Underwater Treasure hunt

[seadoggirl]

I've been talking about this for three summers but I really want to do it. An underwater Treasure hunt complete with clues at sites both on land and off shore. We could do it in teams with new clues each week. Hints on Scubaboard each week to the location of the next clue. Something like this was done years ago down here. Anybody got any suggestions on how to make it fun?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Whats at the end of this little trail of crumbs?

[philmottrek99and02]

Sounds like Mike Nelson meets Geocache.

[seadoggirl]

The end of the trail of crumbs is a TREASURE! Chas' group did this several years ago. He said it was fun. If folks are interested, I'll be master pirate and hide clues, etc. Doesn't it sound like fun

[philmottrek99and02]

My suggestion is a one day affair that could lead into a seasonal thing. I was only half kidding about the geocache idea. I really think it is a great idea.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Would these clues lead out into offshore sites often? :P Sounds expensive.

[ShagMan]

Yeah, Seadoggirl, don't you only do boat dives??

My luck one of the stops would be the paddlewheeler heheh

[Footslogger]

I've been talking about this for three summers but I really want to do it. An underwater Treasure hunt complete with clues at sites both on land and off shore. We could do it in teams with new clues each week. Hints on Scubaboard each week to the location of the next clue. Something like this was done years ago down here. Anybody got any suggestions on how to make it fun?

=====================================

They are fun. Orbit Marine up in Connecticut used to run one every year out in the Long Island Sound. They loaded prizes/gift certificates in weighted containers. Everyone lined up in their boats as the Orbit Marine boat cruised way dropping the containers randomly along a line. Then the gun sounded and divers hit the water. Viz was ridiculously bad and the water was pretty darned cold. But when all was said and done just about everyone came up with at least one prize in their hand and everyone had a good time.

[BRANDY]

Great idea!

[seadoggirl]

I'm thinking that clues would be mostly easily accessible either on shore or shore dives or some wreck dives. Somebody was right, I don't shore dive but I'm just hiding the clues, my gear isn't going to get that sandy. If we are diving in teams, you could share the cost of the boats, or have a team member goes for it. If the clues are on popular well traveled sites that the LDS's all do, then they could be involved. I don't know, I'm looking for suggestions. Maybe the LDS's would give us prizes. Maybe we make it like the amazing race and it takes place over a long weekend. We do a dive and dine weekend. My beach house is available for crazy out of towners. Looking for suggestions?

[denisegg]

Now doing it for a weekend dive and dine sounds like an interesting idea. That might be something we could plan in June. May is already just about booked up. I bet we could get some of the lds's interested.

[seadoggirl]

If we do it like the amazing race with three or four teams, maybe four divers per team. Something like that...

[denisegg]

Donna you are very creative!! You came up with the Earth Day Clean Up Dive and it was a great success!! We need some boat owners to help us out again like the "Fish Trap". **hint...hint** That was an awesome boat BTW...

[algulfdiver]

What about over a month and we could put the same clues on different dive sites such as beach dives and Boat dives. Maybe a set of clues a week?

[denisegg]

That sounds great Gary!! That would give everyone a chance to join in. Those that wanted to do shore dives and those that wanted to do boat dives..

[tom wicker]

This sorta sounding like finding a key to a motorcycle that a radio station would do. I’m with Gary I would spread it out over a month giving clues each week. And maybe a extra clue here in there at a dive site.

Now with this said as the owner of Paradise Service I would be happy to donate a gift certificate to the cause and I’m almost sure I could get Nelsons to put up one to.

[denisegg]

Thanks Tom!!! This idea is taking off!!

[seadoggirl]

Okay. I'm thinking we will start July 3rd. The first clue will be given on July 3rd. And let the games begin. Each Tuesday night a clue will be posted on this thread. There will be two locations for each weeks clue, one accessible by land and one accessible by boat. At each location you will find a piece of the final Treasure map that will lead you to the Treasure, however, without all the map pieces the final Treasure site will be very difficult to find. So if you miss one weeks clue, you can still find the Treasure but it will be very difficult without all the map pieces. The Treasure hunt will continue until someone brings in the Treasure. I actually have a Treasure chest! The final Treasure chest will be full of prizes from the local dive shops and gift certficates from local restaurants, etc. The teams can be made up of no more than four certified divers (a boat captain may count as a team member if he is certified, if he is not certified, he is just a captain and can not help other than to pilot the boat). There will be six pieces of the Treasure map, once all the clues are given for the pieces, we will declare the winner by whoever brings the Treasure in. With six weeks, that means we should be complete with the clues by August 8th (ha that's my birthday!) Teams may not work together. Teams may not employ the help of un-team members. Any foul play will be will be admonished with "Cheaters are Losers" and we will make fun of you forever! However, Pirates hide the Treasure, and Pirates find the Treasure. But other than a Pirates honor code, which is a very loose code indeed, all bets are off. Each team must acknowledge themselves publically on this forum and must state prior to the first clue on July 3rd, who their members are. How does this sound?

