Going Once, Twice … Anyone? Indonesia’s Treasure Auction Flops

From the Jakarta Globe:
Going Once, Twice … Anyone? Indonesia’s Treasure Auction Flops
The scheduled auction of a 10th-century treasure trove worth at least $80 million opened on Wednesday for a mere five minutes before it was closed because of an absence of any bidders.

After the event, Fadel Muhammad, minister of maritime affairs and fisheries and head of the auction organizing committee, said he would report back to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before deciding when to hold the next auction and if any changes needed to be made.

Belgian treasure hunter Luc Heymans, whose company recovered the underwater haul from a shipwreck north of Cirebon, West Java, had previously said that the government’s decision to sell all 271,000 pieces as a single lot would be a big hindrance.

Adi Agung Tirtamarta, chief executive of PT Paradigma Putra Sejathera, the local partner of Heymans’ Cosmix Underwater Research, said he hoped the auction’s failure would encourage the government to revise its restrictive requirements.

“Potential bidders were required to pay a hefty deposit of $16 million, or 20 percent of the minimum bid, and the auction was announced with such short notice,” he said, adding that nowhere else in the world would such huge sums be demanded as a deposit.

However, Adi was optimistic that Wednesday’s debacle would not threaten future treasure-hunting expeditions.

“That we finally have a legal procedure for auctions like this is already a major step,” he said, adding that his company already had another three salvage operations in the pipeline, near West Java and Bangka Belitung.

Securing backing from investors was also not a problem, Adi said, with the company’s next two expeditions already funded by a German company, and the third by a local company.

Nicholas Sahnditzehr, from a German salvage company, applauded the government’s initiatives to recover the country’s maritime heritage, but said he believed investors still faced significant financial risks associated with such exploration.

“If the operators don’t get a fair share to cover the tremendous risk they are taking, your country will be further in danger of losing its important cultural heritage,” he said, adding that in his three and a half years in the business, his company had investigated 30 shipwrecks, all of which had already been plundered.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has raised concerns that the auction breaches an international convention on the protection of maritime cultural heritage, arguing that Indonesia should not commercialize its finds.

Fadel said he had been corresponding with the heritage body about the matter. “We have considered the 2001 Unesco convention, but the problem is the artifacts are worthless when they are underwater.”

Officials from the ministries of maritime affairs and culture and tourism are scheduled to meet with Unesco representatives in Bali next week. Members of the National Committee for Salvage and Utilization of Valuable Objects from Sunken Ships, which oversees the management of underwater finds, will also attend the meeting.

“Maybe if Unesco has the funds, they can collaborate with the government to salvage more underwater treasures found in our waters,” Fadel said.

Tourism Minister Jero Wacik suggested the possibility of building a national maritime museum for valuable finds, estimating it would cost about Rp 400 billion ($44 million) to set up.

A lone protester also caused a stir after the auction had been closed. Edwin Erlangga, a 28-year-old student, demanded the sale of the treasures be scrapped altogether. Waving a small placard that said the sale of the country’s national heritage should be rejected, he was ushered out of the room by police.

Odyssey Marine: Firebrand (press release)

Odyssey Marine Exploration Completes Agreements for “Firebrand” Shipwreck Project with Clients of Robert Fraser & Partners LLP

Tampa, FL – May 4, 2010 - Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM: OMEX), pioneers in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration and its associated company, OVH, Inc., have executed agreements to provide project research and shipwreck search and survey services for a project code-named "Firebrand" to client companies of Robert Fraser & Partners LLP.

As part of the agreement, Odyssey furnished research related to the "Firebrand" and its sinking and will provide a research vessel, equipment and crew to search a specified area and inspect targets in that area. The contracts provide initial cash payments totaling approximately U.S. $3.2 Million to Odyssey and OVH, Inc. plus additional payments upon the sale of coins or artifacts from the "Firebrand" project. After repayment of salvage costs and fees, Odyssey and OVH, Inc. will receive 75% of net revenue in aggregate until an additional £10.5 Million (approximately U.S. $15.7 Million) has been received and then 50% in aggregate of all further net revenue.

