DANA POINT (CBSLA.com) — A search for a missing 60-year-old man who was last seen swimming at Salt Creek Beach on Saturday has turned into a recovery effort, authorities said.

The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) says they received a call of the missing swimmer at 11:30 a.m.

The missing man was described by authorities as an avid and strong swimmer. At the time the man was last seen, he was body surfing and wearing fins. Officials said the water had very rough 5-8 foot waves with strong currents and shore breaks.

The missing man was reportedly in relatively shallow water when was body surfing. He was also swimming with a buddy. The missing men reportedly went under one wave but never came up, according to authorities.

The Coast Guard along with 25 firefighters from the OCFA and Long Beach Fire were assisting lifeguards and deputies in the search, according to the OCFA.

A Coast Guard helicopter was also launched to assist in the frantic search.

After 4 p.m., authorities said they were looking for the unidentified man’s body. The recovery effort was called off when it got dark.

KCAL9’s Cristy Fajardo picked up the story Saturday evening.

She said lifeguards and the Coast Guard searched for the man for more than eight hours.

“The Coast Guard will be continuing their search by air,” said OC Lifeguard Chief Jason Young, “and we will have units available in the area who will be managing the incident through the night.”

“Typically we like to deploy divers for this type of a situation but due to the high surf conditions today we were not able to deploy scuba divers under the surf,” said Young.

“I saw like a helicopter pass by like pretty often, it was coming back and forth,” said a surfer.

Officials said the recovery effort would resume 6 a.m. Sunday.