Missing Diver-FL Keys

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Rae HalfTheHill

MSDT/Captain
Staff member
ScubaBoard Supporter
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
263
Reaction score
677
Location
Florida Keys
# of dives
500 - 999
Diver reported missing since yesterday afternoon, last seen south of Big Pine Key lobstering with a partner. He is wearing a wetsuit and has a pink 63 cu ft tank.
 
Found deceased at the bottom near where he went missing...sad news.
 
So very sorry to hear that.
 
The body of a 73-year-old Palm Harbor man was found Thursday morning in the waters off the Lower Keys after he went missing while diving the day before. Rainer G. Blomberg was last seen by a relative around 4 p.m. Wednesday diving in about 15 feet of water on the ocean side off Bahia Honda Key, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said. The key is home to the 524-acre Bahia Honda State Park — which is between mile markers 36 and 37 off U.S. 1.

The sheriff’s office dive team removed Blomberg from the water at about 9:08 a.m., not far from where he was last seen, said Adam Linhardt, the sheriff’s office spokesman.

Blomberg had been diving from a 24-foot recreational center console boat. Linhardt said foul play is not expected to be a factor in the incident and that autopsy results are pending. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard also took part in the search.
 
With his age, a medical event is of course plausible. That being said, so many of these types of accidents are solo divers. I can't in his position, say that I wouldn't do the same thing though.
 
Age is not necessarily a major factor.... So many divers in my neck in the woods are accidents waiting to happen. Obesity seems to be a major trait in many S. Florida divers. The heart can only take so much.
 
Age is not necessarily a major factor.... So many divers in my neck in the woods are accidents waiting to happen. Obesity seems to be a major trait in many S. Florida divers. The heart can only take so much.
Obesity is a major issue in US divers period, not just in SFL. An unfortunate reflection of the general population.
 
That being said, so many of these types of accidents are solo divers.
I suggest that any and all diving hunters are solo divers. Yeah, he went in with another diver who was able to report his loss, but they both had bug vision and weren't watching out for each other.

I might suggest that most divers with cameras are as well.
 
I suggest that any and all diving hunters are solo divers. Yeah, he went in with another diver who was able to report his loss, but they both had bug vision and weren't watching out for each other.

I might suggest that most divers with cameras are as well.
For a fact, in both cases I would agree.

Even in 15 ft. of water, solo diving with a single 63 + the extra task loading of hunting seems like a somewhat bad idea. A little problem or 2 mid to late dive with a lapse of focus on your gas can put you in a very poor situation. Though at 73 years old seems like there could be possible medical complications too, who knows
 
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