Upon location of the "Firebrand" shipwreck Odyssey will enter into additional agreements for the archaeological excavation of "Firebrand" and for the conservation and documentation of the cargo and artifacts recovered. Odyssey will also have exclusive rights to market the recovered cargo.

Odyssey expects to execute agreements for an additional shipwreck project, "Shantaram" with clients of Robert Fraser & Partners in the coming weeks. Operations for both "Firebrand" and "Shantaram" will be conducted from Odyssey’s ships or a chartered vessel, depending on availability.

"Odyssey’s team, technology and capabilities have lived up to all of our expectations on our operations to date and we look forward to working together on all the additional scheduled deep-ocean projects with them for 2010," said Colin Emson, Chairman of Robert Fraser & Partners. "We are confident in Odyssey’s proven track record and anticipate maintaining a long business relationship with them."

About Robert Fraser & Partners LLP

Robert Fraser & Partners LLP is part of the London-based Robert Fraser Asset Management Group, which has operated since its formation in 1934 in the fields of merchant banking and corporate, marine & property finance and structuring. The group’s core areas of expertise include venture capital, project syndication, corporate finance, mergers and acquisition structure, project development, new venture and global business structuring. Robert Fraser Marine Ltd. is a part of the group which specializes in assembling projects directed at shipwreck exploration and the development of deep ocean resources.

About Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM: OMEX) is engaged in the exploration of deep-ocean shipwrecks and uses innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology to conduct extensive search and archaeological recovery operations around the world. Odyssey discovered the Civil War era shipwreck of the SS Republic® in 2003 and recovered over 50,000 coins and 14,000 artifacts from the site nearly 1,700 feet deep. In May 2007, Odyssey announced the historic deep-ocean treasure recovery of over 500,000 silver and gold coins, weighing 17 tons, from a Colonial era site code-named "Black Swan." In February 2009, Odyssey announced the discovery of Balchin's HMS Victory. Odyssey also has other shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world.

Odyssey offers various ways to share in the excitement of deep-ocean exploration by making shipwreck treasures and artifacts available to collectors, the general public and students through its webstore, exhibits, books, television, merchandise, and educational programs.

Odyssey's operations are the subject of a Discovery Channel television series titled "Treasure Quest," produced by JWM Productions. The 12-episode first season aired worldwide in 2009.

Virtual Treasure Hunts

If you'd like to sharpen your treasure hunting skills, check out this website:

http://www.circlescapes.com/virtualtreasurehunts/

Increase Your Company's Web Traffic & Foot Traffic

Circlescapes, the virtual tour design company, brings you a new concept in marketing promotions. These virtual treasure hunts are designed be a fun, interactive way for you to showcase your business and attract new customers at the same time.

Here's how it works!

You hide a "treasure" somewhere in your place of business.

Circlescapes photographers come to your business and showcase various locations using high-resolution 360-degree panoramic photography.

Circlescapes creates a custom-branded treasure hunt webpage, and hides virtual clues in each panoramic spin. When found in the correct order, the clues will reveal the location of the treasure hidden in your business.

Circlescapes uploads the virtual treasure hunt to your webservers.

You spread the word however you wish — tv, radio, newspaper, direct mail, public relations, big megaphone, etc.

Your target customers come to your website, see really awesome 360-degree views of your business, and search for clues to find the treasure.

Your target customers then come to your business, find the hidden treasure, win a prize . . . and spend money!

Twelve emeralds are buried in 12 holes around the country

A real-life treasure hunt takes off
Twelve emeralds are buried in 12 holes around the country. Can you find them?

This story appears courtesy of McSweeney's.
That’s right; throughout this fine land, twelve handcrafted, one-of-a-kind, gem-encrusted numbers lie buried in the soil. If you can find them, they’re yours to keep. But where are they? The only path lies in solving the riddles in McSweeney’s newest title, "The Clock Without a Face." Get a head start on the hunt. Pick up an advance copy of "Clock" here or at your local bookstore starting May 14.

