Diver, 50, Dies After Island Outing

An experienced diver who left on a boat out of Channel Islands Harbor on Saturday died at a Los Angeles area hospital after being airlifted from the waters off Santa Barbara Island, Coast Guard officials said.

Aron Arvidson, 50, of Quartz Hill in Los Angeles County died at Torrance Memorial Hospital at about 6 p.m., a nursing supervisor said. The cause of death has not been determined and is pending a coroner’s investigation.

At 4:10 p.m., Coast Guard officials received a call concerning a lost diver from passengers on Deep Blue Dreams II, a 25-foot pleasure boat cruising between Anacapa and Santa Barbara islands.

Arvidson, a diver for five years, and a friend had been diving at about 300 feet when Arvidson failed to surface. The other diver “saw the bubbles stop coming up and started to worry,” Petty Officer James Dubea said.

After a brief search, Arvidson’s friends saw him some distance away at the surface and noticed that he failed to indicate the signal that he was all right.

“He didn’t give the OK sign,” Petty Officer Bill Firkins said. “They were preparing to get over to him and they lost sight of him.”

A Coast Guard helicopter located Arvidson about an hour later, 15 miles off Santa Barbara Island. He did not have any vital signs, officials said. He was taken by helicopter to Torrance Memorial, the nearest trauma center, officials said.

“We don’t know what happened to him medically,” Dubea said. “He could have had a heart attack or something.”