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.
Last week we featured a clever gadgety Travel Bug Motel cache. This Geocache of the Week is also a Travel Bug Motel, and while the cache itself is plain—spoiler alert, it’s an ammo can—you’ll probably be grinning wildly by the time you reach it. It’s a Travel Bug Motel in more ways than one.
That’s right, folks. The cache is tucked inside a cherry red VW Bug which, depending on the season and the whims of the property owner, alternately has flowers, tall grasses, or various other living things sticking out from its roof. (Speaking of the property owner: permission was granted for the placement of the cache!)
What geocachers have to say:
“A day off of work in the area and this cache made the list. another great cache nearby. what a cool ideal, hope they don’t try to move it. Gets a favorite point from us. TFTC.” –2CraziesMSN
“This was another must do cache on this trip. psychoVW loves cars, especially Volkswagens, and especially Beetles, and especially abandoned cars. This one had everything! She slugged me, as usual, when we drove past this on the way to another cache. When we arrived here, Paycho guessed where the cache was and made the find. Nice camo! We took some pics, and I dropped off the VW Beetle trackable I had picked up that I had been saving specifically for this cache.” –Darth Leviosa
“On our way to geocoin fest and this one popped up on our favorites filter. Very interesting area. Looks like somewhere out of a Hunter S Thompson novel. Picked up a couple trackables to take with us and dropped one off. Favorite point for taking us to the Boondocks.” –DublinMN
“GZ produced a big bug, but I did not squash it! thanks for the swag … TFTC!” –November Ghost
Photos:
Continue to explore some of the coolest caches 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.
GC3MFAD is disguised as a multi-level birdhouse, which, on its own, isn’t that unusual for a geocache. The casual observer might notice the birdhouse is a little high up…seven or eight feet off the ground, at least. A muggle probably wouldn’t think twice about that fact, but the geocacher—who realizes this must be the geocache, is presented with the problem of reaching it.
Geocachers realize the genius of this cache the moment they figure out how to lower it to the ground. At the base of the pole in a second wooden box is a small crank. When turned in the right direction, a box descends from inside the birdhouse ‘shell’. This is the Director’s Travel Bug Hotel. According to the cache page, this geocache is “by far the best Hotel in Pintlala, Alabama” and “the staff might be someone you recognize but they are not travelers and do not want to go for a ride. They are here to help the guest enjoy their time while staying here.”
It’s the perfect blend of a gadget cache and a roomy and well-crafted Travel Bug Hotel. Should you be lucky enough to be passing nearby, it’s worth the visit. Take care when lowering the unit—it is full of sleeping guests, after all.
The cache fully revealed.
What geocachers have to say:
“Out on a cache run with CaverScott. This was the start of our day. This was a great find. I love how this has been put together and how it works. Worth at least one favorite point. Thanks for the fun and the smiley!” –autigerman
“Wow. There was definitely a lot of work put into making this cache. I love that people drive by every day and don’t even know it’s there. Kudos for your awesome workmanship and for maintaining this. There were no travel bugs inside, but we signed the log and enjoyed the characters visiting the hotel. Great shape. Well crafted. TFTH!” –hoosiersunshine
“It is always a joy to find a Woodnutt cache, and with 99 favorite points we knew this one was not to be missed. I saved the two travelers I had for a nice stay at this quality hotel. Such fun! I am honored to add favorite point #100. CITO tftc” –tleu
How did you first come up with the idea for this type of hide? “A lot of my ideas come when I am traveling, which I do a lot for work. My mind wanders trying to come up with new and different ways to do things. I like birdhouses and have a number of them as caches and this is just another type of birdhouse.”
Was building the cache a difficult process? “Building it was not a difficult process, I have a nice workshop with a lot of tools and I enjoy woodworking very much.”
Do you ever see birds landing on the cache? “I have seen some birds on top of the cache but not a lot.”
What’s been your reaction to all of the nice logs and Favorite Points? “I have always read all logs on my caches. It is one of my favorite parts of owning caches. It is always nice and rewarding when someone appreciates the work and enjoys the cache. The favorite points are nice.”
Is there anything you’d like to say to the geocaching community? “Lately I have been very frustrated by some caches that have destroyed a cache with an ax when they could not figure out the on site puzzle cache but this is a game, not everyone enjoys the same thing but one can make geocaching what they want. You can go for numbers, you can go for puzzles, you can do FTF or whatever it is you like; most important is to enjoy what you are doing and respect others as well.”
Photos:
The cache, looking pretty birdhouse-y in it’s normal state.The hand crank elevator mechanism.The TB hotel descending from the bowels of the birdhouse.All the way down.The TB hotel is open for business!Time to put a “No Vacancy” sign up?The front desk staff are happy to see you.