Last Wednesday, Aaron Holmes woke up early and packed a lunchbox with candy, bananas, and PB&J sandwiches, "because they make excellent adventure food." He grabbed an emergency kit containing a bit of string, a hammer, and a flashlight, a five-dollar Wal-Mart shovel, and a copy of "The Clock Without A Face" -- his field guide for the journey ahead of him.

The book, an illustrated mystery caper, contains hints about the whereabouts of twelve real-life treasures buried around the country. Using the clues they decrypted from the house-shaped board book, Holmes and his wife Elissa set out from their Amherst, Mass. apartment in their Honda Accord for a digsite several hours out of state. Holmes, 24, took off work for his day hunt. He guesses he’s spent $70 of his own money looking for the precious jewels -- all in pursuit of being the first to crack the mystery. "I know it’s within my reach," Holmes says.

* * *

Clock is an "armchair treasure hunt" -- a book that combines old-style riddle solving with real-life treasure hunting. McSweeney’s contracted Anna Sheffield, a well-known New York–based jewelry designer, to craft twelve bejeweled numerals that now lay underground -- in the real-life ground -- in twelve holes around the country. Through a series of acrostics and illustrated ciphers, the book reveals the locations of the numbers as it spins a whodunit tale, the story of a mysterious clock robbery.

The gist: The Emerald Khroniker -- jewel-emblazoned timepiece/famously cursed clock -- has been stolen from Bevel Ternky’s penthouse apartment in Ternky Tower. Detective Roy Dodge is on the case. With the help of his sidekick ("confidential assistant") Gus Twintig, our charmingly bumbling narrator, Dodge visits each of the thirteen apartments in Ternky Tower, starting at the penthouse and making his way down. Dodge vows to solve the crime by the time he reaches the lobby. Each of the thirteen apartments has been burglarized, and each eccentric, Dickensianly named resident has an encoded story to tell. On the facing page, we are provided with Gus’s illustrations of each crime scene from bird’s-eye-view perspective, with even more clues to sift through.

Paul "P.K." Quello (Paulo Coehlo?) is an alchemist living on the twelfth floor. In his flat we see a chalkboard with chemical equations (do the numbers mean something?) and a machine that transforms tears into clouds. Eighth-floor residents Amber and Jamie Kaulken (Macaulay?), their parents on vacation for weeks, are living in squalor, with bags of trash in the living room and the TV on full blast. On the fifth floor, Vera Mazel and Josie Grey, a couple of old spinsters, are -- curiously -- working on a pentagonally shaped puzzle book. There are pink donuts everywhere.

* * *

By the final page of the book, the whodunit is over, but the wheredtheyputit has just begun. That’s where adventurous readers like Holmes come in. Like most armchair treasure hunters discussing the treasure’s possible whereabouts in online forums, Holmes has been studying the book for clues since receiving it from preorder. "I’ve got another pretty good suspicion as to where one of them is," Holmes says. He may travel as far as Idaho for a dig.

"We definitely like the idea of people getting out of the house and getting their hands dirty," says "Clock" co-author Eli Horowitz. "Though I’m a little nervous that misguided expeditioners will accidentally exhume old grandmothers."

Not every hunter is making the journey to find treasure. Some seem content to strenuously debate the book’s riddles on the Internet, never leaving the comfort of their armchairs. Kevin Hemenway, a.k.a. Morbus Iff, set up an extensive wiki dedicated to a chapter-by-chapter analysis of possible clues. Iff declined a phone interview -- "I’m not a big fan of the human voice ;)" -- but wrote in an email that he has no plans to go on a dig personally. "I don’t travel much," he said. "I’m in it just to puzzle solve, and tell other people where they might dig." Some message board posters have offered to crew for others’ digs. “If you’re not the diggin type," Domino writes at tweleve.org, "just keep me in mind. … Hunt Happily!"

