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collecting countries


terratin

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4 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

Good idea.  Switzerland is relatively easy to get to with Zurich and Geneva being fairly busy airports for a layover.  I also  got a work related invite to travel to Europe for a week in July, but it's to the UK (Sheffield), which coincidentally is the last European country I added to  my map.  It's also my first international trip this year.   Depending on how the proposal goes I may be starting on another project later this year that has three trips to South Africa and/or Uganda over the next three years written into the contract.  South Africa would not be a new country (I"ve been there 3 times) but Uganda would and I could probably squeeze in a side trip to Botswana.

 

Yeah, I have these weird arbitrary caching rules. One of them is to not find a cache in a new country by just nipping over the border, and then back again without actually seeing anything there. I'd like to do some hiking in Switzerland. And lets be honest: Switzerland is not vanishing soon, thus there's no need to hurry.

 

I'm actually surprised you're still missing the UK!

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2 hours ago, hzoi said:

 

Great location.  We drove to it, but Google maps claims that the #22 bus stops at the parking lot nearby.

 

My log says,

 

 

but that was 11 years ago, so I don't have any tips on what way to go or not.  With 1370 finds, though, I imagine there is a well beaten geotrail by now.  At least 1,000 of those finds are subsequent to our visit.

 

GCRWKT is a nice spot.  We managed to catch it at the end of the rainbow, which was nice.

 

f4abc74e-0b48-4d70-8058-49b63dac5321.jpg

 

Nice! I also added this one to my list. 
With a bit of luck I'll be able to get 7 different cache types if I feel like doing a reverse Wherigo. But lets see about that. I didn't feel like doing all cache types in Helsinki recently either.

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25 minutes ago, terratin said:

 

Yeah, I have these weird arbitrary caching rules. One of them is to not find a cache in a new country by just nipping over the border, and then back again without actually seeing anything there. I'd like to do some hiking in Switzerland. And lets be honest: Switzerland is not vanishing soon, thus there's no need to hurry.

 

I'm actually surprised you're still missing the UK!

 

I got the UK last year when I schedule a day and a half layover in London on the way home from Belgium.   The trip to Sheffield will be a return visit to the UK.  It's even stranger that I have yet to find a cache in Canada, especially as I live about 3 hours from the border.   Switzerland was actually the first country I ever visited in Europe (a couple of years before I started caching).  I flew into Geneva, then took the bus to Chamonix for some skiing (and missed the bus back to Geneva), then after a couple of days of meetings, took the train to Milan, then to Rome for a couple of more meetings.  I also really enjoyed caching in Zurich though as I was able to attend a WWFM (that almost qualified as a mega), find a variety of cache types, then attend another event in the evening.   I didn't get back to my hotel until midnight and flew to Tanzania the next day.

 

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We recently got Country #15 on our current visit to Morocco. Definitely not a huge amount of caches in Marrakech but like anywhere else I am simply thankful there is any to find. 

 

We fly to London next week (GB being another new country for us) and then have roughly a month before our cruise from Dover to Australia. Been trying to drum up interest on the ship for geocaching partners.

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On ‎5‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 3:28 PM, STNolan said:

 

I definitely had Liard Hot Springs on the list. I think we also are going to take some time in Carcross to see the "World's Smallest Desert" as well too.

 

Both sites are interesting stops, we did them a few years ago.

 

If you like waterfalls, GCGT3A (now archived) will lead you one, GCPEXJ will guide you to another, and farther south along the Highway 1 is Takakkaw Falls (in BC just before Alberta) about 1200 feet high (third highest in Canada).

 

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14 minutes ago, terratin said:

Liechtenstein is on my geomap now, with 10 caches :) Not that you can see it as it's such a tiny fleck of land.. Winning caches: Liechtenstein's First (fantastic views and great drive into the mountains) and a multi at a Roman villa

 

Viewing some of the smaller countries on a map can be difficult.  I haven't been able to tell, just looking at the map, that I've found caches in Singapore.  I've got Vatican City State and Luxembourg and would like to get Liechtenstein, Andorra, and San Marino....then work on eastern Europe.    I keep telling my wife we should visit Croatia (where her family is from) but so far she hasn't been convinced.  

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3 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

Viewing some of the smaller countries on a map can be difficult.  I haven't been able to tell, just looking at the map, that I've found caches in Singapore.  I've got Vatican City State and Luxembourg and would like to get Liechtenstein, Andorra, and San Marino....then work on eastern Europe.    I keep telling my wife we should visit Croatia (where her family is from) but so far she hasn't been convinced.  

