Geocache for divers

[Medic506]

Has anyone heard of this style treasure hunt for divers. If not I think this would be great fun promoting SCUBA as well as progresive dive shops like ScubaToys. Make this a world wide excursion like the land GPS version leaving clues and compass navigation leading to small treasures or IOU's from differant dive shops for gear.

[RoadRacer1978]

That is a really cool idea. I have heard of geocache, but never thought about if for divers. I think that is a cool idea and could be just as popular as geocache is on land. Would have to come up with a better name for it underwater though.

[Clanggedin]

You should combine both the GPS above ground/water portion and an underwater compass portion.

It would be a great way to learn how to navigate underwater and get rewarded at the same time.

If you did have an underwater "cache" you would have to make sure all of the items in the cache were negatively buoyant. Coins or something similar that you could use to get a discount at a LDS would be cool.

You could call it an AquaCache.

[MSilvia]

I found a geocache tag on a wreck I dove during an ice diver class. Tagging a wreck in a pond is nice, in that you can walk out and get the coordinates when it's frozen, and then dive the site and place the cache.

[Tableleg]

Originally Posted by Clanggedin

You should combine both the GPS above ground/water portion and an underwater compass portion.

I think that's the only way it could be done. I asked my instructor about an underwater gps when I was getting certified. His reply was that the signals a gps unit use aren't strong enough to penetrate the water.

[rox@ucf11]

umm if it wasnt frozen couldnt you just take a boat out to the site, use the gps, and then dive it? lol

[Clanggedin]

I did find an article about divers putting the GPS units in a water proof container and then having it on a reel and sending it to the surface for a minute to get a position reading from the satellites then pulling it back down. If you used that method you could possibly find a cache without having to use your compass.

[RoadRacer1978]

Originally Posted by Clanggedin

I did find an article about divers putting the GPS units in a water proof container and then having it on a reel and sending it to the surface for a minute to get a position reading from the satellites then pulling it back down. If you used that method you could possibly find a cache without having to use your compass.

Not sure if that is guiness or somebody too lazy to learn to navigate.

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by RoadRacer1978

Not sure if that is guiness or somebody too lazy to learn to navigate.

genius, but yah... I agree...

[torrey]

Originally Posted by RoadRacer1978

Not sure if that is guiness or somebody too lazy to learn to navigate.

I'm guessing you meant "genius"? I had to read it twice because I wasn't sure if you were talking about drunk diving or a member named "guiness", hehe.