While Horowitz won’t confirm or refute any current theories, he insists the treasure is very much within reach. He guesses the first number will be found within weeks, and all of them within months. "This is not an endurance test," he says. "I have no hope for a 'Masquerade' situation."

Horowitz is referring to perhaps the most famous exemplar of the armchair treasure hunt genre, Kit Williams’s "Masquerade" (1979), which he openly cites as inspiration for "Clock." "Masquerade" left clues in sixteen paintings to the whereabouts of a golden hare, buried somewhere in Britain. The book became a worldwide sensation, selling hundreds of thousands of copies and prompting a years-long hunt. When the hare was found by somebody with personal ties to Williams, the book was mired in a public scandal. In the wake of "Masquerade’s" success, publishers brought out a slew of armchair treasure hunts in the early 1980s.

"Clock" is hoping to reinvigorate the genre. The book’s authors run a website with animated details of the illustrations and links to ongoing online discussions. Gus Twintig has a Twitter feed. The authors have said they’ll post clues at these locations—as well as on a countrywide book tour that includes onstage "digging competitions"—but say you don’t need a DSL connection to solve the case.

"We wanted to make a book that can be enjoyed in all sorts of different ways for each different reader," Horowitz says. "You can read it just as whodunit, or you can display it as an art object, or you can study the drawings, crack the puzzles, and locate the emeralds. All the answers are right there in the drawings."

For many armchair treasure hunters like Holmes, born in the 1980s, "Clock" represents their first chance to journey into the treasure-hunting world. "All those books were written before I was born," Holmes says. "I was really excited when this was coming out because you can get in on the ground floor."

On last Wednesday’s hunt, Holmes visited an abandoned construction site and "a scummy pond" along a highway. Based on the donut illustrations, he went to more than one Dunkin Donuts, where his queries about cursed, buried treasure were met with laughter. He did a little digging—in a conspicuous mound of gravel in the middle of a public flowerbed—but came up empty-handed.

"I really did expect to find something," he says. Still, he remains undeterred. "I wouldn’t say I was particularly sad at the end of the day. It’s enjoyable to wake up and say, 'Oh we’re getting a shovel and digging for treasure today.'

First Woman on the Ice (Story of the 1947 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition)

I know my Kindle subscribers won't be able to see the videos below, for you I suggest going to this URL at YouTube, (or going there whenever you have time and doing a search for "First woman on the ice."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgC5DlPv10M

September 25, 2007 — A feature length documentary, shot on digital video, describing the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition. In January 1947, this small, impoverished scientific expedition sailed from Texas. Aboard their 183-foot tug christened Port of Beaumont were 40 dogs, 3 prop planes and 22 crew. Their mission was an ambitious one: map a quarter-million square miles of territory from the air, determine if the Antarctic was one contiguous continent and conduct an array of field work in meteorology, geology and astrophysics. More remarkable than the difficulties they would overcome or the knowledge they would bring home were the two women numbered among their crewñthe first such expedition ever to include women.
Edith Maslin "Jackie" Ronne was a 28 year-old Baltimore native on leave from her job at the State Department. Two years earlier, she had married Finn Ronne, a Navy captain 20 years her senior. By 1947, Finn had successfully organized the third and last privately funded expedition to Antarctica. Jackie accompanied him to Texas to bid farewell. Jennie Darlington, 22, had married Harry Darlington, the chief aviator, a few months earlier. Their time together in Texas was their ìhoneymoon.î Finn prevailed upon Jackie to sail with him as far as Panama to assist with administrative work. Jackie asked Jennie to join her so she wouldnít be the only woman aboard. Jackieís administrative tasks multiplied and in Valparaiso Chile, Jackie agreed to accompany the expedition the whole way. Over the unanimous objections of the crew, Jackie and Jennie became the first women to winter in the Antarctic. Jackie served as expedition secretary, filed stories under her husbandís byline for the North American Newspaper Alliance, and helped scientists gather data. Jennie's accomplishments were more personal. She returned bearing the first child conceived in the Antarctic.
Conquest of Antarctica was a risky enterprise fueled by personal pride and nationalist fervor. The men attracted to Polar exploration frequently had greater courage and curiosity than commercial or government support. They were, by necessity, dogged and egotistical. Finn Ronne was no exception. A Norwegian from a family of seagoing men, his father had sailed with Amundsen on his conquest of the South Pole and with Admiral Byrd. Finn sailed with Byrdís Second Antarctic expedition (1933-35) and the U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition (1939-41). For fourteen years, he nurtured the ambition to lead his own expedition.

