Treasure Hunting in Paradise (Lost) By Deborah Holland
Never heard of geocaching? Pronounced geo-cashing— as in cashing a check— geocaching is an entertaining world-wide treasure hunt game utilizing the features available on a GPS unit. Something most sailors already have. It is also a great way to get to out-of-the-way places you might not otherwise trek to while out cruising.
T
he idea of geocaching is for individuals to set up and hide caches (little treasures) all over the world and post the locations and coordinates of the caches on a designated Internet web site (www.geocaching. com). There is no cost to participate and exhilarating fun when you find one. Once found, a cache may include a host of treasures. The only rule is if you take something from it, you must replace it with something else. On a recent bare-boat charter to the BVIs with a group of friends, thoughts of buried pirate treasures inspired us to test our treasure hunting skills on the island of Jost Van Dyke. It sounds like it should be pretty easy. After all, you know the general location of the cache and you have the GPS coordinates. Should be a snap. 78 August 2009
SOUTHWINDS
Turns out for our particular hunt, we were anchored in the wrong bay at Jost Van Dyke. So, from Great Bay we trudged up the hill—no, make that mountain for us flatlanders—to White Bay in search of our treasure. The hot sweaty climb in the Caribbean summer heat gave us some slight concerns of impending heart attacks. But, we took comfort in knowing that once we got to the top, we couldn’t possibly have any left over toxins from the previous nights’ rum consumption. After trekking through someone’s private bungalow path and down the pristine beach, we located Ivan’s Stress Free Bar at White Bay. It’s an amazing place covered in shell decorations of every sort, from floor to ceiling and everywhere in between. The beautiful shell mermaid with
beckoning arms and complete with brain coral head topped by floppy hat, spiral shell belly button, and coral fingers welcomed us into Ivan’s. Once inside, we found the wedding shell plaque (a treasure finding hint given on the geocache Web site) and the hunt was really underway. But, after some time searching and double checking the coordinates, the geocache eluded us, reminding us that geocaching is deceptively easy. It is one thing to know where a cache should be. It is something else to actually find it! Luckily, the views from the hillside to serene White Bay—and our discovering a bay and beach we might not have otherwise explored—made all our efforts well worth it. Happy treasure hunting. www.southwindsmagazine.com