This cache is named for my favorite place back home to go to just kick back & relax. Dauphin Island, off the coast of Mobile, Alabama, where I grew up is a barrier island steeped in history. At the cache site you will note a lot of beach imagery that reminds me of growing up on the Gulf Coast.
Before Mobile was founded, or New Orleans even a place on a map, Dauphin Island was the center of French colonization in the Southern United States. Explored and mapped by the Spanish as early as 1519, it was 1699 when the French established their permanent colony. Originally it was named Massacre Island, due to the mountain of human skeletons found there. The colony prospered and in 1704, even received a ship load of young women (the Pelican Girls) to be wives of the early explorers. The name Massacre was changed in 1707 to Isle Dauphine in honor of the heir to Louis the XIV, the Sun King of France. At the time, Pelican island/Sand island connected to Dauphin Island and formed what was described as the best deepwater port in the Gulf. It was large enough for thirty vessels and had twenty feet of water at its entrance. The port (Pelican Harbor) was always in use with ocean going ships unloading their goods to be transported up Alabama's river system by smaller, shallower running craft. In 1711, the colony was almost destroyed by a pirate attack, but recovered and continued to flourish. The bright future of Isle Dauphine was changed in a single night though, by the tremendous Hurricane of 1717. So intense was it's furry, that it completely altered the shape of the island and closed the entrance to Pelican Harbor, trapping three ships there. Buildings were destroyed and live stock drowned. Due to the destruction and especially the loss of the great harbor, the center of French activities were forced to move to other locations such as Mobile, Biloxi, and eventually, New Orleans.
The coordinates will take you to the cache container, which is in plain sight, but you will need to do some on-the-spot cal-cue-bah-lay-ting to solve the code to gain access.
Okay, so you're standing at GZ, you've found the cache container. But you need some more information don'tcha??
Left to right:
First letter in the cacher name on the container
Second digit in the number at your feet
First letter in the word that describes the ground covering in the
image in front of your face
This image also contains a bird. That bird is commonly known as
a _ _ _ X _ _ _. Substitute the letter that "X" would be.
You now have the information you need to gain access to the cache!
Sign the log, swap some swag/TBs, enjoy! Cache starting out with log, Garmin brochures and bumper stickers, a Rhode Island trackable coin to move along, Texas Dreamweaver key chain, TerraTrekkers fob watch, and FTF pin for the First-To-Find!!
