Fish Eagle

1. Fish Eagle - who are we? Fish Eagle is Andy and Lindy of Nelspruit, occasionally accompanied by two of our kids, aged 17 and 14. Andy (53), self-employed part-time financial and systems consultant, previously MD and chairman of SPAR Mpumalanga, semi-retired in 2003. I've lived my life clean and tidy and within the law, and I'm really proud of my ethic - in business, and in my private life. I don't jik the taxman (really - yes, really!), I don't screw customers or suppliers, and I've been a successful businessman running a billion rand a year business. I believe that there is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience, and live by the maxim that you don't have to cheat to win. Lindy (55), self-employed in e-mail marketing and advertising, previously owned a hairdressing salon and a chainsaw business. Lindy has also lived her life clean and tidy and within the law, and is also very proud of her ethic. We have flexible working hours, take a lot of time off, are blessed with good health and being able to afford to travel quite frequently for fun. We found out about geocaching in Oct 2005, got totally hooked despite there being almost nothing here, and set out on a mission to get GC off the ground in MP. Our reaction to what has been said is extreme - we are totally horrified.

Fish Eagle's response to the following threads on this forum - Cheating the Rankings - Faux pas, Who ya trying to kid? http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=133998 and Logging Missing Caches as "found" - an unethical practice? http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=128726 As you are all probably well aware, we are newbies to the SA forums - we only found out about them a few weeks ago when QFC added a link to za.net. We were not aware of any of the history of what's been said regarding cheating - and a recent surf into the (hopefully) exciting and stimulating history of the SA forums left us totally HORRIFIED !!!! Now we understand why we experienced some "stand-offish" behaviour and funny reactions from some other cachers. We intend to remedy this - we will not tolerate being branded as "cheaters" and "unethical geocachers" just chasing stats. That's rubbish - we're passionate geocachers, who actually don't give a hoot about the stats. In fact - wipe our stats to zero - that'll give us an excuse to go find them all again, and hide them all again. One post said why not kick them off the stats? Well, why not? It would have avoided a lot of contention, and not been an issue for us. What is disappointing is that while all this was being said behind our backs, everyone assumed we were "in the know" but didn't care, and nobody bothered to let us know whats happening. Well, we do care - we care a lot!! To all the cachers who had opinions on this subject - no hard feelings whatsoever. Well done for expressing your feelings. It's just sad that it was "winking in the dark" at the time. There is one main issue in the thread, but there are several other lesser ones too. So, we have tried to identify all these issues, and will address them all, whether they were aimed at us or not. We have revisited every found log that we've ever written, and have identified all logs that are in any way out of the ordinary. We have judged the validity of these logs against what we have learnt recently, will amend or delete them where necessary, and lay it transparently on the table for all to comment on. Our objective is to be seen as 100% clean and ethical by the end of this process, whatever it takes. Our response is extensive (relative to the size of the issue as we perceive it), covers several posts on this thread, and is laid out as follows: 1. Fish Eagle - who are we, and what we stand for. 2. Cheating - intent and objective. 3. Review of "Found" logs: 3.1 Traditional caches 3.2 Multi caches 3.3 Virtual caches 3.4 Event caches 3.5 Puzzle caches 3.6 Webcam caches 3.7 Locationless caches 3.8 Earthcaches 4. Our cache hides. 5. Our "meteoric" climb 6. Travel Bugs 7. Stats 8. Our FTF's

Congrats Trickies on your 40th hide - getting fruitier and fruitier..........

Interesting topic. Certainly we would never consider logging a cache for a second time - unless the cache has changed dramatically - eg: got muggled, and replaced nearby in a totally new hide (so that you have to hunt it from scratch), and then only with the owner's permission. (We've never done this though) Recently, while asking Erik's advice regarding a puzzle cache that we are putting together, we slipped in a question about this subject. His response was: no - if the change of hide is minimal, and at the discretion of the cache owner if the change of hide is substantial. However, he recommended that it's far better to archive the old cache and create a new listing for the replacement - which very obviously communicates the owner's intent in offering it to be found again, and also puts it at the top of the country's list to attract attention. The bottom line is that it's up to the cache owner - who should make it clear that the cache may be found and logged again if that's his intent, and if not, should delete the logs of chancers. However, cachers do make bona-fide mistakes - we have seen logs for a second find when they just wanted to note a second visit, and where the log was written on the wrong cache (then normally there is another cache not logged) - so, these issues should be addressed delicately and tactfully. You can check whether you have any such double loggings on your stats by comparing your finds count with the detailed list of finds - eg: if your traditional finds are 126, then the detail list should be 6 pages of 20, and 6 on the last page.

The Kruger Park is on our doorstep and close to our hearts - hence this topic. We have concerns about geocaching misbehaviour in the KNP (and other national parks in SA for that matter), and would like to fish for opinions on the subject of caches in national parks. There are already several caches in the KNP, and the number is growing rapidly. In the interests of preserving this incredible geocaching resource for all geocachers, we believe that some basic ethics should be adhered to with hiding caches. (But maybe we are being over-sensitive?) Please take a look at the following two KNP caches, read the listings and the logs, and express your opinion. GCRH9J Nkulu http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...=y&decrypt= which we feel quite uncomfortable about, and GCX72V Resting in Timbavati http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...c5-4352ada39921 which seems a responsible reaction to the first log.

