Northwest Dive Club

Maybe this is already available?

I was discussing with my wife a potential to create a perimeter of dive area based on the visual of a strobe connected to the anchor line. So long as you can see the strobe, you're in the area we all feel comfortable in. If you cannot see it you have drifted or moved off to far from the boat.

I have seen and used the little water triggered blinking lights you can hang from the BCD, but I'm thinking of something much brighter. Of course the distance would be relative to the water quality. I find that on occasion with multiple divers some end up a long way from the boat. We can fetch them when we are all back but a few times it was a little weird wondering where some people ended up down river. I know even in the ocean with tides moving you could casually end up someplace you don't expect. It's easy to get turned around for me and be in a place that does not automatically look familiar. Having that strobe on the anchor line someplace at about mid depth or so would be nice to give you a visual of where the boat is from a great distance?

I have 17 years of diving from anchored and unanchored boats in Puget Sound. We don't use strobes. Here's the three types of dives we do from least to most complicated.
Recreational site or modest deco, modest to no current. Swim and maintain spatial reference to the rough area where you anchored (eg up slope)
Recreational to light deco scooter modest to no current. Maintain enough scooter reserve to return to the boat from stupid far away if you have to.
Serious deco and or serious current, shoot a bag & live boat pickup.

In transitional situations where the site is new or confusing we run a reel to return to the anchor. Strobes are ok but if you do lose track of it there's no reliable way to refind it.

Agree with the above, and I will add this:
In our lovely emerald green seas, trying to stay within sight of a single strobe attached to a down line is unrealistic, even in the context of a simple recreational dive. Imagine being confined to dive within a circle with a radius of 25 or 30 ft max.

Besides, the charters operating around most of the Salish Sea do live boat drop off and pick up anyway.

Actually, Rons team(the MDS folks, josh, etc), when they did deep deep dives, each diver would hang a strobe on the line, so they know all divers are back.

I have the narked at 90 strobe, for a test, when we were doing the former mt6, we hung a strobe at the line, and could barely find it on the way back.

I think a strobe is great if you use as the MDS does, or use in better visibility environments, but around here, its an expensive toy.

Yeah the strobe we use with MDS is not for finding your way back, but we clip em. Even I stellar Viz I wouldn't rely on seeing it

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Sometimes I put a strobe like you're probably talking about on the beach for super dark night dives so I can find the exit... keystone, skyline, day island etc... I used one on the line on a Nanaimo wreck and found it useful as well (decent viz but dark)

-Eric