FamilyofFrogs

I have found it annoying that Okinawa gets lumped into Japan for all new caches in Japan. If I'm looking for a potential FTF on Okinawa, why must I dig through caches that are several hundred or sometimes a thousand miles away on the larger islands of Japan? There are 236 active caches on the island of Okinawa and surrounding islands, we've found 56. I am learning some of the names of cachers in Japan so I don't even look at some new caches, but what if they take a vacation and place one here? After selecting Japan in the "Country" drop down menu, couldn't the large islands of Japan be listed in "State/Province"? The five largest islands of Japan are: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Okinawa. Or, could a feature be added to limit the range of the listed newest caches? Okinawa is only 60 miles long from Southern-most tip to Northern-most tip. I have no need of info on cache GC1AYVT - "Cape Hado" that is 515.9mi from me, cache GC1B2A3 - "Dragon Quest" that is 904.8mi from me, or cache GC1AXHT - "Greatwall of Banri in Moerenuma # GCJ009" that is 1391.9mi from me; all have been posted in the last three days and none have been found nor has anyone logged a failed attempt to find it, what's interesting is that all three include cache information in Japanese! But as tempting as they are for a FTF, we're not likely to drop everything, buy plane tickets and go to mainland Japan just for a chance at a FTF. (I just looked at Germany. It's got a list of 16 state/provinces listed and 54,258 caches. Of course the US has all 50 states plus DC listed with 331,648 caches! Australia has 8 listed with 13,619 caches. I find it hard to fathom that there are 27,114 caches on 94,526 sq mi of the United Kingdom and not a single province listed. That's 1 cache for every 3.5 square miles!) current as of 10 Apr 08.

I am planning an underwater cache, scuba accessed (35 feet deep - so that it is accessable for even Junior Open Water divers - like my daughter). I figure that Okinawa has great coral, and the coral has got cracks, so a rock face climbing cam (or piton) should hold whatever container I decide to use on the bottom (just have to find a way to lock the cam so it can't be removed - easily). I plan to use a stainless steel combination lock to attach the cache to the cam, to prevent non-geocaching scuba divers from muggling the cache. The combo will be a significant year in Okinawan history... I do have to be careful not to make the cache look like UXO - Unexpoded Ordinance from WWII or I can count on having the cache muggled by EOD Techs - Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technicians. Does anyone know if the self-purging valve on a Pelican Container is a one way valve? I.e. lets air out but not back in? How deep will one survive? - just checked their website, they say will survive to 50 feet. Naturally I have a bit of planning to do: I have to find a dive site, find a cache site on that dive site (where the bottom is 35 feet deep), get the GPS coordinates at the surface directly above the site, determine what container will survive, determine whether the lock will survive the saltwater, determine how much I'm willing to spend on a cache, cams aren't cheap nor are Pelican Containers, figure out how to lock the cam so it can't be removed from the bottom, figure out how to prevent the cache from being opened underwater or on the surface, or make the cache water-filled as someone mentioned, figure out how to make the process easy enough so someone will put it back for others to enjoy, find swag and FTF appropriate to Davy Jones' locker, lastly emplace and post the cache! ***Disclaimer*** Of course, if any of this requires damaging the fragile underwater ecosystem, it's not worth the work. I will not destroy in order to create.

No off-road caches? But it's fun trying not to get bitten by Habu (that's snakes ). What about SCUBA Caches? Scuba diving is a dangerous sport, right? I've been considering a Scuba accessed Geocache - now, is my choice of location going to cause cachers to scuba w/o first obtaining PADI/MAUI/whatever certification? I sure hope that when the cacher finds themselves facing the ocean, with the GPS telling them that it is still just under a quarter of a mile off shore, that they may decide that they need additional equipment - and most reputable dive shops will not rent gear to uncertified customers. Additionally, in the hints I'll recommend two tanks - one to retrieve, one to return. I'll implace it in a good place to spend an hour-long (or longer) surface interval! Plus I'm fairly sure that the difficulty would have to be high. I'm thinking of putting it 35 feet deep - within the depth limits for Junior Open Water Certified Divers under 12 years old! (PADI standards). (Gotta make it so my daughter and I will be able to maintain the cache!) I do however need to make sure that I make the cache environmentally friendly - sure would hate to damage the coral reef just to geocache. And, have to make sure the cache does not look anything like unexploded ordinance from WWII - that would be bad, very bad. The fun would be checking on the cache after each and every typhoon! I believe that Geocachers need to use some sense - common or uncommon. Geocache at your own risk. If finding the cache is potentially an unnecessary risk, go find a different one. My family and I are on a small island. True we just started geocaching, but there are plently of caches here for us to find without endangering ourselves. I will not use tools to find a cache. I do like that there is a clever cache here that has a combo lock on it and you have to count items in the area to figure out the combo... you have to count the stairs on the way up to it! That's creative! Stupid people will do stupid things. We can't plan against all of them. I agree that teaching kids to take private property apart or endanger their (or someone else's) safety to earn a smiley face is dumb. Making the sport so destruction of property is likely is wrong. Creativity is important, but it cannot result in Geocaching becoming an illegal activity.