Buoy

A seal on a buoy in San Diego Harbor

A buoy is a floating marker used to identify or locate a submerged feature beneath it.

There are many uses for buoys:

sea mark - aids pilotage by marking a maritime channel, hazard and administrative area to allow boats and ships to navigate safely.
lifebuoy - a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water to provide buoyancy. Usually has a connecting line allowing the casualty to be pulled to the rescuer
Submarine communication buoy - to be released in case of emergencies or for communication
DAN buoy - has two meanings:
- a large maritime navigational aid providing a platform for light and radio beacons
- a lifebuoy with a flags used on yachts and smaller pleasure craft
SONAR buoy - used by anti-submarine warfare aircraft to detect submarines by SONAR
Surface Marker Buoy - taken on dives by SCUBA divers to mark their position underwater
Decompression buoy - deployed by submerged SCUBA divers to mark their position underwater whilst doing decompression stops
shot buoy - used to mark dive sites for the boat safety cover of SCUBA divers so that the divers can descend to the dive site more easily in conditions of low visibility or tidal currents and more safely do decompression stops on their ascent
mooring buoy - to keep one end of a mooring cable or chain on the water's surface so that ships or boats can tie on to it
tripping buoy - to keep one end of the tripping line on the water's surface so that a stuck anchor can more easily be freed