After an exhaustive search of the waters off the Florida Keys, a Malibu filmmaker has been found dead. Rob Stewart,37, was an accomplished filmmaker who was scuba diving while making another installment of his award winning films “Sharkwater.”
On January 31st Stewart resurfaced from a deepwater dive and signaled that he was okay while his dive partner collapsed returning to the boat, according to various news sources. When the crew turned around to get Stewart he had suddenly disappeared. His partner is now fine.
Both divers were using a device called a “rebreather,” a closed circuit air supply system that allows swimming underwater without bubbles in order to not scare away fish for better filming. Officials are now focusing their investigation on that device.
Stewart’s body was found Friday just hours after the U.S. Coast Guard suspended its four-day search. A Malibu group had set up a Gofundme page in order to raise money to continue recovery efforts. Money raised is now being directed toward a charity founded by Stewart, FinFree.
Stewart was originally from Canada but made the Las Flores area his home.