Apparently Slovenia is accessible by Venice on the train - which is, in turn, accessible from Paris by train. Once you're in Ljubljana it's, apparently, easy enough to get into Croatia by train...

I'm thinking "second honeymoon". Paris, Venice and then "a few other places" whilst we're in Europe, honey...

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26 minutes ago, Blue Square Thing said:

Apparently Slovenia is accessible by Venice on the train - which is, in turn, accessible from Paris by train. Once you're in Ljubljana it's, apparently, easy enough to get into Croatia by train...

I'm thinking "second honeymoon". Paris, Venice and then "a few other places" whilst we're in Europe, honey...

 

I'd looked at the possibility of taking the train to Croatia from Venice a couple of years ago.   I was planning a trip to Rome and saw that airfare at the time was actually less to Venice than to Rome.   I've heard Trieste is very nice and easy to get to by train from Venice and it's less than 2 hours from Trieste to  Porec, Croatia.   There's also a ferry that goes from Venice to Pula that takes a little over 3 hours.  

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54 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

I'd looked at the possibility of taking the train to Croatia from Venice a couple of years ago.   I was planning a trip to Rome and saw that airfare at the time was actually less to Venice than to Rome.   I've heard Trieste is very nice and easy to get to by train from Venice and it's less than 2 hours from Trieste to  Porec, Croatia.   There's also a ferry that goes from Venice to Pula that takes a little over 3 hours.  

Ferry then - a boat ride in Venice. Who could resist?

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On 5/30/2019 at 7:10 AM, terratin said:

 

Oh nice! I'll put this one in my list of caches to do! Perfect.

 

I heard Liechtenstein's first is nice for the location and not far from a parking place. But it does require a car.

Yes it's a great spot with an awesome view over the valley.  Been there twice.

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11 hours ago, colleda said:

Would could resist being run down by a cruise ship?:lol: Is there anywhere safe anymore?:(

 

Yeah, when I was in Helsinki there was a constant hum of cruise ships in the harbour during daytime that could be heard through most of the city centre. Terrible. I'm not a fan of cruises.

 

Tiny countries I have so far: Luxemburg, Malta, Vatican, Liechtenstein, Aland, Faroer. Many flecks of land that are hardly visible :laughing:

Edited by terratin
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4 hours ago, terratin said:

 

Yeah, when I was in Helsinki there was a constant hum of cruise ships in the harbour during daytime that could be heard through most of the city centre. Terrible. I'm not a fan of cruises.

 

Tiny countries I have so far: Luxemburg, Malta, Vatican, Liechtenstein, Aland, Faroer. Many flecks of land that are hardly visible :laughing:

Yes, they recently re-carpeted Liechtenstein...

 

In the last 5 weeks I've added Greece (country #12, furthest east) and 4 Spanish provinces / regions taking me to 6/19; next week all being well I'll get a new Welsh county... all in work time! Don't tell anyone!!!

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Probably no new countries for us anymore this year. If we would have started geocaching sooner we would have Malta, Faroer, Andorra, Monaco, Svalbard, Gibraltar and most of the Spanish provinces... oh well... Svalbard is still a place to re-visit, maybe around the equinox for best aurora opportunities. On the plus side, we might bag a bunch of new prefectures later this year as we will make our tour around part of Japan North of Tokyo. Having a rental car will make us more flexible than last time when we traveled by trains and buses. We transfer planes in Helsinki but will not have time to "step outside" for a find in Finland. A 3rd real visit there is probably not going to happen.

We still have a (short) list of citytrips we want to do in countries we haven't been too after we started geocaching (Praque, St. Petersburg and Dublin) spring to mind.

 

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19 hours ago, on4bam said:

We transfer planes in Helsinki but will not have time to "step outside" for a find in Finland.

 

When I last went through there was a puzzle cache that that was practically inside the terminal and one just outside that wasn't more than a couple hundred feet from the entrance of the terminal.  

 

It doesn't look like I'll add any countries this year either, unless I get creative with an itinerary on a trip to the UK next month.

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Well I have a suggestion for y'all to grab a new country next year, in fact maybe a couple. Come on down to NZ Mega 2020, which will be in October next year. Amongst many other highlights, you can pay homage to the very first cache hidden outside of the US, and if you swung by Sydney, Australia, you could visit the oldest active outside the US. I'd be stoked to host a country collector sub-event as part of the program :)

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15 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

Well I have a suggestion for y'all to grab a new country next year, in fact maybe a couple. Come on down to NZ Mega 2020, which will be in October next year. Amongst many other highlights, you can pay homage to the very first cache hidden outside of the US, and if you swung by Sydney, Australia, you could visit the oldest active outside the US. I'd be stoked to host a country collector sub-event as part of the program :)

 

Uh... this might just be a bit too much of a trip to be honest :(

Mind you, when I was in Indonesia a few years ago, travelling from the Middle East, I realized too late how close Northern Australia was.

