This is the first of a series of blog posts that will shine a spotlight on the people of Geocaching HQ. We hope to show you the “geo-who” behind the “geo-what”. 🙂
What is your name? Laura
Yeah, but what’s your Username? cruisinhughesin
“I like to cruise around in a DIY camper van my boyfriend and I created.”
How did you come up with your username? It was actually a name given to me! I like to cruise around in a DIY camper van my boyfriend and I created—it’s a great way to explore new places. 🙂
What is your job title? HR Manager
Yes it’s true—our HR crew may definitely contain awesome.
What does your job title actually mean? In other words, how do you explain what you do to someone that has no idea what you do? I lead our HR team at Geocaching HQ, which includes managing our recruiting efforts, benefits, and professional development, among many other things. Essentially, I spend my time ensuring that we provide everyone who works at Geocaching HQ with the things they need to be happy and effective. At a company like ours—where we literally play where we work—it’s a delight to be in this role!
Sometimes finding a geocache is a real stretch!
Tell us about your geocaching style (exotic locations / quality over quantity)?Over time I’ve learned that I’m definitely a social geocacher! I like to be out with friends when we’re looking to earn smileys. If we’re having fun and looking for geocaches, it doesn’t matter how many we find most of the time.
What’s something that surprises you about geocaching – whether it’s the game itself, working at headquarters, or anything else? I was surprised to find out that Signal the Frog is actually an epic dancer!
Always bring a pen!
What’s the best piece of geocaching advice or information you ever learned? It’s basic but a tried-and-true piece of advice—always, always bring a pen.
This traditional cache is located on Oahu’s North Shore at Laniakea Beach, a well known surf spot where the swells are big. The beach is beyond beautiful, and the geocache usually has a good number of trackables inside that have traveled from near and far since Hawaii is a mecca for international tourists and geocachers.
But the magical part of this geocaching experience is the high likelihood of encountering a green sea turtle, or “honu” as they are known in Hawaii. The turtles often come to the shore to feed on seaweed growing on the rocks, or since they are cold-blooded, will come onto the beach to warm themselves in the sun.
Encountering a honu is considered “good mana”, or good energy, by Hawaiians. If you see a honu, will you chances of finding this geocache increase?
What geocachers have to say:
“We loved this place. We saw a number of sea turtles coming up to the shore. Many people were snorkeling to see the turtles better. If it was not for this cache, we probably would never have seen this beach.” –SP4FUN
“Wow! What a great view at this cache site. Wes-rx and I wanted to make it up to Turtle Beach and discover the north shore of Oahu, and we were not disappointed. Lots of turtles just a few feet out in the water, so plenty of excitement to distract the muggles. TFTC!” –pharmanimal2016
“What a beautiful place for a geocache! We arrived at a fortunate time. There were 2 sea turtles sunning on the beach and at least 2 more out in the surf. Kudos to the volunteers who care for the area and keep us people from disturbing the turtles.” –MuStash
What the Cache Owner has to say:
We’ve contacted the cache owner, GeoGerms, to let him know his geocache is being featured as Geocache of the Week. He was very excited, but also busy. He is helping with the dengue virus outbreak on the Big Island of Hawaii. He’s an avid geocacher with over 4,700 finds, but hasn’t had time to geocache since fall of 2015. His profile states, “GeoGerms is a tad busy right now helping with the dengue virus outbreak currently happening on the Big Island. Sorry about the lapse in cache maintenance and lack of timely responses to your emails. Hope to be back fully caching soon!”
We wish everyone a speedy recovery, and hope you’re back out enjoying your hobby soon, too.
Photos:
The real name for this beach is Laniakea Beach
Turtle TB, meet Turtle
This is a great geocaching experience for kids of all ages
Green sea turtles are federally protected so make sure to stay at least 10 feet away from them
Aloha from Hula Girl TB!
It’s considered good “mana” or good energy to encounter a honu
Going back out to the ocean
Wait! Come back!
Will you be lucky enough to find the cache and see the turtles?
Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.
Locations from all 7 of the Star Wars movies – with geocaches to be found!
Nerds. They’re all around us. Some nerds are into geocaching. Some nerds are into Star Wars. And some nerds are into both. A quick Google search for, “geocaching Star Wars” returns multiple interstellar geocaches, bookmark lists, blogs, vlogs, Trackables, and just about anything. Here are seven geocaches you can visit near filming locations—one for each episode of the series.
1. Episode I: The Phantom Menace Royal Palace of Caserta, Caserta, Italy Interior of the Queen Amidala’s Palace, Naboo
cache raggia A (GC2FFMD)
The interior shots of Queen Amidala’s palace were done at The Royal Palace of Caserta in Caserta, Italy. The construction of the Baroque palace begun in 1752 for Charles VII of Naples, and has never been fully completed. It is often referred to as the, “Italian Versailles”.
The cache listing page doesn’t give too much information, but many geocachers write wonderful logs after visiting this spectacular location. Said geocacher Mouseblue, “Found whilst visiting the huge palace and beautiful gardens. Immediately recognized where Star Wars and Mission Impossible had been filmed Hired bikes to cycle round the gardens as so big. Watch out for biting bugs at cache site. TFTC”.