[mwhities]

That doesn't seem fair. I couldn't afford to go down to the coast every weekend to do a treasure hunt.

I WANNA PLAY!!!!!

Michael

[saltydawg]

This really sounds very cool, but , and did I mention I like big BUTTS, gotta work every other weekend and WSW works every weekend...that being said I would love to follow a treasure hunt thread to keep up from over here.....and maybe we could plan "special" dive and dines once every so often for a short little treasure hunt. on the bottom....back when I was a kid in the Scouts we did a land nav course that had a 100 foot line and every five or ten feet it had a number on it. you would step out (count fin cycles) the 100 feet to find one's pace count, then each Patrol (Team/ buddy pair) would be given a set of numbers one would be the heading and the other would be a distance. Once they located their first marker there would be another heading and distance, then at the second marker was the "home run" back to the line on a heading and distance ( making a triangle) then they had to land on a different number than they left on the winner was the group to land on the correct number or one closest to it...there are several ways this could be set up and makes for a fun navigation class or skills refresher...I set one underwater one up for our SCUBA explorer post years ago...Just an idea for maybe a few of us weekend warriors that can't dive all of the time... or if we have a get together site near some-one maybe they could dive the weekend before and leave a few markers (Painted rocks with numbers) on the bottom and note any land marks near them.... with clues I dunno just rambling on here.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Hmmm, so the shore divers actually have a chance at this. I'm in, guess its time to round up a team.

[alcrmsntde]

Sounds like fun, I'm in.

[denisegg]

Let's see what we will need for our team: a boat, a captain, a divemaster, a sailing team, a chef, state of the art gps, tracking system, and a team of navy seals.....all the latest equipment, devices, land support, provisions and supplies for the duration....does that about cover it? :D

[Port Tack]

They did a treasure dive back in the 80's (maybe even late 70's) where they made a grid of lines off the public beach and hit daubloons (not sure of that spelling) that were redeemable for prizes. It was strictly a beach dive and probably 100 folks showed up to dive. It was a lot of fun.

Mike

[Diveral]

July 3rd! :( I'm going to be down June 9th. Hey it sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe you can do the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire or National Treasure thing where each find (or treasure) has a clue to another one. Maybe people can post their clues here if they are down for one weekend or such so someone can pick up where they left off and we can make it a group activity. You can keep this going all summer.

I'll be down the week of June 9th diving with Gary for 2 days and ******** for one day. I'll also get in some shore dives that week as well. I'm willing to hide some of the clues or treasures and help compose some clues. I'll be staying at Ocean Reef if you want any help.

Great Idea!
AL

[philmottrek99and02]

Let's see what we will need for our team: a boat, a captain, a divemaster, a sailing team, a chef, state of the art gps, tracking system, and a team of navy seals.....all the latest equipment, devices, land support, provisions and supplies for the duration....does that about cover it? :D

What? No Cabin Boy?

[tom wicker]

What? No Cabin Boy?

Oh lord dont get her going this thread will get out of control

[denisegg]

Oh lord dont get her going this thread will get out of control

Now what on earth would make you think that a Lady Pirate would hijack a thread about hidden treasure..;)

[saltydawg]

awwwwwwwww.....chyt...here she goes...it has started..

[denisegg]

Guys, please...I am sorry.....

...............we have already discussed this, I cannot be the treasure...

[seadoggirl]

Enough talk... who is in? What are the teams? I need the name of the team, and the names of the members or at least screen names. SDM, Brian and I are playing hide the clues and the treasure. Mat who is on your team? Robert, who you got? Denise, honey, recruit your team and let us know who?

[denisegg]

In order to round up said teammates, we will need more details so that those wanting to participate will know when and where they will have to be in order to play.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Clues are supposed to be released on Tuesdays, so the teams will need to be in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area sometime after Tuesday to collect the clues.

[Dark Wolf]

What? No Cabin Boy?

If denisegg is looking for a cabin boy, I might volunteer:D !!!

Dark Wolf

[seadoggirl]

Wrong thread. The "I want Denise to dominate me" is the other Denise thread.... Focus, Focus, Focus:D

So far I have two teams..

Team 1 - Mat.....
Team 2 - Denise....

I guess this is a dead subject. I'll hide stuff and if anybody finds it let me know. :)

I tried...:(

[Dark Wolf]

Wrong thread. The "I want Denise to dominate me" is the other Denise thread.... Focus, Focus, Focus:D

So far I have two teams..

Team 1 - Mat.....
Team 2 - Denise....

