Melville Beach is one of the many public beaches on Mauritius. On
the day I placed this cache, the water was slightly cloudy close to
the shore, and very very shallow for a long way out. The coral reef
started quite a way out and was very patchy. What there was, was in
fair condition. Thus, the cache is fully 1/3 mile from the shore in
about 6 feet of water, when the bottom starts to drop away. The
distance and depth are reflected in the difficulty rating, making
it the most difficult of the series.
Although the coral is patchy, there is plenty of variety.
When you snorkel here, please do not go alone unless you are a
very competent swimmer. Take your time, enjoy the wonderful sights
in the water below you. There are motor boats moored in the
vicinity that were not moved whilst I was there. As you are a small
target when snorkeling. I'd suggest taking a diving float with you,
or failing that, a beach ball tethered to you so that you are more
visible. Don't take anything too large. I made that mistake, taking
my sons' inflatable water toy. I was not tethered to it, it let go
of it for 1 second to get a better hold on it and the wind took it
away faster than I could swim to retrieve it!
I did not see this type of coral anywhere else on
Mauritius
Though GPSr's are mostly rugged waterproof devices, I'd suggest you
test yours in a bucket first, and if there is any leaking around
the battery case seal, pack it with vaseline before attempting this
cache as your GPSr will be in the water a while. Needless to say,
they don't receive signals under water - even a few inches - so
your hunting technique will have to be otter-like. When you get to
GZ, forget the GPSr and go visual!
This coral is very close to the cache location.
The cache is a small waterproof canister with a rubber O-ring.
Inside is a plastic vial with a scew top. Inside that is a tiny
log. Keeping the log dry and signing it whilst lying in the water
is far from trivial so just a distinguishable mark (eg. letter,
symbol) is fine. Please report your mark when logging online, for
subsequent verification. To avoid the need for maintenance visits
due to wet logs, we would be grateful if you could carry a new
spare log with you in case you soak the one that's in place. The
size of paper required is approx 10cm x 3cm, folded, with a
lengthways split up the middle to make it easier to roll up.
The cache is tethered in place to prevent it from being washed
away. It is simply looped through a loop in the end of the tether
so can be removed easily for signing. Simply reattach it to its
tether and place it back where you found it afterwards. Leave the
tether in place to maintain the location.
Note the colour of the tether. There is an onshore cache
"Snorkeler's Reward" (GC174FV) that relies on you gathering
this information!
Please do not attempt to stand on the reef, it is
very fragile. Please do not attempt to retrieve from a boat - you
will probably break the tether and if you try to anchor, your
anchor will probably smash coral and get snagged.
Small note on cache maintenance: kiostang has
offered to assist. Thanks!
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