Mr Adams' partner of 15 years said she had warned him to "be careful" while diving near the area where the body of Dau Atem, a Sudanese man, was discovered earlier this month.
"I told him not to go there because of what had happened recently," the 38-year-old told Hawke's Bay Today. She was at work when informed of her partner's disappearance.
She said it was the first time he had gone diving with his friend, who reported Mr Adams missing when they became separated as they swam back to shore.
"I'm concerned about him the most," she said of the other diver, also from Hastings.
Mr Adams' work colleagues joined the search near the small community yesterday morning and said he was "like an uncle" to them.
Before his body was found, family and friends linked hands and held a karakia on the foreshore. Later, two of the Mr Adams' sons, Dallas and Eru, helped carry his body from the sea to the settlement. The family was also appreciative of the local boaties and fishermen, who spent Sunday and Monday helping to search the area.
A post mortem will be carried out today and the death has been referred to the coroner.
Last February, Hastings man Barney Leon Akurangi, 34, drowned while diving on the same stretch of coast.