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16 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

Well I have a suggestion for y'all to grab a new country next year, in fact maybe a couple. Come on down to NZ Mega 2020, which will be in October next year. Amongst many other highlights, you can pay homage to the very first cache hidden outside of the US, and if you swung by Sydney, Australia, you could visit the oldest active outside the US. I'd be stoked to host a country collector sub-event as part of the program :)

 

Nope.. no new countries. Crossed NZ from Stirling Point (near Invercargill) on the S. Island to Cape Reigna (N. Island) already. WA, VIC, TAS, NT have been toured while geocaching too leaving NSW that was visited Sydney to Cairns before we started geocaching and ACT that we have not yet visited. In any case, no new countries "down under".

"Oldies" are becoming a problem with the only realistic goal for us being GC43 (in Ireland).

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17 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

Well I have a suggestion for y'all to grab a new country next year, in fact maybe a couple. Come on down to NZ Mega 2020, which will be in October next year. Amongst many other highlights, you can pay homage to the very first cache hidden outside of the US, and if you swung by Sydney, Australia, you could visit the oldest active outside the US. I'd be stoked to host a country collector sub-event as part of the program :)

 

I'd love to and I was looking at various itineraries that would have included a visit to Australia (Brisbane) and New Zealand when there was a conference that I was hoping to attend a couple of years ago.   Alas, I couldn't get funding so I'll have to find another way to get there.  Not only would be a new country, but I would add a new continent as well and then I'd *have* to find a way to get to South America so that I only had Antarctica remaining.

 

 

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On 6/4/2019 at 4:13 PM, Oxford Stone said:

In the last 5 weeks I've added Greece (country #12, furthest east) and 4 Spanish provinces / regions taking me to 6/19; next week all being well I'll get a new Welsh county... all in work time! Don't tell anyone!!!

Yup I got my Welsh county - a rural one that takes up about 1/4 of the area of Wales, so it looks good on a map.

Next sales conference, in August, is... back in Athens! I might improve my furthest east by about 300 metres!!! Outside chance of getting to Luxembourg for work in September, and maybe one or two more Spanish provinces.

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I’m looking for someone that was awarded one of the virtual cache opportunities lately to place a cache in North Korea. There are currently no caches in that country and really only one place to put one. A traditional cache is obviously not an option and a virtual at the Neutal Zone at Panmunjeom is. The site was recently on the news as President Trump crossed over the line into North Korea for a few minutes. The location is accessible while on a prearranged tour. A virtual cache with the only requirement being a photo of the finder “across the line” would be a great opportunity for someone out there. If you folks know anyone that has one of these recently awarded virtual slots and they don’t know where to place it....

Thanks. 

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1 hour ago, Peasinapod said:

I’m looking for someone that was awarded one of the virtual cache opportunities lately to place a cache in North Korea. There are currently no caches in that country and really only one place to put one. A traditional cache is obviously not an option and a virtual at the Neutal Zone at Panmunjeom is. The site was recently on the news as President Trump crossed over the line into North Korea for a few minutes. The location is accessible while on a prearranged tour. A virtual cache with the only requirement being a photo of the finder “across the line” would be a great opportunity for someone out there. If you folks know anyone that has one of these recently awarded virtual slots and they don’t know where to place it....

Thanks. 

If one of those folks who was awarded a new Virtual and hasn't placed it yet visits that location and obtains adequate permission, maybe it could happen.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

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5 hours ago, Peasinapod said:

I’m looking for someone that was awarded one of the virtual cache opportunities lately to place a cache in North Korea. There are currently no caches in that country and really only one place to put one. A traditional cache is obviously not an option and a virtual at the Neutal Zone at Panmunjeom is. The site was recently on the news as President Trump crossed over the line into North Korea for a few minutes. The location is accessible while on a prearranged tour. A virtual cache with the only requirement being a photo of the finder “across the line” would be a great opportunity for someone out there. If you folks know anyone that has one of these recently awarded virtual slots and they don’t know where to place it....

Thanks. 

Please see this Regional Policy:  https://wiki.Groundspeak.com/display/GEO/North+Korea

Edited by VAVAPAM
semantics
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On 7/8/2019 at 11:14 AM, Oxford Stone said:

Yup I got my Welsh county - a rural one that takes up about 1/4 of the area of Wales, so it looks good on a map.

