Luke Howard loved the outdoors, so it was a cruel twist of fate he died doing something that brought him so much joy.
The body of the 35-year-old Sunshine Coast man was found near Mudjumba Island on Wednesday morning, almost two days after he disappeared.
He and a friend were fishing off a jet ski on Monday afternoon when they got into trouble as the vessel started taking on water.
Mr Howard took his life jacket off to check the bungs underneath the craft and couldn't climb back on.
He held onto the back of the ski as his friend made a dash for the shore but wasn't there when his mate arrived.
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Several choppers, drones, police vessels and jet skis were used to search for Mr Howard, covering an area 10km long and out to three nautical miles from shore.
The effort was scaled back on Wednesday morning before he was found.
Sunshine Coast Water Police Senior Constable Mark Muddiman told reporters the estimated time frame for the man's survival had ended the previous night.
"We would have liked to have found him alive," he lamented.
"Quite often the result is what's happened today, where we locate a body either in the shoreline or floating in the water."
Friend Bon Viie took to social media before Mr Howard's body was discovered, pleading for him to come home.
"You'd swim anyone under the table buddy, so hurry home we are all not giving up hope," she wrote.
"That bloody ski!"
Later on Wednesday she paid tribute to Mr Howard, describing him as one of the world's last few "true blue and honest men" who was taken too soon.
"Luke Howard you were one in a million, with eyes like the ocean and a heart of gold," she wrote.
"You were one of the most caring, considerate and happy souls I've ever known."
An investigation into exactly what happened is ongoing.
Snr Const Muddiman said there was no physical evidence of a shark attack.
A report is to be prepared for the coroner.
