The Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter was dispatched from Hastings with a police search and rescue team member on board and three local boats also joined in the search.
At 5pm the aerial phase of the search had proven fruitless and the helicopter returned to Hastings. Search co-ordinator Detective Wayne Steed said the man had been out snorkelling with a friend about 500m south of the Pourerere Beach settlement.
The search would continue with police and locals on the ground into the night.
The police national dive squad had also been notified and would assist local search and rescue teams when conditions allowed.
Local crayfisherman Andrew Gay, who joined the search in his boat yesterday, said the small community was still recovering after he discovered the body of Dau Atem, a Sudanese man, at the beach earlier this month.
Mr Gay discovered the Massey University student's body at the beach 11 days after he went missing from a Shoal Bay beach in Aramoana.
A rahui (temporary restriction) on fishing and gathering shellfish put in place since the discovery had since been lifted.
Conditions were "pretty sloppy" at sea during yesterday's search with the water choppy, dirty and hampered by northerly winds.
He said as a local fisherman he had a responsibility to assist police in their searches for people who went missing at sea.
"Unfortunately it goes with the territory.
"It's been a bit rough these last couple of weeks, but you've got to go out and do these things. We're happy to do it."
Waipukurau Constable Andy Walker agreed the two incidents had been "traumatic" for the beach town.
Meanwhile, Pourerere Beach Caravan Park caretaker Geoff Karaitiana has been advising members of his community to be careful in the water.
"It's not a nice place where they were diving.
"It's not safe at all.
"They were in a channel - terrible surges go through there."
Last February Hastings man Barney Leon Akurangi, 34, drowned while diving on the same stretch of coast.
He knew the area and was an able swimmer.