Help wanted for upcoming underwater/Scuba multicache (long)

[The Artful Dodger]

Hi all

 

I have been thinking of doing a 5 /5 Difficulty/Terrain cache for a while and, since I have an upcoming scuba diving trip, I have come up with what I think is a good scenario. I do, however, need a little help in one of the aspects of getting this to work.

 

What I am looking to do is create a Two-Tier multi-cache that involves scuba diving to a shipwreck, finding a plaque tethered to an accessible part of the wreck, and reading the coordinates from this plaque that will give the location of a topside (land-based) cache.

 

A little summary: This wreck is situated near the Bimini island of the Bahamas. Terrain and difficulty is at Max. as this wreck is lying on the ocean floor at 27.5 meters (90 feet). One has to be an Advanced Scuba Diver to attempt the dive. I hope to attach a plastic plaque (something like a hard plastic breadboard) tethered with a chain and lock to an easily identifiable area of the wreck. Here, the diver would obtain and write on his personal dive slate the coordinates to a cache on Bimini Island that I had placed the day before. I tossed with the idea about creating an underwater cache (PVC tube, etc) but couldn’t convince myself of the waterproofness of such a cache.

 

Here is my problem. How do I permanently mark, encrave, paint , etch (or whatever) the coordinates on this plastic plaque so that it will withstand the ravages of the sea. Ideally, I would love to put the Geocaching.com logo on it too to mark it as a geocache. (this can be done before the trip, sure) I only have one day to mark this plaque before placing it in the wreck the next day. Is there any special paint that will work?

 

I dived this wreck a year ago. Profile. Its quite a popular wreck and is visited often. I am hoping to make it the 'Mother of all Scuba caches'

 

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments are most appreciated.

 

[+geospotter]

I am sure that the Commonwealth of the Bahamas won't like your idea. There are strict laws (and heavy fines) for disturbing anything while diving in their waters.

 

However, I like your idea. If you are intent on proceeding, I'd use a plastic sheet and mark it with the hot end of a soldering iron. That way the coordinates couldn't be modified. Also, attach it with a nylon tie (chains will rust).

[The Artful Dodger]

quote:

---

Originally posted by geospotter:

I am sure that the Commonwealth of the Bahamas won't like your idea. There are strict laws (and heavy fines) for disturbing anything while diving in their waters.

 

---

Hmm. I will look into that. I was aware that some governments complain about artifact extractions but I will not be extracting anything but rather leaving something behind.. A technicality, a poor one at that.

 

I will do some investigating....

 

Thanks for the tip about the iron!

 

[mmp]

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Artful Dodger:

I hope to attach a plastic plaque (something like a hard plastic breadboard) tethered with a chain and lock to an easily identifiable area of the wreck.

 

Here is my problem. How do I permanently mark, encrave, paint , etch (or whatever) the coordinates on this plastic plaque so that it will withstand the ravages of the sea.

---

 

I would recommend using a router and engraving the numbers by going all the way through the cutting board. I am thinking of a grey plastic (roughly 12" by 18") cutting board I have at home. It even has a handle for attaching the chain. By cutting all the way through, you minimize the risk of the engraving getting filled in.

 

Just a thought...

[+geospotter]

I've been thinking more about your idea.

 

Some resorts sink their own "wrecks" to attract more tourists. Sometimes it's an old plane, sometimes an old Mercedes. Check with your resort (if you are using one) and pitch your idea to them. They might like the idea of the diver in the family being able to bring back coordinates for the whole family to go treasure hunting. Kids would love it! I bet the dive shop would too.

[+Macro]

Artful,

 

I love the idea...hope you can pull it off. Regarding the coordinates, I agree that a soldering iron would work well. I was going to suggest a dremel, etch a nice deep bevel into the board. If it was at home I would use a router with a high speed bit, but I doubt you will be bringing the tool chest on vacation.

 

Good luck!

[The Artful Dodger]

quote:

---

Originally posted by geospotter:

 

Some resorts sink their own "wrecks" to attract more tourists.

---

 

Thats not a bad idea.

 

There is a Diving quarry over the New Jersey border in Pennsylvania that would be ideal for that .... Dutch Springs

 

[+TijerasGC]

Keep in mind - We divers like to "salvage" anything we find under water. Any good dive knife would make short work of nylon cable ties used to secure the coordinate plaque. I agree that routing/etching all the way through the plaque material is a great idea considering how quickly sea life coats everything. Maybe some type of non stick polymer like Teflon would be resistant.

 

Great idea for a cache by the way - now to find a GPS good to 300 meters

 

TijerasGC

PADI Rescue Diver

Private Pilot

Geocacher

 

N 35° 5.079'

W 106° 23.389'

[+glenn95630]

I think you could come up with questions the divers had to answer to get the cache coordinates. Example: The cache coordinates are N38 05.ABC W118 27.DEF.

 

A is equal to the number of spokes on the steering wheel.

 

B is equal to the number of portholes in the master cabin.

 

Z is the number of bolts holding the main mast plate. Z minus 12 equals C.

