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Cheap Island Hoppin'


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So, recently, I've been trying to reach a pretty old cache here along the South Carolina coast. It was placed in 2002, last found in 2004, and hasn't been hit up since. The main reason is that it is about 13 miles from the closest port, on an uninhabited little strip of land off of the coast of Georgetown.

 

Now, I've heard suggestions from jet skis to power boats, and I have only one response:

 

I'm almost broke. There is no way I could afford these things.

 

What are some ways a person can hit up some of these more remote caches without spendng thousands of dollars?

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Phone a friend?

 

Know anyone with a boat looking for an excuse to go take it out?

 

No one who wants to drive it two hours down to Georgetown and then launch it into the ocean in search of a container that may not even be there...

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Post a note to your local forums and try to get a group together to go after it, with everyone sharing costs.

There will be a local with a boat willing to take y'all if his gas is paid!

 

What is the MPG a good boat get? How much should I expect to pay.

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Post a note to your local forums and try to get a group together to go after it, with everyone sharing costs.

There will be a local with a boat willing to take y'all if his gas is paid!

 

What is the MPG a good boat get? How much should I expect to pay.

 

I've taken our little runabout out 30 miles off the Gulf coast here and it really didn't cost all that much. Outboards tend to use more but 13 miles isn't all that far. I would think that twenty bucks would get r done using a smaller rig, with say a 150 hp or smaller engine.

 

This sounds like an excellent adventure so i say post in the forums, send out emails to some of the locals, and start working on a plan for going. I'm thinking like Alabama Rambler in that you will most certainly stir up some interest if you do that. I know we would love to go out there if we lived closer!

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Post a note to your local forums and try to get a group together to go after it, with everyone sharing costs.

There will be a local with a boat willing to take y'all if his gas is paid!

 

What is the MPG a good boat get? How much should I expect to pay.

Cover the owner's gas to and from the boat launch (~15 mpg for most tow vehicles) and launch fees (~$5.00).

 

A 20' Boston Whaler with a Mercury 150 will consume around 8 gallons of gas and 1 quart of oil per hour at ~25 mph cruise speed. Inboard engines drink slightly less. Twin outboards you need a bank loan to feed.

 

Such a boat will carry 7 comfortably, so six cachers and the owner.

 

A couple cases of beer (required!), ice and perhaps bait and you are good to go.

 

Split six ways you can have a great day on the water for under $20 each.

 

If you can't pony up $20. this probably isn't the cache for you!

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The winds and the currents are tough in this area. 13 miles one-way in a kayak going downriver with a current helping you is a good day's trip. 26 miles? With a possible adverse current both ways? With clocking winds? There's no way this is a safe day trip in a kayak unless you're an expert and are extremely lucky.

 

However... S is from Surfside Beach. We'll be there tons this Summer. And last but not least, I'm an extreme mooch! We'll be there in 2 weeks, but won't have time. However, I'll try to contact my friends there and see if any of them'll do the run for gas, which is extremely likely. That's a fun run in a boat with a motor.

 

- T of TandS

Edited by tands
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The winds and the currents are tough in this area. 13 miles one-way in a kayak going downriver with a current helping you is a good day's trip. 26 miles? With a possible adverse current both ways? With clocking winds? There's no way this is a safe day trip in a kayak unless you're an expert and are extremely lucky. . .

- T of TandS

I must agree whole-heartedly with tands's assessment, and would wish to stress that you would need to be a very experienced kayaker and be not only wearing a PFD but also several layers of "dry" clothing for coldwater protection in the event of a long immersion.

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I hear the new Garmin Etrex Vista CXXXX Deluxe will have an optional "teleport to waypoint" feature.

 

They say it'll be really hard on the AA batteries, though. The first beta tester was using a pair of old Evereadys and only managed to teleport his pants to the cache site.

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I hear the new Garmin Etrex Vista CXXXX Deluxe will have an optional "teleport to waypoint" feature.

 

They say it'll be really hard on the AA batteries, though. The first beta tester was using a pair of old Evereadys and only managed to teleport his pants to the cache site.

 

I'll just hook it up to an AC source...and then swim back...

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