Scuba Cache

[+CapnChris]

Perhaps this subject has been discussed, if so, please point it out to me. Have caches been hidden underwater only accessable by SCUBA? I understand that GPS units are not desined for underwater use, but perhaps a dive site is used via GPS coordinates, and the cache is at the end of a bouy cable, etc. A log book would be next to impossible, but could work like a virtual cache. Items could still be left or taken I suppose. Thanks for any insites into this topic!

 

Cap'n Chris

[+sTeamTraen]

A log book would be next to impossible

If it's watertight, you could have people surface to log it and then dive to replace it.

 

Alternatively, it would be a real test for Rite-in-the-Rain™ paper and pencils!

[supermanfan]

I have been thinking about the same thing. You would have to surface with the cache to log and replace it when you are finished. I have been pondering on this for sometime.

[+CapnChris]

Hey Supermanfan,

 

We'll have to do some brainstorming and exchange ideas for this.

 

CapnChris

[twjolson & Kay]

if I could scuba (can't due to ears) I would jump at the chance to dive for a cache. But of course, if you guys do, don't expect a ton of traffic

[supermanfan]

CapnChris,

 

We'll have to exchange ides........

[+Recdiver]

There have been a couple of these done in the Puget Sound (WA State) and one in a lake in eastern washington. That I know of. They are on my list of dives to do. For one of them 2 non-divers got a diving friend to dive on the cache while they were above him with a boat. The diver also took down a camera and they were able to view it from the boat. The cache owner allowed them to log the find because of the ingenuity displayed.

[+Recdiver]

Scuba related Here is a post from the Northwest thread on scuba caches

[+WildGooseChase]

We tried one where a redirector was hidden underwater. It was a brick in 50 feet of water with the coords for the ammo can printed on it. The ammo can was high and dry on land.

 

We never did find it since the underwater structure it was near had been removed.

 

Scuba Doo!

[+slapshot52]

How about an under water chalkboard? You could also place it in less than 20 feet of water so that a non-certified diver could “snorkel” or free dive down to it. As a cacher I really liked the idea of making it a multi cache with the logbook on dry land. Finally it might just be a “picture” cache where the finder has to email an underwater picture of the underwater marker to the hider. I would hunt any cache that I did not need to put a regulator in my mouth!

[aragorn05]

I do know of part of a multi cache under water. It is writen on a rock or something like that. I have not found it yet but will in the summer! A real cache under water would be cool because it will probably no get muggled, but a shark might eat it!

[Jammerfind]

The cache might be under water, but it could be attached to a rope attached to something that floats. That way non-divers could swim to it and pull it up.

 

Just an idea.

[+Muddler]

I dive a lot in the Gulf of Mexico in the Ft Walton Destin area. A number of your ideas seem good but you need to consider several things for dive sites in the ocean:

 

Any type of floating marker will be muggled very quickly or removed as a navigation hazard.

No log book would survive underwater.

Any container left underwater for any period will quickly become encrusted with barnicals and scale.

Rope will quickly rot and poly rope will deteriorate withing a year.

Any significant storm can move a a 100 pound object on the ocean floor at 100 feet deep.

Sand moves during storms and can cover parts of a shipwreck.

 

If you are going to involve SCUBA as part of a cache I would suggest attaching a plaque probably of aluminum, using a heavy chain and a good lock. Attaching the plaque to the structure of a wreck in some predominant location would allow any diver to locate information on the plaque. Before placing the plaque, have a welder inscribe several numbers or letters that could be used in some formula to determine the location of an onshore cache.

 

As for a dive location select a location known to the diving public and dive boat operators in the area. Wrecks are good because they have easily recognizable things like the bow, stern or a pilot house. Reefs are hard to describe and rubble piles for man made reefs can be spread over large areas making the cache information.

 

Mention in your Cache page, several Dive shops in the area that know the location of your plaque. Tell the dive shops that you mentioned their name and tell them about geocaching and they will be more then glad to let their divers know about the plaque so that it does not get destroyed by their clients.

 

Scuba Divers love to find treasure and any plaque will look pretty much like treasure after a year or so. Be prepared to dive the site at least once or twice a year a year to clean the plaque. If you use a bolt and or a lock with a heavy chain, things should rust up nicely in a couple of weeks where no one will be able to get it loose.

 

Cheers

 

Muddler

[JohnX]

Check out getting a scuba certification, it's not terribly expensive and quite easy to do. I learned to dive in the mid '70s and then re-certified just recently. The equipment has improved dramatically and the requirements have been eased so much that I think just about anyone could get certified. It was so easy it was almost embarassing. It is also a lot of fun.

[+alpinius1]

good thread! i was wondering about hthis the other day as i am new to the sport of geocaching. the multicache idea is a good one for sure. it would be a good excuse to get my butt back into the water as well...its been awhile!

[+bunkerdave]

Here in Utah, I am aware of one cache that is exactly this.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...20-042c29ca0180

 

The plaque is affixed to an object at the bottom, and you get the numbers to go and find the cache on land. I have not been to it, but I just got my SCUBA card and am headed out there sometime this summer.

 

I am trying to figure out a way to use my GPS while diving. I read on here one time where a fellow had devised a system where he would deploy his gps on a line, in a box, and could get a reading that would stay on the GPS screen when he reeled it back down. I can't seem to find that thread now. I have looked for a container that would do the trick, but most of them will leak at the kind of pressure that is found below 50 feet.

[+diverhank]

I can't imagine too many people trying for this type of caches. The one in Utah had been hidden in August 2004 and still has zero find.

 

I might have been tempted a few years back, when I was still a hardcore diver, but now, it would simply be too much of a hassle to attempt something like this. Not sure how good visibility is in a Utah lake but dives off the beaches in Southern CA only have an average of about 10ft visibility...to acquire a signal on top then to dive down and look for a cache...not counting having to lug equipment for half a mile down a beach then back... I'm getting too old