Scuba diving volunteers discover underwater archeology

Scuba diving volunteers discover underwater archeology

A dedicated group of volunteer scuba divers employ their expertise surveying underwater archeology in the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary.

Coastal Maritime Archeology Resources members spend about a week living aboard research vessels twice a year, to measure and map shipwrecks, sunken airplanes and archeological sites scattered on the ocean floor.

CMAR Director of Operations Patrick Smith says there’s nothing quite like seeing a shipwreck for the first time. “It’s indescribable. There’s excitement, maybe a little bit of trepidation,” says Smith. “There’s that wonderful feeling of breaching the unknown. There’s the anticipation of seeing something that nobody has seen for scores of years, or maybe hundreds of years.”

Smith says diving on shipwrecks evokes thoughts about the people who sailed on the historic vessels and sometimes perished aboard them. “Each shipwreck is unique. They are a snapshot of that period of time, and they become a time capsule of that period of time,” says Smith. “A shipwreck goes down, and it freezes that moment. It freezes all aspects of the human environment. What the people were eating and wearing. You can tell what their technology was.

It’s just a wonderful snapshot of history and humanity.”

Channel Islands National Park Archeologist Kelly Minas says there’s a treasure-trove of sunken history off the local coastline. Chumash Indians started navigating the channel around 13,000 years ago, and there are many artifacts from more recent maritime tradition, starting with Spanish exploration. “There’s been a variety of activities from commercial fishing to military activities, recreational activities; and what has resulted from that in terms of the archeological remains of shipwrecks is the entire evolution of marine technology,” says Minas.

One of the best-known shipwrecks is the gold rush era steamer Winfield Scott off Anacapa Island, which ran aground on its way from San Francisco to Panama during 1853. “There was a lot of human drama involved with it,” says Minas. “People were stranded out on the island. There’s been a lot of interest in the shipwreck, both for salvage purposes in the past and the fact that it carried a large amount of gold bullion from the gold fields of California.”

Minas says they found a new shipwreck last year, believed to be a prohibition era rum runner, and they also monitor two World War II era torpedo bomber airplanes. Many more artifacts may eventually emerge from the shifting sand on the ocean floor.

CMAR members also search for submerged quarry sites used by Chumash Indians when sea levels were much lower. “We know that the sea levels rose dramatically over the last 10,000 years. A lot of the older prehistoric sites are likely inundated, and we’re starting to look for them,” says Minas.

Members of CMAR are highly experienced divers and come from as far away as Florida, Michigan and Washington State. Minas says they could never get so much accomplished without their hard work and dedication. “The park benefits because they’re able to put more people in the water, particularly now with budgets so tight,” says Minas.

During the voyages, they dive about five times a day and spend the rest of their time working on research, eating and sleeping. “It’s very rigorous,” says Minas. “This is not recreational diving by any stretch of the imagination.”

Many other rewarding volunteer opportunities are available at Channel Islands National Park. Last year more than 1,400 volunteers donated about 80,500 hours leading hikes, restoring habitat and helping out at the visitor’s center.

People who want to get involved can fill out an online application at www.nps.gov.

