Introduction to geocaching with Android app c:geo

There is a new video on geocaching with Android app c:geo. It is a good way to get familiarized with the basics of the program, use it to find a list of caches near your location and get the cache info.

With more and more folks using smart phones, it is nice to see videos like this that can help us get into geocaching at low or no cost.

Review of the Garmin 60cx

Geocache Family has a great Garmin 60cx review on their site. The 60cx is a great unit for family's that are looking to get into geocaching.

Geocaching Gifts

Geocaching Family has opened a new geocaching gift  store.  They have a featured line of shirts and other clothing items for every member of the geocaching family.  Go pay them a visit.

Geocaching in Harford County

A great post over at Geocaching Family on geocaching in Harford county Maryland

Geocaching plunges underwater for scuba divers

The latest scavenger hunt takes you underwater.
Geocaching started as a hobby more than a decade ago on land, but it's slowly becoming popular with scuba enthusiasts around the world looking for new underwater adventures.
"People are adding this on as an extension to their own hobby," said Jeremy Irish, CEO and co-founder of Geocaching.com, based in Seattle.
Interest in geocaching has grown significantly over the years, even reaching space via the International Space Station. Tourism boards and local parks use geocaching as a way to attract visitors. But combining the two hobbies — geocaching and scuba diving — has only recently taken off.
Underwater geocaches can be found in the waters of more than a dozen countries, from Indonesia to South Africa to Spain, but "there's just not that many of them out there right now," said Chris Waggoner, a veteran police officer from Gainesville and an avid geocacher. About 100 geocaches around the world today require scuba gear, according to the Geocaching.com database, and just over half of them were listed in the past two years.
Geocaching is a hunt for a hidden "geocache," basically a container with a logbook. Some caches hold a trinket or treasure. The person who finds the treasure must sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location. If you take something from the cache, you must leave something of equal or greater value. Geocaching coins and so-called travel bugs (dog tags) have tracking codes on them, so they can be moved from cache to cache.
Scuba or underwater geocaching follows the same rules as the terrestrial-based game, but includes some challenges. Land-based geocaching uses GPS coordinates. With underwater geocaching, visual clues are added because it's difficult to give an exact GPS location on the water. The cache must be submersible and must withstand water pressure and corrosion; logbooks are waterproof.
Geocaching experiences are shared online on sites such as Geocaching.com or OpenCaching.com, run by Garmin, which makes GPS devices. Clues and rating systems are added, including the level of difficulty in finding the cache. For example, does the hunt require (for land hunts) biking or mountain climbing, or special equipment such as scuba gear (for water-based hunts)?
One cold Saturday morning, Kenny Jenkins of Fort Myers placed a cache 33 feet underwater in Lake Denton in Central Florida, about 80 miles southeast of Tampa. A homemade red and white floating tube bearing the words "Official Geocaching Game Piece" marks the spot, attached to a concrete block that sits on the lake bottom. To prove that they've found it, geocachers must sign the waterproof logbook at the site, "because otherwise you have people that just drive by and say 'I found it' and they never really did," Jenkins said.
Jenkins, who has been scuba caching for six months, was excited to add an underwater cache since so few are near his home. "Because they're fairly extreme, they take a lot of work, a lot of effort to get to, and also to place," he said. "But a lot of people are doing more outdoor activities now, and the geocaching and scuba diving for me combines two of my greatest hobbies."
Some water caches can be reached by using a canoe or kayak because they are placed just under the water surface or near shore. Others are accessible by snorkel or an easy dive. The more intense searches, though, require scuba gear. One cache, called "the Boss," can be found near a dive wreck in Cape Town, South Africa. The "Underwater Bus" cache is about 28 feet underwater in Fantasy Lake Scuba Park in North Carolina, and the "Diver's Underwater Shrine" is submerged 24 feet near the shoreline of Petoskey, Mich. Directions say if you catch the sun just right, you might see the white marble crucifix resting underwater in Little Traverse Bay.
Geocaching is not regulated beyond what is approved by the community or volunteer reviewers on geocaching sites. Guidelines require permission before placing a cache on private property or on protected federal lands, and caches cannot be buried. There's no age requirement, so families can go hunting together.
There is no record of accidents or deaths associated with underwater geocaching. But there have been deaths among land-based geocachers from things like heart attacks and falls.
Underwater geocaching is one part of a big hobby, and geocaching overall is growing. Geocaching.com started in 2000 with 75 caches worldwide and now lists more than 1.6 million caches.
"I always attributed it to the fact that people generally enjoy exploring and discovering new places," Irish said. "You get to be a kid again and go treasure hunting."

