Caching while cruising

[+Jdakj]

We're leaving for a Caribbean cruise next month. Is there anything I need to do to my GPS to make it work on the other side of the country? My husband tried using it while he was in Hong Kong and couldn't get reception - something maybe about we have a North America GPS or something? We're using a Garmin GPSmap 60C

 

Thanks for any help and advise!

D of JDAKJ

[+briansnat]

You should be able to use your GPS anywhere. You may not have maps, but you will get reception - eventually. It could take a long time and you may have to help it along by telling it your location, but you will get reception.

 

Your husband should have had reception in Hong Kong. He probably just didn't wait long enough, or the tall buildings were affecting it (or both).

[+StarBrand]

You should give the GPSr a good 20 to 30 minutes to get a god fix if it has been off and moved more than 700 miles or so.

[vtmtnman]

You should give the GPSr a good 20 to 30 minutes to get a god fix if it has been off and moved more than 700 miles or so.

This is true.I bought my GPS V in Iraq,and the first time I turned it on it took FOREVER to get a signal...but it did.Now it only takes like 10 seconds in a clear sky view.

[+EEeee!]

On some units you can help the process along by zooming way out and moving the arrow to your new location on the globe. That helps the GPS figure out which satellites it should be looking for and gets you going much more quickly.

 

I did this on my GPS Map 60 when I went to England and it worked like a charm.

[+Jdakj]

Thanks everyone for the advise! Now I'm really looking forward to our vacation!

[+Prime Suspect]

And Off Topic (or maybe not), you might want to start using the term "taking a cruise" instead of "cruising".

[+blindleader]

Don't wait twenty or thirty minutes for the unit to find itself. When you turn it on in the new location, page through to the satellite screen, press [menu] and select [new location]. I don't know how long the auto choice takes, but the map selection should be obvious.

[TheTodds]

Awesome! Going on a cruise and caching! Sounds like so much fun, enjoy yourselves! My husband and I honeymooned about a month ago on the Caribbean Princess before we got into geocaching and I'm almost certain we missed out on some awesome ones in some of the more touristy places. Happy Caching!

[+Stripes17]

We're leaving for a Caribbean cruise next month.

Where are you cruising to? We can help give you some waypoints to use a "base" to search for others.

[+Trucker Lee]

Be sure to take a couple or few travel bugs with you. I have gotten great miles on two of mine from folks on a cruise , This one went to Hawaii, and this one to Bora Bora, French Polynesia. And don't be afraid to leave one behind if it's mission takes it overseas, folks from all over come to the Caribean as well.

 

Have fun, and be safe.

[ISUDogCachers]

Hello -

This is a little off-topic as well. We're new and just got back from a cruise to Alaska where we did a little caching.

 

My suggestions include making sure you allow enough time to find the cache - we had much less time to cache than what I was hoping for!

 

I also would recommend taking a travel bug to drop on your trip. Log it someplace near your home first so you get the miles from home to your trip, then see where it goes! If you do take a bug, or pick up a bug or coin, make sure you have internet access soon after. I dropped my bug in a place and someone had already picked it up and moved it along before I got back home to log him.

 

If you are just visiting a cache and not dropping any TBs, you might want to make sure you take good notes. Since I didn't log my visits until several days after visiting and much happened in between, I was wishing for better notes when I logged my visits.

 

Have fun!!!

[+laughingcat]

We're leaving for a Caribbean cruise next month. Is there anything I need to do to my GPS to make it work on the other side of the country? My husband tried using it while he was in Hong Kong and couldn't get reception - something maybe about we have a North America GPS or something? We're using a Garmin GPSmap 60C

 

Thanks for any help and advise!

D of JDAKJ

 

Stand up there at the top deck near their satellite receiver (whatever you call that thing) and MAN you'll be amazed at how fast your GPSr will lock on.. There is zero wait time.

 

No problem in the islands that I recall, at all.

 

And you can track ship speed, etc etc.

 

It's fun!

[+Alan2]

Take a DVD of Alfred Hitchcock's movie Lifeboat, a WWII B&W taut movie about 6 Allied survivors of a U-boat torpedo sinking that wind up with the capitan of the U-boat aboard after the sub sinks too. What will make it appropos to your cruise is that while you have a GPS telling you exact direction and speed , they were all drifting around the ocean, slowly dying, while trying to figure out their bearing to safety. There's a very interesting navigation twist that I won't tell you about though so not to spoil it, but I can't of a better place to watch this movie than with your method of travel. :

 

Bon voyage!

Edited June 19, 2007 by Alan2

[+Whittling Fisher]

There is a website to help you find some caches along some of the more popular cruise destinations - <http://www.geocachingcruises.com/index.html>.

 

When we went to Mexico I usually just turned the GPS on once in the morning and once at night to let it get a position fix while we were out in open water heading to a port. It helps to let the GPS know where it is at and will lessen the time to get a fix once you arrive at the port. It is also neat to plot the points from each morning and night to see where the cruise ship actually was and a rough route that it took.

 

Have fun on your crusie and while caching.

[+GeoCacheCruiser]

I've geocached on the last 3 cruises I've been on (Bermuda, Bahamas & Mexico). It's a great way to do your own "shore excursion" and get off the beaten path and away from the tourists traps.

[+Wheeler Dealers]

We are considering putting together a cruise and are wondering what others think. The cruise is a repostioning cruise that runs only twice a year getting ships from Mexico to Alaska and Alaska to Mexico.

The ports we are interested in are San Diego, Catalina Island, San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria and ending in Vancouver, BC. All the ports will be easy to do geocaching from and car (van) rentals will be easy for groups to geocache if they would like. As a geocacher from SoCA if also will be airfare one way and that will make the cruise affordable and all of the ports will have plenty of caches in the areas to find. So what do you think? Does geocaching and cruising go together?

[+torossi]

I was recently on a cruise and cached at all the ports of call! No problem with the GPSr. It was great for my daughter and I, as we would go up top at least twice a day to get a location fix for the ship and plot or location on the map on the GPSr.

 

Have fun and lots of luck hunting.