'Geocachers' mark the electronic treasure hunt's 10th anniversary

'Geocachers' mark the electronic treasure hunt's 10th anniversary
from Bangor Daily News

Though the days of Blackbeard and Calico Jack sailing the high seas are long gone, those who still feel the pull of treasure hunting are in luck.
Geocaching is the modern-day version of hiding and searching for treasure, but today’s “pirate” has to share where “X” marks the spot by posting online the latitude and longitude of the hiding place. Instead of relying on nautical charts, treasure hunters use their GPS devices.

Click to read more about the basics of Geocaching

Geocaching (“geo” for Earth or geography and “cache” for hiding place) started May 3, 2000, and the worldwide Internet-based game that merges modern technology with the outdoors has grown and evolved ever since. Geocaching.com, a popular site for enthusiasts, announced its one millionth active geocache in early March and now has more than 1,040,000 posted.

Even if you’re not familiar with geocaching, you’ve most likely stumbled by or across a cache somewhere in Maine. Have you ever walked through the Bangor City Forest or visited Hunters Beach on Mount Desert Island? Caches are hidden there. You may have sat on a bench in Portland that had a nanocache hidden beneath it or have spotted a camouflaged ammo box hanging in a tree in Orono.

The state’s first cache was placed Jan. 2, 2001 in southern Maine, and today more than 5,500 active caches are spread across every county, according to geocachingmaine.org. They come in a variety of sizes — depending on the cache container — and can fit just about anywhere. Nanocaches, for example, are about the size of the end of your pinkie and are placed in guardrails or behind street signs. Old ammo boxes can be placed in trees, under a pile of logs or beneath a bridge. It’s all up to the ingenuity of the person who hides the cache, and for most seasoned geocachers, the more challenging a hide is, the better.

For Mike Marino of Bangor “it’s the sense of the adventure, the treasure” that draws him to caching. “The attraction is a little bit like ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘[National] Treasure’ and ‘Indiana Jones,’” said Marino who has been geocaching for about a year and a half. “I seem to encounter all kinds of adventure when I’m on the trail,” he said, including a “too friendly bear” and injured people in the woods. He’s not alone. The thrill is there for many, but there are other reasons people search for treasure.

In the beginning, geocaching was more popular among technology buffs. When the U.S. government turned off the GPS Selective Availability, allowing civilian GPS devices to become more accurate, those who already owned one were the first to test their capabilities.

Then outdoor enthusiasts looking for another reason to explore new areas were drawn to the sport as were people who saw it as a family activity or a way to exercise. As the game evolved, a social aspect developed and with that came competition such as being the first to find a cache or logging the most finds.

When Dave Hodgins of Bangor, one of four advisory board members for geocachingmaine.org, got involved in June 2002, there were 145 caches in the state and a few dozen cachers at best. In June 2004, Rick Towle of Litchfield, who is hiking the Appalachian Trail, created the website as a place for geocaching Mainers to connect. Today the website has more than 2,000 members and is a place for “newbies” to find out what the state has to offer and for everyone to discuss a great cache, emerging technology or changes to the game.

In the past 10 years, geocaching has changed lives. People who never considered the outdoors to be fun have discovered that it can be, and others who were technophobic have taken the time to figure out a GPS.

For Hodgins, who also compiles the Maine statistics for geocachingmaine.org, the game has had an even greater effect. He met his wife, Lee, on Aug. 23, 2003, at a geocaching event in Augusta. It was the state’s second caching event and the first for both. Then in 2008, they eloped while on — you guessed it — a geocaching trip through Vermont.

For the Hodginses, geocaching is about the challenge and the reward of finding a cache — not for the competition — and that’s why Maine is such a special place for caching they say.

“We have such a varied terrain and it’s such a gorgeous state,” Lee said. “We’ve been to so many places in this state that we never would have known about if it were not for geocaching.

“It’s just the diversity. And whatever hobbies you have, whether it’s mountain climbing or swimming or kayaking ..., there are caches that will feed into that hobby.”

