More than a week after a Port Hueneme man disappeared while scuba diving near Santa Cruz Island, his remains have not been located and recovered, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday.
Ryder Sturt, 34, was tank diving for lobster with a partner off a 20-foot recreational boat near the Painted Cave Preserve on Nov. 29 when he failed to surface.
The dive partner radioed for help, and the U.S. Coast responded to the distress call that evening with a cutter and a helicopter, searching for Sturt through the night without success.
The next two days, the sheriff’s Underwater Search and Recovery Team joined the effort — with the assistance of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dive Team, the Los Angeles Port Police, and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team — but Sturt was not found.
Since then, rough ocean conditions have prevented the divers from getting back in the water to resume the search, said Raquel Zick, sheriff’s public information officer.
“Conditions in the ocean have not improved,” Zick told Noozhawk on Monday afternoon.
The search has continued by air with a county helicopter, Zick said.
“Because we can’t get in the water, the air is the only option right now,” she added.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.