91 Feet

As long-time water sport enthusiasts, author Lee E. Pate and his sister Deb decide to get certified as scuba divers. During the training, Lee asks the instructor about sharks and is told, "You're privileged to see a dangerous shark-it's very rare to see one. You do see small, docile sharks often, but the biggest ones you'll usually see are only about three or four feet, if you're lucky."

Discounting the possibility that they'll ever see a shark, Lee and Deb start diving on their own along with their brother David, who was already a certified diver. They were diving in the daytime at first, then started night diving, deep diving and finally night deep diving. Lee and David started diving deep, at night at Redondo Beach, a popular Los Angeles County Beach, often. One particular night that happened to be Friday the 13th, after having car trouble, they were late. They hurried up, drove to the beach, got in the water, went down and out along the bottom as fast as they could, ending up a few feet from a large, dangerous shark. With fear rising in his throat at a depth of ninety-one feet, Lee has only one thought-I'm dead!

In his memoir 91 FEET: "You're Privileged to See a Dangerous Shark," Lee recounts his thrilling scuba diving experiences.