Geocaching, catching the craze

LAS CRUCES — Geocaching is a modern-day treasure hunt that has millions of fans throughout the world. "There are caches now in every country, in the Antarctic and the International Space Station. We have 30 active local caches here in Las Cruces and there are about 1,400 within a 50-mile radius," said Victor Gibbs, who heads Las Cruces Geocachers.
Whether you're a veteran or a beginner, you'll have a chance to experience the global phenomenon with a real-time reward this weekend at the Centennial Hot Chocolate Cache, from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park. It's one of many cache events to commemorate New Mexico's statehood and is open to anyone who's interested in geocaching, a treasure-hunting game using GPS to hide and seek containers.
"The event will include a three-stage, temporary geocache, allowing participants to compile everything they need to create a nice hot mug of hot chocolate. We're really excited to get people out here to teach them more about geocaching," said Jan Kirwan, Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park supervisor.
The event is free with a valid park pass. Daily entrance fee is $5 per vehicle and annual day passes are $40.
Most geocache events are free and, as with many of life's great adventures, the fun is in the journey and the thrill of discovery is its own reward.
There are currently more than 5 million geocachers and more than 1.6 million currently active geocaches worldwide, according to www.geocaching.com.

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And that's probably a very conservative estimate. A mid-February report said that more than 4,235,300 new logs have been submitted in the past 30 days. A recent Google geocaching query produced upwards of 28,600,000 entrees. Here's how it works: You start by browsing online or sharing tips and ideas with other aficionados to find hunts that interest you.
Next, you search for the cache of your choice using a GPS (Global Positioning System) device or smartphone.
Finding a specified GPS basic location can be a snap, but clever geocachers have grown increasing crafty at hiding caches in elusive or camouflaged spots, once you've reached the specified site.
When you've located the cache, you sign the logbook and see what you've found.
Many treasures are left in place, but geocaching etiquette demands that if you do take what's there, you must leave something comparable, of equal of greater value, in its place. Some caches also contain "Hitchhikers" items, sometimes with their own traveling logbooks, that are placed in a cache with instructions to travel to other caches. Some "Hitchhikers" have a Groundspeak Travel Bug, a trackable tag that you can track online.
Online sites are a big part of the process and the step that some enjoy the most. It's a way to share your experiences and fun with other cachers.
The adventure can be anything from a date to a family outing or a specialty quest for a specific interest group or event, like New Mexico's Centennial. There are mystery and puzzle caches that require cachers to decipher clues before they can determine coordinates.
"Geocachers are a really diverse bunch of people that runs through the full spectrum of humanity: Republicans, Democrats, young and old," said Gibbs.
He stared geocaching a decade ago, in 2002.
"I've found 1,948 caches and I think one of the most exciting was a cache at Playas Peak in southwestern New Mexico. It was a pretty steep climb. There are mountain climbers and scuba groups that find underwater caches. It's a great way to get outside and see nature," said Gibbs. Cachers want to enjoy — but not disturb and sometimes even clean up and improve — cache sites that can range from urban locations to wilderness areas.
"In fact, there's an initiative called CITO, which stands for Cache In Trash Out," said Gibbs.
Cachers also agree not to place caches near airports, schools or train tracks.
"That's because there were concerns about security and bomb scares," Gibbs said.
He's established 22 cache sites himself. "And that means taking responsibility for a cache, maintaining it, making sure that there's a log and replacing the log when it's full."
He particularly enjoys Hitchhiker and Travel Bugs.
"I like moving boxes from cache to cache. A friend of mine has one running around in Europe now."
If you'd like to learn more about hunting or placing your own caches, start by registering with the official global GPS cache hunt site at www.geocaching.com. It's free and offers resources that include games, merchandise and sophisticated, multilingual search engines that allow you to seek cache sites by zip code or location and connect with groups and individuals who share particular interests.
Treasure hunting instincts have very deep roots from ancient to modern times, manifesting in everything from pirate maps and novels to "Indiana Jones" movies and the old low-tech scavenger hunts.
"Treasure hunts were very big in the 1800s, with all kinds of maps and puzzles," said Gibbs, who adds that modern geocaching started on May 3, 2000, when computer consultant Dave Ulmer decided to test GPS accuracy by hiding a cache in the woods near Beavercreek, Ore., and posting coordinates online.
Tech advances will only increase interest, Gibbs feels.
"With smartphones and iPad apps and more good data like planning maps and aerial photos helping us locate, I think more and more people will get into geocaching," Gibbs said.

Geocaching Gifts

If you are looking to purchase a gift for a geocacher in your family or friends, check out the gift guide from Geocache Family