Next sales conference, in August, is... back in Athens! I might improve my furthest east by about 300 metres!!! Outside chance of getting to Luxembourg for work in September, and maybe one or two more Spanish provinces.

I'll probably get a new region in the UK on the project-gc maps next week when I spend a week in Sheffield.  Coincidentally my last new country was the UK, and it took 30 countries before I finally got one there during a scheduled layover in London last year.  I did an overnight stay in Ettelbruck, Luxumbourg last summer was well during a 10 day trip to Belgium.  Athens has been on my list for a possible layover city for sometime but I haven't managed to get there yet.  I've got finds in a bunch of places further east though (the furthest is in Narita, Japan)

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9 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

 

Interesting that...  GPS units are (or at least were) illegal in Cuba, along with the restrictions on US citizens travelling there (only recently relaxed),  geocaching was never banned there...

 

Specifically, GPS receivers can not be brought into the country but  US citizens or anyone else.  Bringing in a cell phone that has a GPS chip in it isn't questioned, and smart phone use by Cubans is actually quite high considering their network infrastructure.  The number of caches in Cuba has hovered around 100 for the past few years, though I doubt that most of them could demonstrate the use of a GPS as integral to hiding and finding the cache.  Pretty much all listings have spoiler photos or text.

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3 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

Specifically, GPS receivers can not be brought into the country but  US citizens or anyone else.  Bringing in a cell phone that has a GPS chip in it isn't questioned, and smart phone use by Cubans is actually quite high considering their network infrastructure.  The number of caches in Cuba has hovered around 100 for the past few years, though I doubt that most of them could demonstrate the use of a GPS as integral to hiding and finding the cache.  Pretty much all listings have spoiler photos or text.

I find at least 80% of the caches I look for without a GPS anyway - really, it's barely a requirement at all if I'm not deep in a forest. I do have to plan ahead of course.

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3 minutes ago, Blue Square Thing said:

I find at least 80% of the caches I look for without a GPS anyway - really, it's barely a requirement at all if I'm not deep in a forest. I do have to plan ahead of course.

 

I DNFd a cache in Cuba where, not having accurate GPS coordinates made all the difference.  It was (assuming it was there) located along a long metal fence with tons of potential hiding spots.  The cache page had a photo of a building from where the cache was hidden that would have really helped, but geocaching apps that save caches offline don't save images in the photo gallery.  If I had planned ahead and printed off a copy of the cache page, with the photo, I probably would have found the cache.

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12 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 but geocaching apps that save caches offline don't save images in the photo gallery.

Wrong. GDAK can display log/cache images for offline use if you have downloaded (grabbed) them in GSAK and transferred the database to your android device.

 

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42 minutes ago, on4bam said:

Wrong. GDAK can display log/cache images for offline use if you have downloaded (grabbed) them in GSAK and transferred the database to your android device.

 

 

So there's one platform specific app, that has a dependency on another 3rd party app, that, unless one jumps through a lot of hoops, only runs on a PC.   iPhone users can't run GDAK. Sure, it's possible to  run GSAK on a Mac but I've tried it and it's a big pain.   For practical purposes, one exception doesn't disprove what I wrote.  

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9 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 For practical purposes, one exception doesn't disprove what I wrote.  

It does. You wrote that geocaches can't save gallery images, I gave one instance where they can. Besides, even without GSAK to grab images GDAK can get them after a refresh of a cache. So all you need is Android and GDAK on it. Doing it with GSAK just makes sure you don't need expensive data if getting 100's or 100's of images.

 

There, I made it easier ;)

 

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20 hours ago, on4bam said:

It does. You wrote that geocaches can't save gallery images, I gave one instance where they can. Besides, even without GSAK to grab images GDAK can get them after a refresh of a cache. So all you need is Android and GDAK on it. Doing it with GSAK just makes sure you don't need expensive data if getting 100's or 100's of images.

 

There, I made it easier ;)

 

 

"So all you need is Android".   That might not seem like an issue for someone that *has* an Android.   While Android holds a larger market share worldwide,  Apple still has a 40% marketshare in the U.S.   That is a significant percentage of possible users that are unlikely going to out and buy a Android phone just so that they can download images using a 3rd party app.  Smartphones are on an inexpensive item.   It would not be practical for an iPhone user to buy an Android phone just so that they can used GDAK.  I stand by what I wrote.

 

BTW, I've geocached in Cuba and been there twice.   A "refresh of the cache" isn't something easily done there either.  