That's not fair - everybody seems to be winning GPSr's left , right and centre, and the only thing we've ever won in a competition is a holiday in a larney place, sans meals, sans activities, sans everything except a bed, which ends up costing much more than the same holiday in the flats next door when paying for everything So, we must be the real honest cachers - paid for both of ours - a GPS72 (which is brilliant piece of equipment, but getting a bit old and tatty), and a bright yellow E-Trex - so mother could cache in Chile without dad going cold-turkey back in SA. And yes, addiction is the right word - never been addicted to anything before geocaching, but if this is addiction, it's not that bad after all

The Egg or the Chicken? Our GPS came first, then we spotted a snippet about geocaching in the Getaway, and despite sukkelling with geocaching.com initially, our GPS now gets used much more than it ever was in it's original role - which brings us to the second question - if the GPS came first, what did you use it for? We're keen fishermen (but with geocaching, we hardly ever seem to go fishing anymore ) and we use our GPS to plot underwater structure in our local dams when water levels are low. Great advantage when the dams fill up again.

Well done Trickeys on your 600th, and Hectic for your 200th Also Crystal Fairy for 30 hides (getting fruitier by the day ). Cool puzzles, but can't you hide them closer to Nelspruit?

Hey, fruit salad's cool - and plenty fun seeing all the logs coming in at the end of the weekend. But, we might soon have a blemish on our record of no archived caches vrot fruit? - someone's busy putting up a bl**dy great game fence around one of our caches. Wonder if lodging a land claim will work??

Well done GlobalRat and Amyson. May there be many, many more.

When the luggage has to go on the back seat, because the boot's always full of tupperware.

Yeah, we got an underequipped story...... We did the cache GCNDZB Piggs Peak Mine in Swaziland, and didn't quite get it right..... The cache listing reads - "When we planted the cache, we went through the mine, down a short vertical shaft having a simple previously existing ladder and out the tunnel toward the right. This passage still has some of the old ore cart rails in its floor. After planting the cache, we traversed the short mountainous peak route back to the starting point. The mine route was the fastest and easiest. Flashlights are needed for the mine route. As always in geocaching, you should exercise full safety practices when navigating the mine. There are no assurances of safety implied or suggested via the mine route." So, being typical Lowvelders, we charged to the cache without a torch, and after a quick "caucus", and not liking the "vertical" part in the pitch dark, we decided we'd quickly nip over the hill - big mistake - the tunnel is only 70m long - the hill was hours of blood, sweat, tears, and near divorce, with female half Fish Eagle mainly stressed about the car keys being in male half's pocket, which she was convinced was gonna end up at the bottom of the cliff. We eventually nailed the cache, which is an enormous plastic cake container. Here's our log - November 20, 2005 by Fish Eagle (329 found) Enjoyed the cache despite having to take the hard way in and out - why? Because we forgot the b----y flashlights, and weren't brave enough to trust the "flick of the BIC". Cache slightly damp after the recent heavy rains - dried the contents - logbook fine - ziplock bag working well. Still want to go though the tunnel, and will come back someday to do that. Took nothing, left something. Know the guineau fowl feather fell out of pocket, but there was something else, which got lost in the mind after jungle-bunnying around and over the mountain. Thanks for taking us to a spot that we would never have known about. Don't know if our log put cachers off, but nobody's visited it since (only had one visit before - in April 2005) Moral of the story - we now ALWAYS (that means ALWAYS) carry good flashlights!!!!

Great stuff VESPAX - well done !!!!

Well done John-Gill for your 200 finds and 20 hides !!! Recent Lowveld cacher milestones - 22 Jul - Gps Storm - 40th hide 23 Jul - Guineafowl - 50th find 24 Jul - 4x4bushadventures - 10th hide 30 Jul - D&T Otter - 150th find Well done guys - give it stick!!!!

Hi Team_Farmers, Thanks for the kind words about Mpumalanga, and glad to hear that you enjoyed the "spooky" tunnel. Sad that we didn't know you were in the area - we could have got together. Many geocachers were just east of Barberton for the weekend - us, Gps Storm, Team Katsie, Taeros, D&T Otter, and on Sunday, also Guineafowl and Team Myth (Netherlands). We did the extreme trail at Crocodile Gorge on Saturday (WOW!), and the challenging 4x4 trail at Louisville on Sunday (another WOW!). A big THANK YOU to 4x4bushadventures for hiding caches on these amazing trails - we had a ball.

Welcome back Snowolf Can't wait to meet you and hear stories of caching in the Lowveld in the "dark ages" - it must now be like being a "kid in a candy store" compared to 2001!! When we started caching in Oct 2005, we saw 16 caches within the (then) 160km circle of Nelspruit - half of them were in Swaziland, and the other half, except your virtual, were hidden by visitors. Now we see 160+ within an 80km circle of Nelspruit, with another 20 or so just outside the 80km circle!!!! Whoopeee! Discombob - the Lowveld still has lots and lots of potential cache locations - we are so blessed with having such a variety of beautiful and interesting country (and history) around us.

Hi Everyone, At long last, Fish Eagle has moved into the 21st century by discovering the SA Forums. Things tend to happen quite slowly here by us in the "Slowveld". Thanks for all the congratulations as we reached various milestones during the past 9 months - really appreciated. Sorry that they fell on deaf ears at the time. But now we've got our ears and eyes open, and look forward to participating in the forums in future. Happy caching!!!!