The couple said they appreciate caches that take them to a beautiful view or teach them something new, and several people in Maine have taken the time to create ones that do just that.

“It’s neat to find an area that doesn’t look like it has much history and then find out that it does,” Dave said. “[To discover that] famous people have slept there or people have traveled over there.”

Dave is one of those people who takes the time to create a unique challenge. He created a multicache in Bangor — a multicache is when one cache leads to another — that is based on the game Battleship.

He said he took a couple of months to ponder how to devise the challenge and almost didn’t go through with it, because he thought it might be too extreme. Since then, people from all over the world have asked his permission to “clone” the idea.

Marino also created a unique caching experience by setting up a cache run, or a power trail. His trail involves 125 caches placed three-quarters of a mile apart. Running about 75 miles along the Stud Mill Road above Orono, the cache run became a nationwide sensation he never expected: It was a different way to play the game.

Marino, who also is one of geocachingmaine.org’s four advisory board members, said he got the idea when a woman wanted to do 100 caches in a day, but she wanted to do them on a bike. With little traffic, the dirt road is an easy place to find caches in the company of wildlife. It has attracted people from all over the U.S. and Canada, he said.

Clearly geocaching is near and dear to the Hodginses’ hearts. They each have a 2-gallon jug filled with items they have found in caches throughout the years, many of which are signature items that identify a geocacher and many of which have had a lot of time and thought put into them.

There is a handmade wooden ladder, a miniature toy boat, geocaching coins, a painted acorn and even a cowardly lion. A hand-carved tree trunk pin came from a cacher out West; a wooden box with “3 piece chicken dinner” written on it opens up to show three kernels of corn; and a small plastic container filled with sand holds a pet rock with googly eyes.



Geocachers’ lingo
TFTH — Thanks for the hide
FTF — First to find (a new cache)
DNF — Did not find
TNLN — Took nothing, left nothing
BYOP — Bring your own pencil (for filling out log books)
Muggle — From the Harry Potter series, it refers to nongeocachers
Geocachers’ code
Geocachers have rules to keep the game safe and respectful:
1. Avoid endangering yourself or others
2. Be aware of your effect on the environment
3. Be mindful of all laws, property or other
4. Avoid alarming muggles
5. Be considerate of other people and the game



The Hodginses also each have their own items that they leave behind in place of whatever they take, a rule that geocaching enthusiasts follow to keep the game fair and fun.

The respect that geocachers have for the game and for each other keep the game going. Geocachers look out for each other, the Hodginses said, by keeping track of whether a cache is still intact or by posting online if there is barbed wire or other possible dangers in the area around a hide.

Muggles — a term taken from the Harry Potter series to describe nongeocachers — are also something to look out for. Muggles may be alarmed to see someone lurking around a bridge or to find an ammo box in a residential area. For these reasons, geocachers are conscientious about where they place a cache and how they may look to others while searching for one in a high-muggle-traffic area.

Educating people about geocaching is another way to keep everyone safe, and the more people know about it, the fewer chances there are for a muggle to stumble across a hide and move it or take things from it. Also, if more people get into it, there will be more caches to search for and the competition will intensify.

The Hodginses just wish to share the experience of something they’re passionate about.

“We like it so much that we like to see other people enjoy it as much,” Lee Hodgins said. “And especially for the younger generation coming up: I think it’s so important to get them out in the fresh air and in the world [to] learn skills,” such as how to use a GPS.

There are plenty of chances this weekend for individuals or families new to geocaching to meet enthusiasts and discover what it’s all about. “We have coordinated quite a statewide event so everyone has a chance to ... be a part of the [10th] anniversary,” said Marino.

Maine has five events planned: Today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Brewer, from 5 to 10 p.m. in Waterville and from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Portland; Sunday, May 2, from 8 to 10 a.m. in Waterville and from 2 to 6 p.m. in Augusta.

“[Geocaching is] very interesting and very fun and very diverse,” said Marino. “If you can’t have fun doing this, then you really can’t have fun doing anything.”