A remote geocache perches along the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It’s hidden on the coast of Turkey.
But finding “Afkule Monastery” (GC1RM77) does more than reward cachers with a smiley; it transports treasure-hunting adventurers a thousand years in the past.
The cache is located among the isolated ruins of a monastery. The buildings, including structures carved into the rock face, date back to the 11th century.
The difficulty 2, terrain 3 traditional cache was hidden by barmbek in 2009.
Cache and log from "Afkule Monastery"
Geocacher Schlauchen logged the cache last year. She emailed Geocaching.com to suggest “Afkule Monastery” as the Geocache of the Week. She says the cache rates as her favorite find in 2011. She writes, “You climb down a very steep hill and all of a sudden you’re out of the forest and have a breathtaking view of the old monastery and the sea, which is really as blue as it’s shown in the cache listing.” She says another element adds to the allure of this cache, “Of course there’s also the famous ‘usual muggle tourists don’t come here’ feeling.”
View near cache locationView near the cache location
Just over 50 people have logged smileys on the cache, averaging about two finds a month. It’s received 12 Favorites Points.
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.
View Carre’ (GCE02C) perches high atop a New Orleans landmark. The cache ranks as the most ‘favorited’ geocache in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It’s accumulated more than 550 Favorite Points. With a view that stretches from horizon to horizon, it’s easy to see why.
Bamboozle hid the cache, with the permission of the facility owner, in 2003. He works at the building where the cache is located. He writes, “Many years ago I would notice tourist photographers in front of the building and occasionally offer to take them where they could get some really nice shots….the roof. They would be almost overwhelmed by the experience. When I started geocaching in 2003 I thought it would be a nice experience for geocachers as well.”
He was right. More than 1800 geocachers have claimed smileys on the geocache so far. The cache page offers details on finding the difficulty one, terrain one cache. A geocacher who found “View Carre'” over the past weekend logged, “Absolutely the coolest cache I’ve ever done. Alfred was great to us and gave us a wonderful tour. Simply the best cache I’ve ever done. Anyone who has not done this must add it to their short list. THANK YOU and all involved for making this happen. So much fun!”
The cache is close...
Bamboozle and his staff, like Alfred, often offer more than just finding the cache. He says, “My staff and I were all born and raised in the city and act as tour guides for the visiting geocachers. Over the years the View Carre’ has hosted events and has been the destination of school field trips and visits by geocachers from surely every state and many foreign countries.”
And geocachers didn’t forget Bamboozle when Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans in 2005. “I received at least a dozen emails from cachers all over the country offering us a place to stay in their homes until we could return to ours. This added to the already high esteem that I held for geocachers having met so many nice folks at the cache.”
A geocacher serving in the U.S. Army after the hurricane even helped Bamboozle restore the cache. “Hurricane Katrina had blown down the roof elevator and collapsed a wall on top the cache container. Johann Panholtz, a cacher from Indiana serving in the U.S. Army which occupied New Orleans, came by to make the grab and we “unearthed” the cache together and it has been available ever since.”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
View Carre' cache container
If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.
“Queens Stair Case” (GC2CXZQ) in the Bahamas leads geocachers to a marvel of the city. The Queen’s Staircase in Nassau descends into an Edan of Caribbean plants and local people.
The tropical atmosphere is filled with merchants, who’ve become geocaching advocates.
One geocacher who logged “Queens Stair case” writes, “Found [the cache] on Leap Day while visiting on a cruise. A vendor saw me looking for it and saw my GPS and asked if I was looking for the geocache. I said yes and she told me I was in the right location. Made a quick find and took a pic.”
The location of the cache, combined with the friendly people and the rich history makes the “Queens Stair case” the most “favorited” geocache in the Bahamas. The difficulty one, terrain 1.5 traditional cache has more than 60 Favorite Points.
View of the "Queen's Staircase"
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.
Explore one of Italy’s architectural treasures through geocaching. The Geocache of the Week, “In mezzo agli alberi morti” (GC2308M) leads geocachers through the heart of Bologna. geomafioso created the difficulty 3, terrain 1 Multi-Cache in 2010.
The name of the cache translates into English as, “In the midst of dead trees.” The cache owner writes that the title of the geocache becomes obvious the closer a geocacher comes to finding the geocache’s final location.
Along the cache route for "In mezzo agli alberi morti"
geomafioso writes, “I think geocaching is mainly about seeing interesting places, but sometime the process of finding the cache, and the cache itself should give that “WOW” effect to the geocacher. This is why I love creative geocaches.”
geomafioso says his greatest inspiration comes from other geocaches and going shopping, “Groundspeak forums are a nice source for creative ideas but there’s nothing like hardware stores. Since I started hiding caches, whenever I enter an hardware store I try to figure out if something can be used or transformed into a geocache. This gives me ideas for new creations.” The rewards for creative caches, like “In mezzo agli alberi morti” are Favorite Points, and seeing the logs for those who found the cache. geomafioso says, “Reading the comments and logs of enthusiast geocachers is, in my opinion, the highest reward.”
Along the cache route for "Im mezzo agli alberi morti"
One geocacher writes, “What an amazing cache! After living in Bologna for a few months, I had a pretty good idea of where to find the first stage, but was really surprised when we found it in the end. One of my favorites that I have done so far. TFTC!”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.
February’s Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees show such creativity, innovation, and helpfulness that their fellow geocachers sit back and say, “wow.” Groundspeak Lackey’s selected these three nominees because of their ability to give selflessly to the geocaching community. Now you get the chance to comment on who you believe should be February’s “Featured Geocacher of the Month.”
January Featured Geocachers of the Month, SerenityNow
Write a comment on this blog post about which of these three geocachers you feel should be the featured Geocacher of the Month. Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month.
Here are your nominees for the February Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
Nominated by RayandLynn, “Magicman65 is Vice President of the BC Geocaching Association. He is a member of the Mid Island Geocaching Association and a member of the Vancouver Island Geocaching Association. He teaches geocaching, creates and attends events. Magicman65 encourages geocachers to be respectful of the environment, caches, each other and of course (be respectful of) Muggles. When he comes across a cache that needs maintenance, he will fix it right there on the spot.”
Nominated by HotBarbecuered, “My first encounter with this AMAZING cacher was when I moved to the Windsor Ontario Canada area for my university studies. I later went to my very first caching event in Michigan and found out that Rattrak was behind organizing many of the events in the Metro-Detroit area. Each year, Rattrak is one of the organizers of the Annual Detroit/Belle Isle Event. Rattrak also hosts an semi-annual CITO event and potluck on the island each spring and fall.”
Nominated by rvjn, “Steve ‘n’ Nancy has given their all to promoting caching in the North Bend/Coos Bay area. Caching was very limited when they began so they started getting the local cachers together, inviting visitors to dinner, meeting with all, and putting on events on a regular basis. Ask anyone in Oregon and they’ll tell you that the best caches are to be found in Coos Bay/North Bend area. Steve ‘n’ Nancy make every cacher who comes to the area feel special!”
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured February Geocacher of the Month. A panel of Lackeys will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments for February’s award through Monday March 12th.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin
If you know an outstanding geocacher you would like to nominate to be a Featured Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.
Every nomination must meet the following requirements:
Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and a description (500 or fewer words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month. Please inform your nominee that you’ve submitted them for the award. Nominations for the March Geocacher of the Month must be received by March 27th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so we might learn from each other.