I guess this is a dead subject. I'll hide stuff and if anybody finds it let me know. :)

I tried...:(

Damn,

I always screw that up:D !!!

All joking aside, I live a ways away, but would like to make it down for 1 weekend at least. Sounds like a lot of fun. Quick question, though. Will other people be bringing their families? I have a daughter that does not dive yet, and she is wanting to come real bad. Just wondering.

Dark Wolf

[seadoggirl]

How old? Denise has a son who is adorable. (He will be mad at me for calling him adorable) We all love kids, bring her with ya.

[denisegg]

If denisegg is looking for a cabin boy, I might volunteer:D !!!

Dark Wolf

I'll be needing a resume with a list of references...;)

[denisegg]

.... Focus, Focus, Focus:D

So far I have two teams..

Team 1 - Mat.....
Team 2 - Denise....

I guess this is a dead subject.

Well no wonder it is dead. If Mat and his shore diving gurus are my only competition they are dead in the water.:D I'll just be accepting that treasure right now.....;)

And I had the coast guard and team of navy seals all lined up...now what am I going to do with them?;)

[seadoggirl]

THey make excellent boat bling! I speak from experience.

[denisegg]

Hmmmm....I thought that was mine and your job Donna....to be the boat bling...;)

[denisegg]

There have been alot of divers who have expressed interest in this but are not able to come out and take part in it every week. There are also those who want to shore dive and those who want to boat dive. I have been trying to figure out a way that would allow all three to participate and this is what I have come up with.
Each week, one dive shop will be in charge of the treasure hunt. These dive shops could get publicity on the board and could also advertise in their shops about it. They will hide an object at a popular shore and offshore location. They will also come up with a riddle that needs to be solved that anyone could do from anywhere. It will be a point system. 50 points for finding the offshore object, 50 points for finding the shore object and 25 points for the one who calls into the dive shop first with the correct answer to the riddle. The dive shop could give small prizes for these three winners, like a tshirt, key chain, free air fills, etc. and donate one larger prize for the grand finale. The number of weeks that it goes on would be determined by the number of dive shops willing to participate. For instance, if 5 local dive shops participated it would last 5 weeks and during that time everyone could participate whether they were able to dive that weekend or not by getting a chance to solve the riddle. At the end of the 5 weeks, the team with the most points would win the jackpot(which would be the larger prize each dive shop was willing to throw in......like a free boat trip, piece of equipment anyone could use)
This way, there would not have to be designated teams set up. Anyone could play on any weekend they wanted to. The teams could just be 2 dive buddies to keep it simple and that way the dive shops giving away the prizes could give 2 things(example 2 free boat trips, etc.)
The sites where the markers are going to be hidden could be announced well in advance to give people enough time to make plans to dive those locations but the actual marker not hidden until right before time to make the dives. The riddle could be posted at a designated time each week.

[denisegg]

If anyone is still interested in doing this we need to know. The local dive shops will not be interested in participating if there is not enough divers involved.:)

[cmufieldhockey8]

I'll play. I'll throw the idea out in the MBT forum too and see if I can get more interested.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'm interested, but not if it means I have to pay to play.

[denisegg]

There wouldn't be any costs to the divers unless they chartered a boat to go to the off shore dive site to find that marker. We might could even get the shop sponsoring it that week to give a discount to boat riders for them to take contestants out to the site where they hid the marker for that week.

[Port Tack]

I would enjoy tagging along with some of the shore divers on this adventure. Guess, I will just watch for further directions.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

As long as I don't have to rely on a charter to get me to some clue, I'm in...

I wouldn't count on charters cutting down prices further for some game. They aren't getting any more advertising here than they have already gotten from happy customers posting.

[denisegg]

Alright we need a head count so that we can show it to the shops and get them involved so add your name to the list (divers and local dive shops):

seadoggirl
BuPrBuGmAn
philmottrek99and02
ShagMan
BRANDY
denisegg
algulfdiver
Brian (divemaster for Gary)
tom wicker
mwhities
frank420
saltydawg
whitescubawolf
alcrmsntde
Port Tack
Diveral
Dark Wolf
cmufieldhockey8


(remember you don't have to be present every week to participate)

(and yes when all the details are ironed out we will start an official new thread....this is just the idea and planning one, so feel free to continue to make your suggestions and comments):D

[Diveral]

Are we a go?? Inquiring minds want to know? I will be down from 6/9 to 6/16 if anyone wants me to participate or help out. I'll be diving with gary for two days and that diveshop not to be named in Pensacola for a day. I'll also get in a couple of shore dives. I'll be staying at Ocean Reef.

AL

[denisegg]

I will talk to Donna(the one who had this idea):) and Gary this weekend and see if it is still a go.