 

etc.

[+Faderaven]

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Artful Dodger:

 

There is a Diving quarry over the New Jersey border in Pennsylvania that would be ideal for that .... http://www.dutchsprings.com/sitemap.html

 

http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/9929_700.jpg

---

 

Ah, I remember Dutch Springs. I took my Rescue Diver course there. It was windy and bitterly cold that day. So cold that I resorted to changing in one of the portapotties.

[+WaylandersMA]

ArtDodge,

 

Gotta agree with G-Spot that Bahamas do not want anything taken or left underwater. They have a major coniption if you drop an anchor that might drag in certain areas.

 

But your idea is way too cool to pass up. You need to have someone go 90 feet down to obtain numbers. But what if the numbers are already there? For example:

 

How many coral heads are off the bow of the wreck?

How many windows in the port side bulkhead?

Usually wrecks that are popular don't have much in the way of numbers, stanchions left because every thing that can be pried off with a dive knife is gone but there are probably a few things that are in multiplies.

Then use those numbers, either fill in the blank or multiply sort of stuff to get your next coordinate. One of the things needs to be not obvious in any pictures taken by previous divers.

90 feet. 25 minutes without any decompression stops. Plenty of time to count a few things.

 

[+geospotter]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Paul Morrison WaylandersMA:

 

Gotta agree with G-Spot...

 

---

 

Great...I gotta get a new name...

[+WaylandersMA]

quote:

---

Originally posted by geospotter:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Paul Morrison WaylandersMA:

 

Gotta agree with G-Spot...

 

---

 

Great...I gotta get a new name...

---

 

OK promise, I'll only shorten it to GeoSpot. That's a gret nick. It means you know where to find it.

 

Short interlude: The World Champion New England Patriots were not always known by that name. Started out as the Boston Patriots. In 1970 they wanted to make a grander more encompassing name and they came up with the "Bay State Patriots". (MA is the bay state).

The name only lasted 30 days until they realized that the out of town papers would run run sports headlines like, "Browns Woop BS Patriots".

 

[+Crusso]

If you want to do a SCUBA cache in the ny/nj/pa area let me know. Am certified, would be glad to help.

[exp1622]

Go to a sign shop that engraves plastic laminate material. These are the signs that you typically find on doors or desks in office buildings.

[+WaylandersMA]

Just clicked through and realized glenn95630 gave a much better description of creating a number.

 

In thinking about it you could add numbers off a dive table. Not 60f/60m 90f/25m but ones you at least would have to look at the card. Say, if third dive, after doing Xft for 30 min then etc how many minutes blah your third dive. At least makes it educational and if you're going to 90 feet should know how to use the repetitive dive tables.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Thanks guys for the input so far...

 

I thought about getting the divers to count physical characteristics already found on the wreck..(such as a the # of propellor blades etc.) for the coordinates but discounted that as there might be one too many things to find to plug in the numbers. Each diver's bottom time is different from each other and I dont want them to to excessive searches to plug in the numbers. Anyone who has done deep dives knows that nitrogen narcosis may occur which may cloud one's task processing abilities underwater. Secondly, I only have one shot to get this right on the wreck as we do only one dive on this wreck - all or nothing []

 

I have done many wreck dives to know that one can run out of time sometimes before completing the dive plan initially desired. Therefore, I think a direct route to one thing (the plaque) underwater to get the coordinates is the only possibility.

 

I agree that divers are a bunch of thieves underwater with their dive knives - so I am still leaning towards using a chain to secure the plaque - even if it does rust (Hell! the whole wreck is one rusty bucket ) I will immediately look for a place that is secluded from regular searches on the wreck as to not make the plaque too conspicuous.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Crusso:

If you want to do a SCUBA cache in the ny/nj/pa area let me know. Am certified, would be glad to help.

---

 

Hey, Crusso. Sounds like fun. I intend to do a lot of diving on the wrecks of NY/NJ this summer. Do you belong to any dive club? Mine is theNYC SeaGypsies

 

[The Artful Dodger]

quote:

---

Originally posted by exp1622:

Go to a sign shop that engraves plastic laminate material. These are the signs that you typically find on doors or desks in office buildings.

---

 

What an absolutely logical idea! I will look into that if I go the 'plaque' route. Naturally this plastic laminate will need to have coordinates etched out of it later...

 

[+glenn95630]

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Artful Dodger:

I thought about getting the divers to count physical characteristics already found on the wreck..(such as a the # of propellor blades etc.) for the coordinates but discounted that as there might be one too many things to find to plug in the numbers.

---

How about reducing the unknowns?

 

Example:N38 05.A89 W118 27.D45.

 

A is equal to the number of spokes on the steering wheel.

 

D is equal to the number of portholes in the master cabin.

[+Crusso]

Let me know. I have my own equipment, am rescue certified. Got certified open water in the FL Keys and other training at the Quarry in PA. Would love to help set something up. Email me because half my posts don't take. Some problem with my user cookies or somethin.

Now if someone will help me set up a skydiving cache! (hmm...I could place one at the dive center...)