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It’s tough nowadays to roam the seas as a seafarer looking for treasure but there is one modern day activity known as aquacaching that is as close as you can get to the pirate experience. If you are familiar with geocaching, which involves locating containers (called “caches”) using a handheld global position system (GPS), the underwater version is not that much different. This article serves as an introduction to aquacaching and how you can participate in an exciting vacation.

Overview

Aquacaching is the evolution of geocaching, so in theory aquacaching is a subset of the overall geocaching treasure hunt. The word geocaching is derived from the word ‘geography’ which has been shortened to ‘geo’ and ‘caching’ which is the process for locating caches. A small understanding in Latin will help understand the word ‘aquacaching’ as the word ‘aqua’ stands for ‘water’. Now that we are done preparing for the next National Spelling Bee contest by learning definitions and word origins, it’s time to continue a bit more on this outdoor activity.

Aquacaching, as well as geocaching, can be a great low budget day trip or weekend vacation by yourself, with friends or the entire family. The basic idea with aquacaching is to locate hidden caches, using a handheld global position system, that are only accessible via boat or SCUBA gear then share your experiences online with other fellow treasure hunters.

The Geocache and Aquacache Community

There are various websites on the Internet that assist ‘treasure hunters’ in locating caches by inputting the longitude and latitude coordination on your handheld global positioning system. The most well known website for geocaching and aquacaching is Geocaching.com which is currently tracking over 850,000 caches throughout the world.

How To Find Caches

So now that you have an understanding of aquacaching and the community, it’s time to learn how to actually find one of these hidden underwater caches. Once becoming a member of Geocaching.org, you will be able to search for a cache by address, zip-code, state, country or keyword (e.g., “scuba”, “aquacache”, etc…). You would then select any of the displayed caches and enter the cache coordinates into your waterproof handheld GPS. Upon finding a cache, the container should hold a logbook which you should sign and return to the original location so that other fellow adventurers can share the same experience of the hunt. There are also some containers that might have a treasure inside which you should swap with a personal treasure of your own, as this is etiquette for all involved.

Flickr.com (Photo taken by TOMTEC)

The Necessary Supplies

The two most important items you will need is a reliable handheld global position system and a way to access locations under or surrounded by water (e.g., kayak, canoe or SCUBA gear). There are many handheld GPS systems to select from but the most important factors to keep an eye out for are;

• Memory – The amount of internal memory and additional memory that can be added to the GPS is important as you continue to add more maps, waypoints, locations and travel notes. There might come a time when you want to add detailed map files such as street level views or topographical layovers to better display the altitude of a location. Basically, the more internal memory and the more additional memory you can add afterward, the better your purchase will be in the long run.
• Screen Size – The screen size of a GPS unit is measured diagonally as this is measurement is similar to televisions, computer monitors and camera displays. There are also features such as a backlight to help provide a clearer picture. Just remember that a large screensize and fancy features could drain the GPS battery quicker.
• Waterproof – This might be common sense for aquacaching but your device might go underwater at some point so you might want to look into this. You will see cryptic terms such as IPX7 or IPX8 which stand for the ‘International Protection Rating’ of the unit. To help in your research, the 7 rating means that the unit can really only be submerged in less than 1 meter while the 8 rating can go beyond 1 meter.
• Maps – The GPS unit should contain the local map data for your country or continent (e.g., North America). There are also pre-loaded waypoints that might be added or different map types such as topographical.
• Power Source – I recommend that you look for a unit that has some sort of external power source such as being able to plug into a wall outlet or into a car cigarette lighter. The newer models should mostly be able to plug into a wall outlet via the USB cable to recharge the lithium battery. If you look at a few older models, you should look for rechargeable AA or AAA batteries if the GPS unit requires them.
• Channels – The more channels built into the GPS unit the better as these help aquicre a satallite signal quicker and more accurately. A majority of the units for purchase should have at least 12 parallel channels.

My recommendation is for you to use the above criteria that I’ve outlined and compare a few
GPS models online at Amazon or in your local electronics store. The customers reviews from those who previously purchased the product will greatly help you in your overall research.

Vacation Ideas

As I previously mentioned in this article this outdoor activity can be a great vacation idea that doesn’t require much from your wallet. An example of an exciting trip could be by going on a weekend trip with your significant other while looking for hidden caches in rivers or on islands located near you. Just imagine taking a two person kayak and paddling out to an island that you know a cache is located on. The adventurous side of you should thoroughly enjoy the reward of spotting a hidden cache after paddling to it’s location on a small river island. Once you find the cache why not have a small picnic on the secluded island to celebrate the cache?

If this seems something of further interest for you, I recommend you pick up The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Geocaching to learn the more detailed aspects of geocaching and aquacaching.

What are your experiences with aquacaching? Did you have a good time or was it a complete disaster? Let us know by leaving a comment!