Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.
It started from this Midwest port, aboard a tiny ship.
The weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew, their lives would surely have been lost.
The ship washed up on shore of this barren stretch of land.
There’s nothing to see for miles around except water, palm trees and sand.
All aboard survived but they were going to be here a while
They were stranded in the middle of nowhere on an uncharted, but not deserted isle. ( cue menacing music )
Much time has passed and no rescue is in sight.
See if you can solve the puzzle below to save them from their plight.
***
The Posted coordinates are in the general area but not the crache site (get it?).
Once you have determined the coordinates, you can organize a rescue trip to the island.
Can you save the desperate castaways who are stranded on a remote, uncharted island crawling with headhunters?
The castaways include (random order – ignore the numbering for now):
1. The Captain and First Mate
2. Supermodel and Photographer
3. Professor and Graduate Student
4. Heiress and her boyfriend
5. Hippy stowaways
Each group is responsible for providing dinner for the group one night a week. In no particular order, they:
1. Fish – uses the fishing gear that washed up from the shipwreck to catch different types of fish for dinner
2. Hunt – uses a bow and/or traps to get meat for dinner
3. Garden – serves grains and vegetables from their garden (e.g. tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, etc)
4. Gather – good tree climbers, generally serve fruit like bananas, coconuts, mangos etc.
5. Snorkel & tide pool scavenger – catches crabs, lobsters and other shell fish.
The castaways live in 5 shelter types arranged in a circle. Each shelter takes a turn, going in order clockwise around the circle, cooking dinner for the group during the week (M-F). They’re on their own for the weekends.
The shelter & pet types are shown below in no particular order (ignore numbering for now):
Shelter types:
1. Cabin
2. Lean-to
3. Teepee
4. Hut
5. Tent
Pet types:
1. Cat
2. Dog
3. Monkey
4. Parrot
5. Pot-Bellied Pig
Clues
• The people in the Tent plan to bring Grouper on the night they cook
• The Supermodel and Photographer cook the day before the people who live in the Teepee
• The clam bake is on Wednesdays
• The people who live in the Hut have a Parrot
• The Monkey, the Gatherers pet, ate a bunch of the bananas they had brought home so it’s in trouble
• The Lean-to and the Tent are next to each other
• The Cat and Dog had to be separated so they are no longer neighbors
• The Pot-Bellied Pig lives in the Teepee with its owners
• The Heiress is allergic to the Cat whose owner’s typically serve rabbit or wild goat for dinner
• The Professor and Graduate Student live in a Hut they built out of bamboo and woven palm leaves
• The Hippy Stowaways cook on Mondays
• The Dog’s owners cook on Tuesdays
• The Cabin owners serve meat for their dinners but not on Fridays
• The Parrot’s owners do not serve salad
• The Captain and First Mate are fond of their neighbor’s Maine Coon
Questions to Answer:
Headhunters from across the island have raided the Teepee and took everything inside.
• Who is missing from camp?
• What week night is everyone now on their own for dinner until they are found?
• By which method do they get the food they serve for dinners?
• What pet is also missing?
Items are numbered in the lists above. Take the numbers associated with the headhunter raid and list them out. (for days of the week use Monday = 1, Tues = 2, etc).
Example: Captain and First Mate = 1, Hunting = 2, Parrot = 4, Wednesday = 3, TeePee = 3
You should have five numbers. Multiply them together yielding a number between 1 and 3125. Our example would yield (1 x 2 x 4 x 3 x 3 = 72).
Coordinates to the castaway’s island camp are provided below which are encrypted using a Gronsfeld cipher with the key you just calculated. You could decode this manually; but it will take a bit of time.
You may also decode the string using this website (visit link)
• Select Decrypt at the top of the page
• Leave the Alphabet Key field blank
• Copy the string below or type it into the “Your Message” box
• Type the number you calculated into the Cipher Key field
This decoding site can be used also if the other one is down
Coordinates:
pqwvjyjkwvajkimvfjitjgukkhyavbqrtkpyvjwggtpgxgxjpyjuvskpjvakqwwfgltgjuhnhvdqpjrqnpvjkimvqsghtwt
Good luck! I hope you enjoy the puzzle and if you have any feedback/suggestions, please let me know. Original puzzle by and ©2011 K.Venator.