Continue to explore some of the coolest gadget caches 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.
The burnt orange dunes of the Namib Desert aren’t exactly right around the corner for most geocachers. Actually, they’re not right around the corner for anyone. The name Namid comes from the Nama word for ‘vast’—and those who are lucky enough to take a scenic flight above the desert know just how fitting a title it is.
GC14W63 is an EarthCache. If you happen to be in the area—that is, in the Mars-like sand dunes of Sossusvlei, in Namibia—this Sunday, October 11, you’ll earn the International EarthCache Day 2015 souvenir for finding it. The sand dunes at Sossusvlei are the largest in the world at around 300 meters tall, and they’re being coaxed northwards by prevailing winds from the south. According to the EarthCache description, geologists say this desert could be the oldest in the world. The almost electric colors of the dunes are caused by the slow oxidization of iron in the sand; the more bright orange the dune is, the older it is.
This EarthCache is Geocache of the Week not only for it’s well-organized, informative, and clear cache page, nor merely for its spectacular vistas, but because it holds true to the original purpose of the EarthCache. An EarthCache site is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. The sand dunes of the Namib desert are utterly unique. They’re fantastic. They’re old. They are at once imposing and delicate, timeless and mutable. The dream landscape they create defies civilization (you try building a cottage on a pile of sand). And—this may be the understatement of the year—they’re well worth a visit.
Photo by Team Hermann
What geocachers have to say:
“We loved visting the Namib Desert whilst on our family holiday to Namibia. We stayed in the Sesriem Camp and got up very early to watch the sunrise over the dunes. Thanks for this lovely EarthCache.” –GCMTWood
“On of the highlights of our Namiba trip was the visit of Sousuvlei. The dunes are just fantastic. We enjoyed the stay and even climed the big daddy dune. What a great view from there. Thank you very much for this Earthcache and greetings from Switzerland.” –foolish5
“What a fascinating place in the middle of an ocean of endless dunes. We stopped here during our three weeks lasting tour through Namibia and this was definitely one of our favorite places. The red colors in different increments, the merciless heat despite winter mode, the seemingly absence of life and the huge amounts of dead sand – what a spectacular view to remember, what a unique feeling to deal with, what an unforgettable moment. You have to visit Sossusvlei to imagine and understand these feelings. We will be back as soon as possible, also to enjoy these exceptional moments once again. These days here were such a great experience, so we need to say thank you for bringing us here. Thanks a lot for this cache, for the listing and for your efforts. Regards from Germany!” –do.se_gotcha
“We had 2,5 weeks in Namibia. The countryside is awesome, fauna and flore interesting and the people are so nice. Thanks to geocaching we have found a lot of places I wouldn’t have visited otherwise. A nice EarthCache leading me deeper in the canyon then I expected!” –MMXX
When did you first visit the dunes near Sesreim? Have you visited again since then?
“My wife and I were in South Africa and Namibia first time in 1990, again in 1993 and our last visit was in 2007. Unfortunately we have not visited this beautiful country since then, but we are looking forward to go again within the next 2-3 years.”
What do you like about this spot, and what do you think attracts other people?
“This is a very unique place. If you go early in the morning, you can feel the cold of the night and once the sun comes up, its rapidly getting warm. Very few places where you can feel the power of the sun this extreme. On the other hand, it is very quiet, only the wind is singing while it is blowing over the dunes. When you are on top of a dune, your view can carry for miles and miles and all you see is the beauty and the colors of the desert. There is nothing but vastness, nothing will disturb the view. Out of a sudden, your thoughts are free, you feel the peace of the area, you just feel happy. There are very few places where I had a similar feeling.”
What’s been your reaction to all of the nice logs and Favorite Points?
“Of course I like the logs where people report about the beauty of the place and about their experience. I answer each end every mail I receive and thank Cachers about their visit. At the same time I wish everyone a very nice vacation and happy caching for the future. Sometimes a little email conversation takes place where we share some experience.”
Is there anything you’d like to say to the geocaching community?
“Namibia, located in the south of Africa, a land of contrasts and beauty. The cost region is cold and windy while the inner part is hot with mountain ranges. There is the oldest desert, the Namib and the Fishriver canyon which is the second largest canyon of the world. In the northern part close to the Angola border is Etosha National Park. With its size of almost 9000 square miles and over 100 species of animals and 300 species of birds, it is one of the largest parks in Africa. If you like lost places, you have to visit Kolmanskop, an old German diamond field. The people are friendly and helpful and the scenery just breathtaking. We enjoyed every second and sure enough, we will come back to visit this remarkable country.”
Photo by saharaaPhoto by PermonHrochPhoto by pfitschipfeilPhoto by pfitschipfeilPhoto by KilroymanPhoto by KilroymanPhoto by saharaa
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. 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.
