Hi,
I plan to do a lot of night diving while in Bonaire for 2 weeks in March. I've been considering investing in a strobe light that’s positively buoyant to which I would attach a 2 lb. weight with a few feet of line and drop at 30 feet to mark my exit point as I begin my dive when night diving on particularly dark shorelines. My idea is to use a strobe that’s more powerful that what a diver typically attaches to their tank on a night dive as a personal locator but less powerful than what is typically hung under a dive boat.

I’m interested in hearing you thoughts as to:

1) Whether this is even necessary?
2) Whether you like this method, have suggested improvements or a superior method
3) If you have any recommendations on a particular strobe light that would work well for this

Obviously, any other helpful thoughts are appreciated as well.

Thanks,
Erik

Erik, Your answer depends on the sites you plan to do night dives.

If you are at a resort the lights from shore will guide you home, if you are shore dive away from civilization good compass work will serve you best here. In some areas the trucks lights are left on.

A strobe such as you desribe, to find a boat is THE way to come home from boat diving, but shore diving on Bonaire, they are a great lure for jellyfish.

Does this violate the marine park rules? We were told in December that a new rule was that you couldn't leave markers.

Erik,

I've successfully used that method in the past at certain remote divesites (away from normal lighting) so that I exited exactly where I went in.

However, I didn't use it at 30 feet, but at about 10-15 feet at the top of the slope - IN THE SAND. That is the key to protecting the reef. Not dead coral, but in sand.

As Kelly said, you'll need a compass bearing to get you back to the shore, though. Especially for the double reefs and the long shelf swims from the slope to your exit.

I strongly recommend NOT to use the truck light system. Since you're going to leave your truck unlocked, some kind, considerate Bonairean is going to turn your lights off so that you don't have a dead battery. It has happened in the past, and it could happen again.

I would also check with the resort. I could be wrong, but I think it's still turtle mating season and many resorts and homes turn their lights off as not to confuse the hatchlings. Ask before you rely on their lights.

erik, i will be in bonaire in two days and plan on a few night dives with strobe next week, and as barry said leave it in the sand. and use your compass, we have done this the last to trips.

Barry, I'm not sure about the resort lights. I've been there at a lot of different times, just got back a couple of weeks ago, and I don't think that the resorts do that anymore (turn off their lights).

Another method would be to put the strobe on the dashboard of your truck, or the front bumper, so it can be seen from seaward. A quick visit to the surface then shows you the direction to land and to your exit point. And this won't violate any Park rules.

how about hanging it in a tree?? if there is one available??? or at Oil slick hang in on the stairs??? Or better yet and safer for all ,how about someone sits out and holds a light after a given amount of time say 30-45 minutes??

We put the strobe on the mooring bouy, hook it up at the base of the mooring block. That way when you are getting ready to exit, you just go to the depth of the bouy, and look for the stobe. This obviously only works if you dive a site with a mooring bouy

Freddie has a good idea with the truck, providing no one steals it while your diving

Glen, don't point out the fact that I misspelled BOUY! BUOY!!! LOL...and it was Glen that had the truck idea...sorry...

I believe that was Glen with the truck idea...

oops refresh first should be my motto

Oh, boy, oh, boy: Cynde and her spelling! I would *never* do that, Cyn!!! Especially since that is one mis-spelling I do frequently! :–))

Safety must come first and foremost. I would never trust my life, and it is your life unless you can fin to Curacao safely, to a marker on the shore that can be removed by another person - whether innocently or maliciously.

We have all been trained to use the compass. If you haven't, please learn. It's your life!

Quick story...2 divers left their truck lights on at Pink Beach. It didn't work for whatever reason.

Both divers gave many of us experience in search and recovery procedures. I would never wish that upon anyone - neither the lost ones nor the searchers.

They did find one of their rented BCDs in the Curacao waters 2 weeks later. Just the BCD!

End of story.

