Geocaching for Divers - Any Interest?

[Todd Dicker]

Greetings all!

A few weeks ago during a surface interval at a quarry, a few divers were discussing ways we might add an additional dimension of fun to midwestern freshwater diving. True, Lake Michigan wrecks are fun and exciting, but there's room for more fun as well as navigational challenges.

I mentioned that I might like to coordinate some underwater Geocaching, which received rave reviews from the entire crowd of two people involved in the conversation. So I ask here, does this sound like fun?

For those who don't know what it is, "Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and sometimes a pen or pencil. The geocacher signs the log with their established code name and dates it, in order to prove that they found the cache."

I thought it might be fun to include underwater geocaches, perhaps a little statue or other unique item, placed on a dive site and divers would take selfies next to it to prove they found it. There is a large website, free, that many geocachers use, but there is room for creating a separate, SCUBA only geocaching site.

Is this something that anyone would play with? Any suggestions? Are people doing this already and I never heard of it? Feedback?

 

[Brilig]

I did something like this with my kids when they were younger. We used clues with riddles to locate hidden containers like you described. It was great fun.
Scuba clubs could have organized events. I think something like this could be a lot of fun.

 

[Cowfish Aesthetic]

Greetings all!

A few weeks ago during a surface interval at a quarry, a few divers were discussing ways we might add an additional dimension of fun to midwestern freshwater diving. True, Lake Michigan wrecks are fun and exciting, but there's room for more fun as well as navigational challenges.

I mentioned that I might like to coordinate some underwater Geocaching, which received rave reviews from the entire crowd of two people involved in the conversation. So I ask here, does this sound like fun?

For those who don't know what it is, "Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and sometimes a pen or pencil. The geocacher signs the log with their established code name and dates it, in order to prove that they found the cache."

I thought it might be fun to include underwater geocaches, perhaps a little statue or other unique item, placed on a dive site and divers would take selfies next to it to prove they found it. There is a large website, free, that many geocachers use, but there is room for creating a separate, SCUBA only geocaching site.

Is this something that anyone would play with? Any suggestions? Are people doing this already and I never heard of it? Feedback?

How would this work logistically? I don't know of any GPS systems that work underwater.

 

[Diver0001]

Greetings all!

A few weeks ago during a surface interval at a quarry, a few divers were discussing ways we might add an additional dimension of fun to midwestern freshwater diving. True, Lake Michigan wrecks are fun and exciting, but there's room for more fun as well as navigational challenges.

I mentioned that I might like to coordinate some underwater Geocaching, which received rave reviews from the entire crowd of two people involved in the conversation. So I ask here, does this sound like fun?

For those who don't know what it is, "Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and sometimes a pen or pencil. The geocacher signs the log with their established code name and dates it, in order to prove that they found the cache."

I thought it might be fun to include underwater geocaches, perhaps a little statue or other unique item, placed on a dive site and divers would take selfies next to it to prove they found it. There is a large website, free, that many geocachers use, but there is room for creating a separate, SCUBA only geocaching site.

Is this something that anyone would play with? Any suggestions? Are people doing this already and I never heard of it? Feedback?

I blundered across one on a wreck. It was a box with some weight in it and a logbook made from wetnotes. I think if you like geocaching it's a fun idea. It may even encourage the odd diver to get out there and go diving.

R..

 

[tbone1004]

there's several geocache spots in the quarries in NC and VA, works well to try to break up the monotony

@Cowfish Aesthetic no GPS would work, but most of them are on "destinations" in the quarries, I.e. planes, cars, etc

 

[Brilig]

When I did this on land with my kids we used clues with odd riddles to figure out where the cache was. After you found the cache it would contain your next set of clues. Forget the electronics and practice your navigational skills. Compass etc.

 

[boulderjohn]

Greetings all!

A few weeks ago during a surface interval at a quarry, a few divers were discussing ways we might add an additional dimension of fun to midwestern freshwater diving. True, Lake Michigan wrecks are fun and exciting, but there's room for more fun as well as navigational challenges.

I mentioned that I might like to coordinate some underwater Geocaching, which received rave reviews from the entire crowd of two people involved in the conversation. So I ask here, does this sound like fun?

For those who don't know what it is, "Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and sometimes a pen or pencil. The geocacher signs the log with their established code name and dates it, in order to prove that they found the cache."

I thought it might be fun to include underwater geocaches, perhaps a little statue or other unique item, placed on a dive site and divers would take selfies next to it to prove they found it. There is a large website, free, that many geocachers use, but there is room for creating a separate, SCUBA only geocaching site.

Is this something that anyone would play with? Any suggestions? Are people doing this already and I never heard of it? Feedback?

Although it has been years since I did it, I was once very much into geocaching. I had the scuba idea myself back then, and my geocaching username even included the word "scuba." I gave it a lot of thought. I think it can be done, but with many complications.

The problem you start with is that GPS does not work underwater. You would have to identify the coordinates on the surface and then dive down from there. That would necessitate some kind of a boat or a GPS system that could be stowed in a water tight container that could withstand the pressure of the dive. Neither of those obstacles would be insurmountable by any means, but they are complications.

I think a bigger obstacle would be maintaining the cache. In the geocaching I did, the cache was usually reasonably well hidden in an ammo can. It is very likely that only a geocacher would find it, and the cache can include an explanation that tells an accidental finder what it was all about. That accidental finder, seeing nothing of real value in the cache, would likely leave it alone. I see a problem with this in scuba as I try to figure out a similar sort of criteria for a cache site in the places I usually dive. The ammo can system would not work. Scuba divers are more likely to pick up an object of interest they find lying about.

It can be harder to find a cache underwater than on land. Hiding the object the way a land-based cache is hidden raises issues of silt, etc. When I teach search and recovery for AOW and DM classes in low visibility our local areas, I have to make darn sure I do something special that will enable me to find it if the students can't--and I put it there! I have done searches for objects people have lost in the local lakes, and they have given me pretty good ideas on where to start. My track record for finding those objects is not good, and when I have been successful, it was after a very long search.

I think your final obstacle is simply that we don't have all that many divers to begin with, and you will only attract a small subset of them to this idea. With geocaching, you have enough world-wide interest to have a huge list of sites available. You can find geocache sites almost anywhere you go. I found caches between dives on Cozumel, for example. I think you would have a hard time generating enough sites to make it work.

All of the above are complications, and they pretty much stopped me from giving it a go years ago. They can all be overcome, though, so I am not telling you to quit--just be aware of the complications.

 

[Trivan]

The Kittiwake wreck dive off Cayman Islands has a cache. https://coord.info/GC4BAC0

 

[Zef]

Here in Belgium at a popular local dive spot there is a sunken city bus at roughly 18m depth...there is a geocache with a bunch of trinkets in it stashed in a hole in the floor of the bus. The cache is registered on geocaching.com.

 

[Damselfish]

I remember some on geocaching.com too. I think there was one on the wreck off Cocoview.