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1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

"So all you need is Android".   That might not seem like an issue for someone that *has* an Android.   While Android holds a larger market share worldwide,  Apple still has a 40% marketshare in the U.S.   That is a significant percentage of possible users that are unlikely going to out and buy a Android phone just so that they can download images using a 3rd party app.  Smartphones are on an inexpensive item.   It would not be practical for an iPhone user to buy an Android phone just so that they can used GDAK.  I stand by what I wrote.

 

BTW, I've geocached in Cuba and been there twice.   A "refresh of the cache" isn't something easily done there either.  

 

There's still a lot of arguments to be found for "no gallery images".  Counterargument: it CAN be done and it can be done with the majority (you say apple only accounts for 40% in the US) of smartphones. I could even do it years ago on an old Windows mobile 6.5 phone with GCscout.

Refresh can be done anywhere, even at home before leaving on holiday so the Cuba argument isn't really an issue (unless your there with your Iphone :ph34r:).  There were plenty of times we had no service on holiday, leave any city in Argentina, drive the Australian outback or even just some out of the way location and even along main New Zealand highways. As with anything, prepare for what you want to do, the tools are there and as you said, you can even print to paper (I prefer to have most cache info I think I may need as files in a special directory).

 

 

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9 hours ago, DerDiedler said:

Yehawwww, I just claimed Russia. That´s a huge chunk of the map coloured.

The next huge chunk will be Canada in about 8 weeks :D

Congrats. I didn't start geocaching until 6 months after my last Russian tour which also included Mongolia. I don't know if I'll get back there but there's always the possibility of doing a cruise that takes in Vladivostok.

Canada is HUGE, huger than Australia. I'm in the process of booking another tour there next June. I missed a couple of provinces last time due to our GPSrs being in luggage that was delayed at Ft Worth and didn't catch us up until Whistler, four days later.

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In the last week or so we have added 3 more countries ( Curaçao, Panama, and Costa Rica). Strangely enough, none of them appear on the maps of the statistics page. I was never sure if Central America had a section or not. In

a couple days time we will cruise into Ecuador but unfortunately it

looks like caches are quite few and far between anywhere near Manta. First South American find might have to wait for Peru.

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Da Wards said:

In the last week or so we have added 3 more countries ( Curaçao, Panama, and Costa Rica). Strangely enough, none of them appear on the maps of the statistics page. I was never sure if Central America had a section or not.

 

Although Central America and the Caribbean is well defined, for mapping purposes they're often included as part of North America.  Even the superior project-gc maps have those countries as part of North America.  I've got Costa Rica and Cuba in Central America/Caribbean and only had a short layover in Panama airport so didn't get a chance to look for a cache.  

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13 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

Although Central America and the Caribbean is well defined, for mapping purposes they're often included as part of North America.  Even the superior project-gc maps have those countries as part of North America.  I've got Costa Rica and Cuba in Central America/Caribbean and only had a short layover in Panama airport so didn't get a chance to look for a cache.  

I got one in Panama and it's part of N. America. The ones I got for Columbia show correctly as S. America

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On 8/2/2019 at 6:39 PM, colleda said:

I got one in Panama and it's part of N. America. The ones I got for Columbia show correctly as S. America

 

Interesting! I haven’t thought to look on Project-gc yet. I imagine they should show up fine there.

 

Today was a big relief as we found 4 in Lima, Peru. Manta, Ecuador didn’t have a cache within 50 kms so we were shut out there and Salaverry, Peru was even worse! Our only other opportunity for South America will be Easter Island and heaven knows if the seas will be calm enough for a tender to reach the Island. ?

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7 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

 

Only 50kms?  Commitment!!! ;)

 

https://coord.info/GL3WK7WH

 

Lol! Now that sounds like fun! I need to step up my game or at least travel to more exotic locations. I have to admit when they cancelled Easter Island on us today I was tempted to grab the cabin’s life jackets and take my chances on a solo swim. :p

Those earthcaches aren’t going to find themselves!

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26 minutes ago, Da Wards said:

 

Lol! Now that sounds like fun! I need to step up my game or at least travel to more exotic locations. I have to admit when they cancelled Easter Island on us today I was tempted to grab the cabin’s life jackets and take my chances on a solo swim. :p

Those earthcaches aren’t going to find themselves!

 

That, for me, is one of the strongest attractions in the game; to find caches in exotic, or just off the beaten track locations.   For me, there just isn't anything special about finding a cache, knowing that there is another one almost exactly like it, just over 500 feet away.  

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