Adventure Treasure Hunting: Geocache Revival and Scuba

Seeking a bit of adventure while visiting or living in Okinawa!
The sport called geocaching started in 2000 and mushroomed to cover the entire world. Players hide caches, which can be anything from a large box with small knick-knacks and a logbook to a tiny casing with a paper inside for signatures.

Leaving a waterproof logbook and pencil inside will allow divers to note their find

On land, families often carry trinkets to switch out for the small toys in a larger treasure box, or they might bring a "travel bug." A travel bug can be transported from one cache to another and logged so that owners can see how the bug has traveled around the globe.

The coordinates for a treasure box are logged in several places online. By using GPS, the general area for the cache can be reached. At that point, it's up to you to figure out the hiding place for the caches.

I have found unique geocache containers that look like rocks; I found one in a tree here on Okinawa hid inside a plastic rat!

Some Geocachers glue rocks or use other items to camouflage the container – although with a scuba box, just getting to the spot might be a good challenge!

Around the world, divers have taken geocaching underwater.

Below are three previous cache dive spots on the island that boasted concealed finds: the Bird Cage, the Kadena Steps and the Tengan Pier.

Let's regenerate treasure hunting on Okinawa! To see how, and what, was placed before:

The Bird Cage

The Bird Cage

N 26° 19.402 E 127° 44.650
UTM: 52R E 374659 N 2912104

Tengan Pier

Tengan Pier

N 26° 24.402 E 127° 51.053
UTM: 52R E 385393 N 2921235

Kadena Steps
N 26° 21.398 E 127° 44.355
UTM: 52R E 374204 N 2915794

The last known journaling for these caches is April of 2018 at which time the hideouts were archived. Generously, the former caretaker of the repositories left the coordinates, pictures of what he hid, and hints on how best to enter and search for the goods.

Many offer a gift to the first to find - for example, a unique geocaching coin. I am sure you can come up with some creative first-to-find bonuses and spectacular hiding places!

A first find geocaching coin

Are you interested in SCUBA or land based geocaching on Okinawa?
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of Okinawa.Org.
About Author
Elizabeth Gomez
Elizabeth Gomez – Oki Adventurer, Artist, Dog Mom. Be sure to check out my Okinawa art!

Comments

If there's enough interest in geocaching, be it on land or under the water, we may just create a secret group for members here. I believe that there are other online communities that exist for geocaching, but some are paid and some have died over time.

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