All the latest news from the world of geocaching.
The People’s Republic of China:
China’s diverse landscapes, rich history, and an abundance of adventures await you. If that’s not enough and you need another reason to visit, we’ve got you covered. You can now earn a geocaching souvenir by finding a geocache or attending an event in China!
Statistically speaking, Singapore ranks as one of the best places on earth to be born, grow up, and die.
Singaporeans can expect to receive a first-class education and have one of the longest life-expectancies in the world. Their city is the hub of Asia’s financial services and high-tech sectors. Most citizens are bilingual; they represent a diverse collection of religions and cultures. And one of their most well-known national icons is a fantastical half lion, half fish hybrid: the Merlion.
But we think the country’s true greatness lies in its geocaches, which are as diverse as its citizens. They range in style and setting from tricky needle-in-a-haystack hides to gorgeous tropical views; from modern architectural creations to rocky seaside traverses. And if that’s not enough incentive to go caching in Singapore, from now on finding a cache there will earn you the Singapore country souvenir.
Read on to learn about five of Singapore’s most noteworthy caches.
GC1HA96 | by Orangefizzy & Buntoro | D1/T1 | Traditional Cache | 497 favorite points
Airport caches are extremely rare, and for good reason. Getting permission from the appropriate authorities is difficult. But geocachers Orangefizzy and Buntoro did just that at Changi International airport in Singapore—they received permission for the cache from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore—and GC1HA96 is the result. The cache is placed in the airport’s special butterfly garden. Dappled with natural sunlight from a huge wall of windows, the garden is filled with over 200 species of tropical plants, 47 species of butterflies, a cascading waterfall, and air so humid you’ll meet your daily drinking water requirement just by standing there and breathing for five minutes.
GC4XC21 | by riskysurv | D2.5/T2 | Mystery Cache | 20 favorite points
To find GC4XC21, you’ll need to pick your way through a series of labyrinthine underground tunnels, but the only equipment required is a computer mouse and cursor. This mystery cache uses Google Maps’ interior “street view” images of the Tiong Bahru Air Raid Shelter to create a fun and unusual puzzle. Click on the link from the cache page and you’ll be plopped down into a Singaporean parking lot…virtually, of course. Then find the open door nearby to Enter the Labyrinth and begin exploring. You’ll need to track down clues hidden within the walls of the shelter in order to answer questions on the cache page and solve for the final coordinates of the cache. It’s a fun puzzle worth working on at home even if you don’t have a trip to Singapore planned…yet.
GC41AV5 | by onehappy & Just1gal | D2.5/T2 | Traditional Cache | 131 favorite points
An exploration of Singapore would not be complete without a visit to Chinatown. While you’re there, make your way up to GC41AV5. From ground zero of this cache, one can gaze down at the terracotta-colored roofs of the main Chinatown shopping area and plazas.The streets below seem busy at almost any time of the day, filled with “street performances, flea markets and lots of good hawker food,” as the cache page states. The view offers a striking visual of the contrast between traditional and modern architecture. And around Chinese New Year, colorful streamers and banners hang suspended over the streets like candy necklaces.
GC1GRJF | Adapted by Orangefizzy and Buntoro | D3/T3 | Multi-Cache | 51 favorite points
Geocachers who eschew crowds of camera-snapping tourists and prefer to delve deeply into the history of a place will likely enjoy the multi-cache GC1GRJF. The cache describes the life of Ah Long, who emigrated from China to Singapore in pursuit of grander opportunities. Although Ah Long himself is fictional, the locations to which stages of this cache lead are very real. At each stage, the listing text paints a picture of what the spot might have looked and felt like to someone like Ah Long from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. This cache fits neatly into the ever-growing category of educational geocaching, or “edu-caching”.
GC2QV9M | by Louise&Lauren | D1.5/T1.5 | Traditional Cache | 40 favorite points
Marina Bay is sensational from any angle. Rimmed with glittering high-rises and swooping bridges, the bay area is the hub of Singapore’s hotel and entertainment industries. The futuristic Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino dominates the skyline to the south, forever deceiving tourists into thinking a cruise ship accidentally docked on some skyscraper roofs. The northern rim of the bay is guarded by a towering white Merlion, who roars out an endless gush of water. And in the middle of it all sits GC2QV9M, shaded by fluffy pink and white bougainvillea bushes. Searching for the cache among the bushes offers a welcome rest for the eyes after the spectacle of Marina Bay, but be warned: spending any amount of time face-first in the foliage is sure to attract attention from tourists and locals alike. Move covertly and replace as found.
