August 18, 2007
Coast Guard continues search for missing diver
By SETH ROBBINS
Staff Writer
Coast Guard rescue crews and U.S. Air Force aircraft continued to search the ocean late Saturday night for a Port Orange man who never resurfaced while diving 10 miles northeast of Ponce Inlet.
An Air Force jet and a helicopter joined the Coast Guard in the search for Kenneth Gessinger, 54, and Coast Guard officials said the search would continue all night.
Gessinger was diving around 9:30 a.m. with his son from the family's 21-foot boat when the pair had to return to the surface because of technical problems with their buoyancy compensators - a device designed to help them stay afloat, Gessinger's 14-year-old son said by phone Saturday afternoon.
The elder Gessinger dropped some weights, but still he was exhausting himself treading above water.
" I kept having to push him up and up again because he was really tired by then" said Gessinger's son, also named Kenneth Gessinger.
Fearing he could not keep his father afloat much longer, the younger Gessinger swam to his family's boat.
"It was really bad current," he said. "And when I got onboard, I turned around and my dad was nowhere in sight."
Gessinger's family radioed the Coast Guard who launched a small boat and a helicopter to search the ocean. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and several Good Samaritans also are assisting in the search, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Bobby Nash.
"We have a whole bunch of assets out there," he said. "We're looking for him. The Coast Guard does not do (body) recovery missions."
Rick Coleman, owner of Sea Dogs Dive Center in New Smyrna Beach, said conditions were calm Saturday with flat seas and clear skies.
"It was a pretty typical day," he said. "Other than visibility being a little less than usual."
