MAYPORT, Fla. — Obi went diving with his friends Saturday morning about 47 miles offshore.
Ever since, it’s been all hands on deck to try and find him—local agencies even private boaters helping with the effort.
“We are basically in a 24/7 rhythm right now where during the daytime we go flight heavy and at night we tend to use cutters,” explains Capt. Mark Vlaun, USCG Commander at Sector Jacksonville.
Obi went spearfishing with friends Saturday morning about 47 miles off the coast. It’s an area better known as Elton Bottom.
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”It’s a very popular place for fishermen, spearfishermen, divers and people getting lobster...just takes a long time to get there,” explains Rob Youngblood, a PADI diving instructor with First Coast Divers.
Youngblood says in order to dive lower than 60 feet, you need special certification. “To go Elton Bottom where they were diving, it’s somewhere in the 115 to 130 range in depth, so that requires advanced certification,” Youngblood said.
According to the USCG, Obi and two other divers were just coming up from a 90 to 120-foot dive. The three made a safety stop at 15 feet, then the other two continued up to the surface. We’re told they last saw him at 5 feet, no one ever saw Obi break the surface.
”We have been heavily focused on the surface search, which would be assuming he came back up but a some distance from the boat. Most of our efforts are not focused below the water and those that are from JFRD and JSO are being done with sonar,” explains Capt. Vlaun.
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They haven’t found any clues yet, but are hopeful.
”Timothy Obi actually had a safety apparatus with him that he could inflate, which again most experienced divers going out that far would have, and that’s extremely helpful to us while he’s out there because if he does have that, that would increase our chances of finding him,” says Capt. Vlaun.
The USCG says we are still within the survivability of someone being out there, especially since he was wearing a wetsuit.
On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the community will be lighting candles for Obi’s safe return home at the Florida Boulevard beach access.
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