A 73-year-old man died while diving in the Lower Keys

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.

This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 5:08 PM.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.