Marine Geocaching

[bdbartlett]

Hi,

 

Short question to perhaps start a verbose thread. Are there guidelines or rules to placing a cache in the ocean or in lakes. I am a sailor and thought it would be cool to start a cache in the ocean up here in Casco Bay, Maine. They could be accessible to coastwise or offshore sailors, ocean kayakers and stink pot drivers, depending on the "purpose" of the cache.

 

Would it be too easy with todays GPS units to find a buoy in the water since the only way to locate it would be a bouy and coordinates as opposed to site description and coordinates? All you would have to do is get close and you would see the bouy. Of course up here in Mmaine you could hide it in the multitude of lobster bouys and give a description of the bouy itself.

 

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Regards,

 

Brian D. Bartlett

[+El Diablo]

Do a search for Hydro Cache and you will find several.

 

El Diablo

[+briansnat]

Would it be too easy with todays GPS units to find a buoy in the water since the only way to locate it would be a bouy and coordinates as opposed to site description and coordinates?

 

Most people here will tell you there is no such thing as a cache that is too easy. That being said I doubt that a cache that requires use of a boat would be considered too easy by many geocachers.

 

Since this really isn't a "getting started" issue, moving this to the general forum where a wider audience will see it.

 

[bruceprtr]

From what I know about lobstering in Maine (I lobstered on the NH side of the border), having people pull up bouys to find a cache would be a very efficient way to reduce the geocacher population! Navigation bouys are off limits by law so that doesn't leave many options. Bruce

[bdbartlett]

More fiction than fact but I understand your point. Which is why i would not use a lobster style bouy to mark it nor would it be a good idea to hide it in with the other lobster bouys.

 

Just because they lobster does not mean that we cannot geocache. They do not own nor dictate our use of the waters, if a lobstermen "suspects " something then you just have to show them the cache, if they are that intrusive. The myth will not deter me I am just wondering what the guidleines are and if there would be interest.

 

A search on "Hydro Cache" yields only 5 and 3 appear to be not related to water. guess there really would be no interest in a Marine Cache based on that. But we'll see where this thread leads.

 

Regards,

 

Brian

[+briansnat]

From what I know about lobstering in Maine (I lobstered on the NH side of the border), having people pull up bouys to find a cache would be a very efficient way to reduce the geocacher population! Navigation bouys are off limits by law so that doesn't leave many options. Bruce

Yeah, in NJ they shoot ya.

[bruceprtr]

More fiction than fact but I understand your point. Which is why i would not use a lobster style bouy to mark it nor would it be a good idea to hide it in with the other lobster bouys.

 

Just because they lobster does not mean that we cannot geocache. They do not own nor dictate our use of the waters, if a lobstermen "suspects " something then you just have to show them the cache, if they are that intrusive. The myth will not deter me I am just wondering what the guidleines are and if there would be interest.

 

Regards,

 

Brian

The "myth" may not deter you, but reality might, as a commercial fisherman I ended my last season getting 40% of my traps back to shore. Bruce

[bdbartlett]

By myth I meant the insinuation that all lobestermen shoot at any suyspicious person around lobster pots. Do you? I have not heard or read of any in years and they are the exception rather than the rule.

 

So as a commercial lobsterman then how many people do you regularly have to scare away from your pots? Does this mean that you suspect every boat out there of pilfering pots? how can you tell the difference from a distance if they are pulling a lobster pot or an anchor or a hand line etc. What "rights" do regular boaters have as far as looking at the water, putting something in or taking out of the water.

 

I guess this is getting off topic though. the point is how can I make a decent Marine cache? You are telling me to abandon the idea, or should I check with all the local fishermen first?

 

Regards,

 

Brian

[+CharlieP]

I don't know about Maine waters, but I lived in south Florida in the 70's and there were a couple of cases of corpses found in shot-up boats that were probably related to lobster trap theft. I would suggest using a small float that is difficult to see, maybe camoflaged, in a place where there are no trap floats and a boat is unlikely to go over it. If there is any possibility of searchers pulling a trap float by mistake, I would make it clear in the posting that trap floats should be avoided.

 

FWIW, a few years ago I came across such a small camoed float in a Florida bay and it was attached to an illegal fish trap ... I dropped it and moved my boat out of the area pronto.

[+ZingerHead]

Could you make it a multi? Just have the coordinates located on the buoy pointing to a land-based final cache? Designed correctly, the finder might not even need to retrieve the cache in order to view the numbers, or at the very least they wouldn't need to reel in a container to proceed with the find. Maybe there is a question that can only be answered by viewing the buoy, like "how many red rings are on the object located at xxx.xxx?" You give multiple choice answers to that question, or you base the next coordinates on some multiple of the number of rings.

 

I know in CT we have a few caches located on remote islands in the ocean that you can only reach by boat - adding a multi-component on the water would be pretty cool.

 

As far as where to place them, I would feel uncomfortable dragging up a buoy in a field of lobster pots. GPS isn't so accurate that cachers could be guaranteed of pulling up the right buoy every time. It's just too easy for this activity to be mistaken for something else. And it gives cover to those who actually ARE vandalizing or poaching on commercial fishermen's locations. There have to be plenty of lobster-free areas appropriate for a cache of this nature. I know "it's a free country" and all, but what's the point of inviting conflict when there's no good reason to do so?

 

Are there any rules for locating something like this in the ocean? By this I mean is it OK to set up your own permanent buoys or anchor floats without violating some sort of regulation?

[+reveritt]

Do a search for Hydro Cache and you will find several.

 

El Diablo

Don't we wish we could!

[bdbartlett]

Could you make it a multi? Just have the coordinates located on the buoy pointing to a land-based final cache? Designed correctly, the finder might not even need to retrieve the cache in order to view the numbers, or at the very least they wouldn't need to reel in a container to proceed with the find.

I like this idea about a multi, I will ponder it. I also think you are right about perception of this type of activity. so I definitley won't put it near other bouys.

 

I am sure there are regs about permanently afixing a private bouy to the sea floor. However I think a more pelagic version with a small bout would be no more of a hazard to navigation that the existing lobster bouys. I can put it offshore away from the lobster grounds, there's plenty of water out there.

 

Thanks for the ideas.

 

Regards,

 

Brian

[+Team Cotati]

People getting shot in Joisey, now there's a hot news item for ya! ;-) Recently seen in the news: "Come to New Jersey: It's not as bad as it smells."

Edited December 22, 2005 by Team Cotati