rachelscott51:
Besides clues from shore from a GPS point, how else would you go about setting up a scuba cache?
I've toyed with this idea before and this is the best that I have come up with.
GPS does not work underwater so: You give the GPS coordinates of the water entry point. Be it from shore or from a boat. Assuming that you were from the shore you would then give a clue as to where to search next. For example, you could say that the cache is somewhere along a heading of 120 degrees. You then have to scuba along that bearing until you find the cache.
In my opinion the underwater seach would be the most fun and there a bunch of fun variation on the theme.
Easiest is to give a compass bearing, distance, and aprox depth. So you say, follow 120 degrees for 40 feet at an aprox depth of 30 feet to find the cache.
You can give just a bearing and a max depth. Follow 120 degrees. You should find the cache above 60 feet.
You can give just a distance. The cache is within 20 feet of the point.
More fun can be had by stringing nav points together. You get a number of plastic stakes and number and/or color them for easy reference then you combine the seach types. For example:
Nav 1 is 20 feet from shore.
Nav 2 is off Nav 1 at 120 degrees and is above 90 feet.
Nav 3 is within 30 feet of nav 2 and is between 60-70 feet.
Nav 4 is 40 feet away from Nav 3 along 60 degrees.
The cache is at the last stake. Or you could put a box locked with a combination lock and the numbers on the stakes are the combination. Or you have to contact the "cacher" with the proper code to get to the cache. Etc, etc.
Have not had the time/energy to actually try this. It would probably be the most fun/challenging in a murky lake. Probably not a good idea to sink a bunch of stakes into a reef.
Keith