Sure it's armchair QB'ing, but at this point, he should have been
relaying exact position and asking for the USCG chopper/ships to be
rolling.

That assumes he was able to determine his exact position. What navigational
capabilities did he have aboard?

Seems easier enough to see an airplane in the air with strobes on, going
in a known direction, than to find one ditched at night.

True, we don't even know if he had strobes, but it's a good bet.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.