Unknown FLA diver missing-Ft. Pierce @ Halsey wreck

[Johnoly]

Copy & pasted from STL-SO site:

DEPUTIES ASSIST IN SEARCH FOR MISSING DIVER
This morning, a West Palm Beach resident was free diving in the area of the Halsey shipwreck where, upon his last known dive, he failed to resurface. This area is approximately 13 miles southeast of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. The diver was last seen wearing a green wetsuit with an orange stripe on the hood, yellow weights on his weight belt, and black carbon fiber fins. The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, to include the Dive Team, has been and will continue to assist the United States Coast Guard and MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife, who is the lead in this investigation.

Reference info: The Halsey wreck is very popular fishing and dive site located about 13 miles offshore of Ft. Pierce, Florida. Bottom depth is about 80 ft and upper portions of the wreck about 60ft. I've only been on it once several years ago. Viz can be tough at 10ft or you might get a rare 40ft day. Seas are very calm this weekend in that area. It's broken up in several pieces and usually is a good spearfishing spot but get's picked over since it's a public number and EVERYONE knows the spot. Hoping they find the diver.

 

[johndiver999]

yeah just heard about this. The body should not be that hard to find if he was diving the Halsey and they know the current direction when he was lost. If anyone is looking and they need another searcher, send me a pm.

 

[Catito]

Copy & pasted from STL-SO site:

DEPUTIES ASSIST IN SEARCH FOR MISSING DIVER
This morning, a West Palm Beach resident was free diving in the area of the Halsey shipwreck where, upon his last known dive, he failed to resurface. This area is approximately 13 miles southeast of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. The diver was last seen wearing a green wetsuit with an orange stripe on the hood, yellow weights on his weight belt, and black carbon fiber fins. The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, to include the Dive Team, has been and will continue to assist the United States Coast Guard and MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife, who is the lead in this investigation.

Reference info: The Halsey wreck is very popular fishing and dive site located about 13 miles offshore of Ft. Pierce, Florida. Bottom depth is about 80 ft and upper portions of the wreck about 60ft. I've only been on it once several years ago. Viz can be tough at 10ft or you might get a rare 40ft day. Seas are very calm this weekend in that area. It's broken up in several pieces and usually is a good spearfishing spot but get's picked over since it's a public number and EVERYONE knows the spot. Hoping they find the diver.

View attachment 840972

Oh no.

 

[sheeper]

The missing freediver has been identified by law enforcement as Ryan Price of West Palm Beach.

Free diving on the Halsey wreck is pretty serious. Conditions there usually have strong currents, there is a lot of debris and wreckage. Visibility is often limited or just plain poor. The wreck is a 435 ft. cargo ship sunk by a German U-Boat in 1942 and is located about 12 miles southeast of the Ft. Pierce inlet and sits in about 85 fsw though just off the wreck to the east it drops to just over 100 feet. It is a great area for hunting IF you are comfortable with some tough conditions.

recovery will be a challenge here as conditions at the moment are far from optimal,

 

[johndiver999]

There are no more dive operations for the search. The sheriff's office searched with divers on the wreck yesterday and they have suspended any dive operations. Based on my personal communication with uscg, fwc and SO.

 

[Johnoly]

recovery will be a challenge here as conditions at the moment are far from optimal,

He was an experienced freediving instructor who worked with North Palm Bch store - Florida Freedivers. Well known in the spearo community. Don't know if details will ever be released but the location, load status, shaft & line status for the gun are always big clues when any spearo goes missing. When we found Nikki's gun it was 100% loaded & line in place and tip buried in the sand as she dropped it about 10mins into her dive. That ruled out alot of possibilities.

 

[Catito]

The missing freediver has been identified by law enforcement as Ryan Price of West Palm Beach.

Free diving on the Halsey wreck is pretty serious. Conditions there usually have strong currents, there is a lot of debris and wreckage. Visibility is often limited or just plain poor. The wreck is a 435 ft. cargo ship sunk by a German U-Boat in 1942 and is located about 12 miles southeast of the Ft. Pierce inlet and sits in about 85 fsw though just off the wreck to the east it drops to just over 100 feet. It is a great area for hunting IF you are comfortable with some tough conditions.

recovery will be a challenge here as conditions at the moment are far from optimal,

Virgil Price

 

[DandyDon]

Virgil Price

They haven't found him, but they did find another body. They didn't say if he was in dive gear or not.
Search for missing Florida diver takes shocking turn as different body found, cops say

 

[Ez E]

They haven't found him, but they did find another body. They didn't say if he was in dive gear or not.
Search for missing Florida diver takes shocking turn as different body found, cops say

That is strange.

 

[Eastwest]

I give my condolences to his family and friends , was planning to go last week to a Palm Beach free dive store and could have met him . Be good , safe and kind. God Bless Rumdumb