RoisinDonn

Thanks for the kind words! And yeah, I figured it was a bad idea to get too competitive in the narrow sense of the word - it kinda kills the fun if you're just out to add more notches lol. So far I've only tried one cache (the one on Philopappou) Failed dismally unfortunately, but from what I can tell that has a lot to do with the fact I was using my iphone (it's all the GPS I have sadly) and the coverage was terrible - I was using the geocaching app and the part where it says how accurate it is was never less than 150ft! And more often than not the dot that was supposed to represent where you are was red, which is supposed to mean that the signal's weak. With those kinds of conditions it's kind of no point to look for the cache in terms of detail, because there's no way to know if you're even in the general vicinity lol I was really, really looking forward to going to that meeting for geocachers - the Athenian Symposium i think it was called? But then it was cancelled due to the strikes, and it doesn't appear to be back on again. Can someone set it up again maybe? I don't know how to do it myself yet, but I'd totally go, for what it's worth!

Cool! DNF it is then :-) And yes, I think it still looks like something I can grow to love, despite the initial setback It's made up of all kinds of things I like, and none that I don't (at least none I can think of!) So all good. Okay, that works for me. I was reluctant to post anything other than DNF: I'm an archaeologist & all-around history geek, so I hated the idea of not documenting things as they happened - felt fraudulent you know? And I guess you have a point about not reading, especially once my log gets to be too far down the list of entries - I imagine most will read the first few, not the entire thing! yep, hope so. OTOH it is nice to have this option as with good coverage (ie 5 bars of 3G coverage) it can be pretty snappy! For the past couple of years I've been using the Maps app quite a bit for navigating to a pharmacy, a restaurant, etc, and sometimes the thing could even tell when I'd crossed the road! so not as bad I guess, just a bit unreliable And even if/when I get a 'real' GPS, I'd be unlikely to carry it around everyday on a just-in-case basis - I'd only use it if I was planning on going geocaching. But there's still plenty of times I can see myself wanting to do it on impulse (maybe not in ten minutes like the guy on the ad for the app lol, but on a break from a cancelled meeting or something, yeah thanks!

Okay, so today I went looking for my first cache. Yay! Except, not, because I didn't find it So far, so clear - log should be Not Found, and that's the end of that. Except for one thing: the most likely reason why I di not find it is equipment. I say this not because I have any confidence in my skills (as I said...total noob!) but because it was supposed to be a beginner-friendly cache (highlighted in green in the search and everything!) and sure enough, all the many previous logs I read through found it pretty easily. Basically, I was using my iPhone as a GPS (it's all I've got) and I had really crappy reception (it was within a city, but in a large park that's pretty unused). The signal mostly sucked; I was using the geocaching app and I was keeping an eye on accuracy, and the best I got throughout the walk was 150ft. Which unfortunately is pretty big as the park has lots of possible places to stash things (it's not like all grass or something like that which you could split into quadrants and search, or not without some pretty intensive effort lol). Coverage was patchy too; sometimes it could find my location, but I also got the red dot symbol much of the time. And weirdly enough I would get a note that I'm, say, 375ft from the location, then a minute later it would switch to 432 or something - except all I'd done by way of moving was shift my weight! lol So, now I don't know what I should enter. Here's the things that concern me: 1) If I put in 'cache not found' now, will I be able to enter a log that I found it at a later date? The thinking is that depending on how much I end up liking geocaching (and on my finances lol) I might end up buying a Proper GPS that doesn't depend on the cellphone network. And if I do, it's highly likely that I'll want to go back to this afternoon's cache to try and locate it. From which it should be cake, because it was one of the easy caches highlighted in green for beginners in the search results. But what if I can't enter 'cache found' if I've already said I didn't find it before? 2) My other concern is that it might be handy for people to know that this isn't a cache they can go looking for if they didn't think to bring their proper gps and all they have is a phone (this could be the sort of cache they'd go looking for on an impulse, eg lunchbreak or passing the time sort of situation - it may be in a park, but it's a really short, leisurely walk from a busy area with lots of walkers, so it's a natural fit). What is the best way to achieve this - a Didn't Find log is truthful but people preparing to go to the cache might not bother reading the comment so that they won't know, whereas they might be curious about a Write Note log and read that but it's not truthful. What is the right thing to do in this case, please?

I think some of the reasons cited are a bit unfair to many greeks...some definitely are couch (or coffee shop!) potatos whose idea of a day out is to hit one of the tavernas around Kessariani, but many greeks are keen outdoorsmen and women! (guys, think of all those hunters, fishermen etc in villages - even the country doctor/lawyer/real estate person hunts, cultivates olive trees and fishes in most cases lol). There are also plenty of mountaineers and other adventurer types - big-city residents who like to get away to the mountains to get some time in the green I think there's merit in what people said about the cost of a GPS or GPS-enabled unit, but I'm not sure that could be the whole picture either given there's plenty of gadget buying in Greece (or there was until recently...now sadly things are getting a good deal tougher for everyone ) I think most of all is that people don't know about it, and that mainly has to do with the same reasons why many don't know about any interest that's strongly internet-based in Greece - a dearth of adequate content in Greek. Even in my case, though I've been living in Greece for the past several years, I actually heard about geocaching from primarily english-language websites (I think the first time was on flickr, but it took a couple of mentions for it to sink in, as is usual with these things ) Anyway, this is my first post here and I'm hoping to have some good clean outdoorsy fun with this! I expect since there are not so many caches apparently to be found, I might soon be doing a fair bit of hiding caches (is that the correct term?) myself, which is obviously equally fun I'm sure!