In the olden days the overland voyage from the Batinah coast to Muscat was an arduous undertaking with the trip from, say, Azaibah to Ruwi by car taking several hours. This was not in the least due to the numerous deep wadis (dry river beds) carved out by the seasonal rains falling in the nearby mountains. One such barrier was wadi Aday which ends in the Gulf of Oman at the Qurm Nature Park. The flatland at the mouth of this wadi is affected by the tides of the sea and harbors a mangrove forest (Qurm in Arabic). The Qurm Nature Park, with an area of nearly two square kilometers, is by far the largest park in the Sultanate of Oman and has been cleverly constructed making use of the natural contours of this “dry river delta”. It boasts a large lake and a man-made waterfall. Entrance to the park is free. Official opening hours are 16:00 to 23:00 on week-days and 09:00 to 24:00 on Thursday, Friday and public holidays. However, the gates remain open during week day mornings and afternoons and we have often walked right in without anybody barring our way.
The multi-stage cache placed in this park consists of three stages and will require you to solve a few puzzles on the way. The coordinates used in the heading of this cache description are for the main entrance to this park, and not the actual cache. There is a second entrance at the coordinates provided below. During your entire search please use maximum stealth and discretion, as the park if often full of muggles and geocachers arriving later than you would also like the thrill of finding the trail of caches rather than having to log a DNF!
Stage 1: consists of a very small lock-n-lock container camouflaged by a sand-coloured sock. It contains nothing else than the directions towards the second stage of this multi-stage cache. To find the coordinates of this first stage cache you will have to solve the following Sudoku puzzle.
SOLVING INSTRUCTIONS: To solve the puzzle below (which is the easiest of three levels) place a number in each box so that each row across, each column down, and each small 9-box square within the larger diagram (there are nine of these) will contain every number from 1 through 9. No number may appear more than once in any row, column, or smaller 9-box square. Working with the numbers already given as a guide, complete each with the missing numbers that will lead to the correct solution. CORRECT COORDINATES: The letters along the top and the numbers along the side are not a part of the puzzle. They are there for you to enter the correct numbers below for the coordinates to the final, i.e. B1=2, F4=3.
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A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
| 1 |
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2 |
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7 |
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3 |
4 |
| 2 |
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5 |
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| 3 |
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9 |
4 |
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1 |
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2 |
| 4 |
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5 |
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2 |
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3 |
9 |
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8 |
| 5 |
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8 |
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9 |
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5 |
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6 |
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| 6 |
9 |
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3 |
6 |
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1 |
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2 |
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| 7 |
3 |
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8 |
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6 |
4 |
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| 8 |
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9 |
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| 9 |
2 |
1 |
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3 |
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9 |
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N |
F2 |
E3° |
G5 |
I9. |
B7 |
C7 |
E7 |
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E |
C1 |
H2° |
C5 |
E1. |
I1 |
0 |
A3 |
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You can check your answers for this puzzle here Check your solution
Stage 2: the stage 1 cache contains the directions to this second stage and has a description of how to determine the value of 13 numbers named by the letters A through to M.
Stage 3: this is the final stage leading to the actual Qurm Park cache. The coordinates of this final cache are:
N 23° QR.STU’
E 58° VW.XYZ’
The value of these 10 digits can be calculated as follows:
Q=M
R=L
S=G + H
T=B - I
U=G
V=E + F
W=C
X=K - A
Y=D + G
Z=J - M
First to Find was 'The Prepared'. His reward was an unregistered geocoin. Congratulations! For the others: enjoy the hunt!