Thank you, you make very good points. I have training in SAR, from a boat point of view. I understand how difficult it is to see someone in the water. In my SAR training, we learned to take the LKP (Last Known Position) and apply set and drift, from the nearest buoys or from tables, to determine our datum point (where the object should be after nature acts upon it). But, we don't take into consideration (indeed, we don't do that planning, we let the Coast Guard RCC do it) someone hanging on a buoy, or swimming to a specific point. But then, we usually don't have buoys in the search area. We are generally looking for other vessels, not PIWs. We are often dispatched from an area that is not going to take us directly over the LKP, especially if the search isn't going to start until the next morning. It would be possible for them to have tied onto a buoy or something, but I don't recall taking that into consideration when heading for the datum from a different side of the LKP. So, being on the opposite end is something new to me. I'll be drift diving for the first time in Cozumel next week. I think all this is very appropriate. I do have the sausage, mirror, strobe, flashlight, and whistle. I'm debating getting the air horn device (scubalert?) before I go. I will be with my LDS, and I think we'll stay as a group, so that will also help.
Thanks again for insight from a diver's point of view.
Thanks again for insight from a diver's point of view.
very informative. I knew some of that, but not well enough to explain like you did, and - I learned, too. Always try to here. 