2. Episode II: Attack of the Clones Plaza de España, Seville, Spain Exterior of the Queen Amidala’s Palace, Naboo
Plaza de España, Sevilla (GC30564)
The gorgeous exterior of the Plaza de España was used as a backdrop for Queen Amidala’s palace on the planet Naboo. Lush, long, sweeping shots of the two star-crossed lovers spending time together was supposed to make us believe they had fallen in love. Did it work?
Regardless, according to the listing, the area isn’t great for phone reception. For that reason, the cache description page recommends looking at the spoiler photos before you go searching for the cache. But hey, there are way worse places to be stuck with no cell phone coverage.
3. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Mount Etna, Italy
Duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, Mustafar
Etna Vulcanos (GC24JQF)
Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Anakin vs. hot lava… hmmm… I wonder who won? Although Episode III was filmed almost entirely in the studio, many exotic locations were used for background shots and served as inspiration for backdrop artists. Mount Etna’s lava flow gave an Oscar-worthy performance as the planet Mustafar during the light saber duel between the two Jedi.
According to the geocache listing, “Etna is Europe’s highest active volcano and when visiting Sicily you should take the opportunity to visit her. It is an experience to stay clear at the top where the ground is warm and the hiss and smoke from several craters.” No worries about us getting too close!
4. Episode IV: A New Hope Tunisia Spaceport town Mos Eisley, Tatooine
Star Wars cache (GC2FDRQ)
According to Obi-Wan Kenobi, “You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” than this famous of Star Wars filming location. It’s known in geocaching circles too as this geocache was once featured as the Geocache of the Week. The blog post says:
Even without the presence of Tusken Raiders, the journey to this difficulty 1, terrain 5 geocache can be quite treacherous. Geocachers will have to travel through miles of sand dunes to reach the town. However, once you arrive in the town, finding the geocache won’t be too difficult—just make sure to use your cloaking device to prevent muggles from catching on. Geocachers from around the world have traveled to this iconic location to see a piece of galactic history. Geocacher s1las wrote, “My son and me found the force and the Cache…Our first overseas cache its the best yet TFTC.
5. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Finse, Norway
Empire vs. Alliance battle, Hoth
Finse Stasjon (GC1VKKF)
Finse has a wonderful train station, and is now a popular route for summer time bicyclists. But geocachers have claimed this fairly remote location too. You can see evidence of this in the top left photo where someone actually brought Star Wars toys up to Finse and placed them in the snow to hilariously recreate the epic battle scene. This is a fairly quick train n’ grab cache. 😉
6. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Northern California Redwoods, USA Ewok planet Endor
The lush forests of Northern California
There are several locations in Northern California where principle and establishing shots were filmed. Although the original filming location, on Miller-Rellim Redwood Company land, has since be forested, many of the speeder bike chases scenes were filmed in the Avenue of the Giants area about 35 miles southeast of Eureka.
That being the case, the focus here for this episode is on a general area rather than a specific geocache. Prepare to drive, prepare to hike, and prepare to be blown away by the majestic beauty and size of the giant redwood trees.
7. Episode VII: The Force Awakens Skellig Michael, Ireland Luke’s hideaway, Ahch-To
Skellig Michael has an Earthcache (GC4K77T), and a Multi-cache (GC4B2JR)
The Tech Times has an article about this location, saying, “…the setting for Ahch-To is actually Skellig Michael, which is an island just off the coast of Ireland. The ruins there are an ancient monastery where Celtic monks once lived solitary lives, separated from the rest of the world. Strangely enough, this coincides with Luke’s story, who moved there to live the life of a hermit.”
There are actually two geocaches on this remote island—an Earthcache and a Multi-cache. To reach Skellig Michael, you’ll need to hire a licensed boat operator in the area and be prepared for any type of weather and terrain. After all, this is a T 4.5 geocache so it should be difficult but so incredibly worth it!
Have you used the force to find a geocache? Share your story with us in the comments below!
So you got your party hats, noise makers, streamers, balloons, confetti, and champagne all ready to go. You’ve decided which geocaching event to attend, or which geocache to find on December 31 and January 1 to earn your Goodbye 2015 and Hello 2016 souvenirs. But how will you share it with the world?
We got you.
Post your great New Year’s photos to Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram using the hashtag #Geocaching and this downloadable Goodbye 2015 / Hello 2016 template (see photos below). Tell us your favorite memories from 2015 and your geocaching resolutions for 2016. We can hardly wait to see what the New Year brings everyone!
Just for fun, here’s a list of interesting facts about different New Year traditions from around the world:
Samoans used to be the last to ring in the new year, but are now one of the first since the International Date Line was moved in 2011/2012.
Filipinos wear a polka dot dress and eat round fruits (such as grapes) to attract good fortune.
Germans and Austrians pour molten lead in a bowl of water, and the shape determines their fate for the new year.
Americans kiss at the stroke of midnight in the hopes of finding true love.
Geocachers reflect on their accomplishments from 2015, and set their goals for 2016.
What geo-accomplishments were you proud of in 2015? What is your geo-goal for 2016? Share your #Geocaching photos with us!
Any serious geocacher has a treasured list of geocaches they wish to find before they “kick the bucket”, so to speak. We feature an intermittent series dedicated to bucket list geocaches, and today’s theme is beaches.
Time to grab your swimsuit, some flip-flops, and go geocaching! Don’t forget your pen and some sunscreen. 😉
Hired bikes to cycle round the gardens as so big. Watch out for biting bugs at cache site. TFTC”.
