Since I missed the world premiere of, “Sharknado,” tonight’s encore viewing at 7:00 p.m. on the SyFy Channel will give me the opportunity do a full body dip into a world where sharks are swept up into a giant tornado and subsequently scattered throughout the terrified city of Los Angeles.

“Sharknado!”

Few things on this planet can paralyze people like a shark. Actually, few things on this planet can paralyze like the idea of a shark. Pause for a moment and reflect on that sentence…We do not need to visibly see or definitively know a shark is nearby to be struck with fear and for our heart’s to pound right through our bodies. We can all thank the brilliant Steven Spielberg for this.

Oceans are magnificent, full of everlasting mystery and intrigue. Anyone who has swam in the ocean along a coast or at a resort can attest that it’s a refreshing feeling. Most of us do not live by the ocean, so it’s an adventurous luxury. Still, how many of us venture farther than where we can touch our toes to the bottom?

It was about six years ago when my family and I went on vacation to Hawaii. The laid-back state in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is stunningly beautiful with exotic treats and gorgeous women at every turn…Anyways, my sister and I were coaxed into swimming about a quarter-mile into the Ocean by our Dad. Let me put it this way: there was zero chance of our feet touching the bottom.

And why did we explore well beyond the sandy beach? Because our Dad had heard that were whales nearby and he wanted to swim out to try to see them in all their massive glory. It as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Admittedly, whales were the last thing I was thinking about as we paced further and further from the beach. There was one thing on repeat the entire time in my head and it went like this…

During every single stroke of this watery trek, I was trying my best not to imagine all the creatures that lived in the ocean. I did my absolute best to rationalize that we weren’t really far enough from the beach to see a dorsal fin with a pointed top. I took as many deep breaths as any human being could to remain calm and not panic as I’m swimming with nothing but open water below my gliding body.

And then…

We saw something on the horizon break the ocean’s glassy surface. Looking more closely, it was a gigantic whale and we saw it slowly rise and fall back into the depths of the ocean. It was a majestic sight.

After basking in the glorious event, I quickly coaxed my sister and Dad to turn around and swim back (slowly and calmly) to the beach resort.

More than a decade ago, my family and I were on vacation down-under in Australia. Talk about an amazing country. One night in Darwin, we ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant at the end of a pier, which was about ten feet above the ocean. The food was delicious.

As we were walking back across the pier, my Mom told me to, cautiously, look down. A safe distance from the edge, I gently leaned over and saw the splash she was referring to. Puzzled, I asked her if it was just waves crashing? Why did she want me to see that?

She replied it wasn’t and told me to look more intently. I did and noticed something peering out of the water…it was a dorsal fin of a Great White Shark! Absolutely insane!

Initially, it startled me. Just a second or two later though, I was fascinated and completely in awe.

It’s somewhat mind-boggling how it’s the very idea of a shark, not necessarily the sight of one, that can strike a paralyzing fear and cause out-of-body heart pounding. This dynamic perfectly lends itself to being a superb psychiatric study.

Was there a big shark swimming relatively close to us during our oceanic adventure to see the whale in Hawaii? I have no doubt. And I didn’t have to see a fin for it to scare the hell out of me!