Can't you just follow the reef as it gets shallower, which would lead you shoreward? When you hit 4' get out wherever you can. (if you can't see your entry site) You have, presumably, strong flash lights. Your car has to be north or south. Usually there is some ambiant light, too.

Aside from some of the issues raised above, I like the idea of having the strobe in the water to avoid having to come up and do the peekaboo routine to find the light. Perhaps more than most, I feel it's important to ascend the last 15' of the water column slowly. Besides, coming up is just kind of a pain anyway.

In my opinion, it's fairly easy to find an area of bottom that a 3"x3" weight or rock can rest on (anchoring the light) that in no way causes detrimental effects to coral or anything else. Whether it be at 15', 30' or 40' it's not too hard to find a barren area or stretch of sand somewhere near your entry/exit point.

Barry, I'm not sure I understood one of your comments. Are you saying you think placing a small weight on dead coral would have a deleterious effect? For some reason I don't think I'd choose even dead coral as a preferred place to put the weight but I honestly can't think of a reason why this would be improper.

Erik

Nice call Deborah... natural navigation and common sense.

Good question Erik. I'll try to give a simplistic answer.

The reef is a very competitive environment and the dead coral is "attacked" by all sorts of things that want to start living in the system. Dead is not dead in the reef system, but a place to begin life.

For example, after spawning, the eggs land on the reef. It's only on dead coral (vs. live coral) that they can plant their 'roots' so to speak.

These 'dead' areas have living organisms trying to survive; so just because the coral head is dead doesn't mean that the surface is not alive.

A weight or even us divers can technically kill out the beginning of life when we touch the dead coral spots. We just don't think of it that way. We think it's dead so a safe spot to hold or place something on.

Erik-
It is pretty hard to get lost while diving in Bonaire (even at night), but I always do exactly what Boat Chick suggested. At the beginning of a night dive, while geared up but still on shore, I take a compass bearing (and write it down; memory is not what it used to be!) on the mooring buoy (which you can usually see). If I can't see it, I will surface swim out and find the buoy then shoot a heading back to the exit point. I clip a small strobe to the mooring buoy chain or block. When I'm ready to head back in, I recover the strobe, shoot a reverse compass heading, and swim underwater back to shore. I like a strobe for the same reason you do - I can avoid "popping up" for surveillance to find the exit point. If I were diving a site without a mooring buoy, I guess I would use one of the alternatives suggested above.

I second the natural navigation method. We usually surface swim out to a good descent area, one with some kind of distinctive bottom structure, then shoot a bearing to the truck and descend. Then we do an down-and-back on the reef, just like during the day, except much, much more slowly. At night it seems like there's just so much more to see in a smaller area, so we hardly make any progress at all. This also makes it easy to navigate & recognize landmarks & stay oriented. Back to the descent point, then follow our bearing back to the truck. Pop up at 4' and point our lights at the shore and....that *should* be our truck. When we first started diving at night, we made it a bit of a competition; we called an accurate surfacing "sticking the landing," as in gymnastics. And, like gymnastics, you just get better with practice. I think we tried a light early on, but found it was better to rely on good nav skills.

Come on buoys and gulls, stop bickering about spelling. LOL

I think I might start setting out a strobe to distract up other night divers who get too darn close.

And it oughta be booee.

Jim...Seb...lol...

One must also remember that when you are night diving, to put the fins on correctly, not upside down (I know, it's dark, and they are black), not to break a nail, and, while diving, when you bend over and look between your legs to see where your buddy is, NOT to shine your light directly in their eyes and blind them...cause we all know that tarpon are ready and waiting to eat a blinded fish...

Jim, you spelled buoy right...gold star for you Teacher of the Year

Jim,

We aren't bickering! This is a long running (years) bit of friendly chaffing with Cyndelee, who sometimes has found spelling a challenge here. :–)

(Message edited by glenr on February 18, 2008)

Glen, moi? Spelling challenged? Only when you're looking ;-) tee hee