Singapore joins Russia, Puerto Rico, and China as the latest geocaching country souvenirs. Souvenirs that are currently available can be found here. See the souvenirs you’ve already earned here. And, if you’ve already found a geocache in Singapore, the souvenir will be retroactively added to your profile soon.
There’s still one more country souvenir left to be revealed! Follow Geocaching on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or check back to the Geocaching Blog to find out which country is next.
A territory of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a paradisal Caribbean destination. Adventure seekers will find it worthwhile to cross crystal blue waters to visit Puerto Rico’s stunning beaches, beautiful mountainous landscapes and one of Puerto Rico’s best-kept secrets: its extensive cave system.
If that’s not enough and you need another reason to visit, we’ve got you covered. You can now earn a geocaching souvenir by finding a geocache or attending an event if Puerto Rico!
When you visit, be sure to meet up with local geocachers. The Puerto Rican geocaching community is famous for its warm hospitality and friendliness to strangers.
Puerto Rico by the numbers:
Here are our 5 bucket list caches in Puerto Rico.
GC1GN4M | by El Surveyor | D3.5/T4.5 | Traditional | 24 favorite points
Hiding this cache required some hard work by the cache owner and friends. A two hour hike takes you to the top of the mountain where you can take in the gorgeous view of the Puerto Rican countryside. You’ll notice an interesting standalone tree that gives this cache its namesake. When you visit this cache, make sure to snap a shot with the Puerto Rican flag as well!
GC2JWTD | by lulusoy | D1.5/T1.5 | Traditional | 73 favorite points
The Cat/Dolphin/Giraffe sculpture at this cache location observes the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista. Alonso Manso, a bishop in San Juan, was responsible for the construction of the San Juan Cathedral in 1521, making it one of the city’s oldest structures. Behind the sculpture, you can find the Museo del Niño (The Children’s Museum), a non-profit organization involved in preserving the island’s cultural heritage and presenting subjects in an interesting way for children.
GC1XB18 | by vocho725 | D2.5/T4.5 | Traditional | 14 favorite points
This cache is located at the entrance to Cueva del Viento in northwest Puerto Rico’s Guajataca Forest. The forest is also the location of Camp Guajataca, the island’s main camping grounds of the Boy Scouts of America. Make sure to bring comfortable shoes, water, and a strong flashlight!
4. Playita Rosada, La Parguera
GC1BBAY | by milton_fmh | D2.5/T4.5 | Multi-cache | 14 favorite points
The Parguera village in Lajas is famous for the beauty of its coral reefs, mangrove islands and channels, and bioluminescent bay. As an ecotourism destination, you can enjoy a simple coastal town where scuba diving, relaxing and swimming all take place. The cache may bring you to Playita Rosada (Pink beach), but the views and warm water will keep you there.
5. Karate Kid
GCXBH7 | by outsidegroup | D2.5/T3.5 | Traditional | 14 favorite points
Located along Road 333, Karate Kid is located on Playa del Tamarindo in Guanica. This area is home to many threatened and endangered species, including the dry forest anole (a type of lizard), the hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles, the Puerto Rican crested toad, the blue-tailed ameiva (another type of lizard), and the brown pelican. Don’t be fooled by the D/T ratings as the 4.8 km (3 mi) round trip and the intense heat and sun make it more challenging. If you enjoy bird watching and staring off into the ocean, this is the cache for you!
We’ll unveil one or two new souvenirs every week until all FIVE are officially released and awarded by mid December. Souvenirs that are currently available can be found here. A list of currently available geocaching souvenirs and even the ones you’ve already earned can be found on Geocaching.com. And, if you’ve already found a geocache in Puerto Rico, we will automatically add this souvenir to your profile.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or right here on our Blog to find out which countries are next.
Have you found a geocache in Puerto Rico? Tell us your experience in the comments below!
Share your love of geocaching with friends and family this holiday season. Finding the perfect gifts for the geocachers in your life is kind of like finding a geocache — you earn a smiley for both.
There are multiple ways to give the gift of geocaching:
Shop for tools of the trade, apparel, and geoswag in the US and Canada through Shop Geocaching and globally via our international retailers.
Shop our Happy Holidays Collection! Featuring a Signal Holiday Geocoin, Ugly Sweater Travel Tag, a Trackable Snowflake Ornament Set, a Holiday Greeting Card with Geocoin, and more!
For a limited time, when you make a qualified minimum purchase from Shop Geocaching or one of the participating retailers, you will receive Free Limited Edition Holiday Travel Tag. The more you spend, the more free trackables you will earn (while supplies last)!
