Updated at 6:47 Tuesday.
Authorities searched in vain today for an Oceanside man who went missing on Memorial Day after visiting La Jolla Shores for a scuba- diving outing.
Jeffrey May, 45, went to the northern San Diego beach early Monday morning, telling his wife he planned to meet up with a diving group, city lifeguard Lt. Greg Buchanan said. About an hour later, May called his spouse and said he'd arrived at the Shores and could not find the others he had planned to dive with.
After May failed to return home or contact his wife again, she reported him missing about 8 p.m., Buchanan said.
May's car was found in a parking lot in the area, and a plastic tub holding his car keys, sunglasses and clothing was located in a grassy area alongside the beach.
May had rented a scuba tank and some diving weights at a nearby dive shop, but authorities could find no one who saw him entering the water.
Lifeguards spent several hours Monday night searching from aboard boats and on shore vehicles, aided by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, before suspending the operation about 11:30 p.m., Buchanan said.
The effort resumed at 6 this morning. Almost three dozen divers from the San Diego Police Department and lifeguard agencies up and down the coast took part, along with the federal maritime agency's airborne personnel and the San Diego Harbor Police. The latter department deployed a vessel with sonar equipment, Buchanan said.
The search turned up no sign of May, with the possible exception of a diving mask that could have belonged to him.
Murky water conditions were making the job more challenging, Buchanan said.
"We can't see very much, which makes it that much more difficult," he said.
The effort was suspended in the early evening. The municipal dive teams planned to continue searching the ocean in the area on Wednesday, starting about 8 a.m., San Diego lifeguard Lt. Andy Lerum said.
May's wife told authorities her husband had been scuba-diving for 25 years. A friend of his, however, said May had not gone on a dive since last summer and had never done one at La Jolla Shores, Buchanan said.
Check back with Patch for more information as it becomes available.
-City News Service
