Search continues for missing diver off Santa Cruz Island despite poor conditions

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - The search for a diver who was reported missing off the coast of Santa Cruz Island earlier this week continues, days after the diver was first reported missing.

On Thursday, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Raquel Zick said divers were unable to search the water due to poor diving conditions. The poor conditions kept divers from searching the water on Wednesday as well.

Zick said that despite the lack of divers, the search continued from the air.

The sheriff's office and the United States Coast Guard received a report of the missing diver around 6:45 p.m. Sunday.

The diver has been identified as 31-year-old Ryder Sturt of Port Hueneme. Sturt was with a partner tank diving for lobster but his partner said he never came back up to the water's surface. The two had been diving in the Painted Cave Preserve area of Santa Cruz Island at the time of the incident.

The search for Sturt is ongoing and Zick says the search by air will continue until diving conditions are safe enough for divers to go back into the water.