You can give the gift of Premium membership easily online. With a gift membership, your friend will enjoy all the perks of Premium membership, including custom search capability, instant cache notifications, and access to Premium-only caches. Your gift also supports the game by helping to maintain the website, upgrade the mobile app, and provide community support. You can purchase a physical gift card from the Shop Geocaching, or a digital membership directly online from Geocaching.com.
Let your fellow cachers know you’re thinking about them by sending a message via the Geocaching Message Center. Share your latest find, lay down a challenge, or, better yet, ask them out to go caching!
A group of Seattle-area geocachers has claimed a historic victory against muggle forces by rescuing an APE cache more than five years after it went missing!
The History
In 2001, fourteen geocaches were placed in conjunction with 20th Century Fox to support the movie Planet of the Apes. Each geocache represented a fictional story in which scientists revealed an Alternative Primate Evolution (A.P.E.). These geocaches were made using specially marked ammo containers and contained an original prop from the movie. Mission 9: Tunnel of Light was one of those caches.
Located about 60 miles east of Seattle, the container was placed by Geocaching HQ co-founder Jeremy and the father of the geocoin, Moun10Bike. The cache was found more than 3,000 times, surviving minor disturbances over nearly 10 years. There is even a Mega-Event (Going Ape) created by the Washington State Geocaching Association to honor this famous cache.
Sadly, Mission 9 was muggled and then archived in June 2011. Moun10Bike wrote at the time, “The decision to archive was not taken lightly, and was not easy for either me or for Groundspeak. However, the rule with Project APE caches has always been that once the container goes missing (which is part of the identity of the original series of caches), then it is no longer an APE cache, and thus must be archived (or at least have its APE status removed).”
While the community mourned the loss, a tribute cache was placed and the Going Ape event continued each year. But thanks to the incredible efforts of dedicated cachers, there is a new chapter in this APE cache’s story.
The Search and Rescue
In April of this year, cachers Winos_Seattle and rambudo met up with Geocaching HQ co-founder Bryan Roth. As they chatted, the subject of the lost APE cache came up. Winos_Seattle wondered if the container could possibly be found. Over the years, some have speculated that it’s unlikely that whoever muggled the heavy container would have carried it nearly two miles back to the nearest parking area. Perhaps they simply removed it from its location and discarded it nearby?
But even if that were the case, the area is hilly and densely forested. A rescue effort would require detailed planning and keen eyes. Sounds like a job for geocachers!
With encouragement from Bryan and Moun10Bike, and after months of planning, the search commenced on October 1. The group of 10 included Winos_Seattle and rambudo, as well as other Seattle-area cachers Sproutter, Lamoracke, _Shaddow_, DSVaughn, Curious Joe, gsbarnes, KnightWolf74 and Princess Trouble.
After hiking to the tribute cache, they split into three teams and spread out into the surrounding forest. Equipped with two-way radios, each team was assigned to one of three zones. Within minutes, one team had located what turned out to be muggled tribute cache containers. The other teams found a variety of swag and logbooks, including ones with signatures from 2011 and 2014 (likely from the tribute cache).
Following an extensive and courageous effort, a joyous call eventually came over the radio, “We think we found the original container!” Down in the woods below the original cache location, behind a tree with the open end of the container facing down, was the Mission 9: Tunnel of Light cache. Distinguished by stickers affixed to the inside, as well as some Planet of the Apes trading cards, the cache had fared remarkably well over the years.
After a lot of celebratory high-fives, the group phoned Moun10Bike, who was shocked and delighted by the discovery. A couple days later, Moun10Bike, Bryan, and others at Geocaching HQ welcomed the triumphant searchers and the long-lost APE cache. And now that the container is recovered, we’re left with an important question.
What’s Next?
The Planet of the Apes caches enjoy a special place in geocaching lore. Today, only one active APE cache remains: Brazil’s Mission 4: Southern Bowl. Given how the global geocaching community treasures the APE cache series, we feel it’s very important to hear what you think should happen next.
Should Mission 9: Tunnel of Light be returned to its original location and reactivated? Should it be kept safe from muggles and instead be displayed at Geocaching HQ as an artifact of the game’s history? Are there other ideas that should be considered?
We encourage you to make your voice heard by completing this survey by November 27, 2016. (Note: The survey is now closed, so we’ve removed the link from the blog) We’ll gather the ideas and later give you a chance to vote for your favorite in early 2017.
In the meantime, please join us in reveling in the knowledge that what once was lost has now been found. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made it happen!
