Diver's body found off Fort Ross beach

Sunnyvale abalone diver Jonathan Su still had his heavy weight belt on when divers found his body Monday afternoon, about a quarter-mile off of a Fort Ross beach.

Su, 29, disappeared Nov. 9 while diving with a cousin in the area in rough seas. Positive identification of his remains came Tuesday.

Two state park lifeguards and three deputies from the Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter crew spent about 90 minutes in the water Monday before Su's body was found.

Lifeguard Nate Buck discovered the diver about 20 feet down, on the seabed in an area rich with abalone, said Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Eric Thomson, part of the dive team.

His bag had gotten tangled in kelp, which may have stopped the body from drifting further.

Su is the eighth person this year to die while hunting for abalone.

Abalone divers wear weight belts to help them stay down as they dive to pluck abalone from rocks below. They wear varying amounts of weight.

What role the weight may have played will never be known, said Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Eric Thomson, part of the dive team. But he cautioned other divers about it.

"We find too many dead divers still wearing their weight belts," Thomson said. "The first thing you do when you're in trouble is to get rid of that."

Abalone diving off the North Coast each year claims several lives.

Another factor often is the roughness of the water, Thomson said. You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.