Luna - Spirit of the Whale Multi-Cache
Luna - Spirit of the Whale
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The above co-ordinates will take you to a monument which honors Luna, an orphaned Orca that captured the attention and affections of many people during its life.
You will need to answer a few questions from the monument in order to find the final cache location. The final cache is a small lock n lock suitable for small trade items. There is a log book, pencil and a TB to start.
Luna, or L-98 (as researchers referred to him), was a young orca that somehow became separated from his family (L-pod) and lived as an orphan in Nootka Sound. Before the discovery, Luna was among seven Southern Residents that researchers claimed were missing and presumed dead. (The other six were never found.)
As a highly intelligent and social animal living separately from his family, Luna sought attention wherever he could find it, and humans living and boating in the area were too willing to give it. Although Luna was friendly, he soon became a nuisance to marine traffic in the area. As the interactions between people and Luna grew, so did the number of complaints from those whose boats were being damaged by the young whale. Luna was becoming a danger to humans and humans becoming a danger to him. Moreover, researchers feared that the longer Luna attempted to bond with boaters and other humans he would lose his ability to interact with his own species.
After a few years, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) attempted to relocate Luna from Nootka Sound and reunite him with his pod in the Juan de Fuca Strait off Vancouver. That effort was abandoned after local First Nations protested.
The First Nations used canoes and drums to lure Luna away from the scientists who were trying to capture him for the move. The Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations believed that Luna embodied the spirit of their dead chief, Chief Ambrose Maquinna, who had said he would return as a killer whale. Three days after Maquinna's death, the whale showed up in Nootka Sound.
Images of the First Nations people paddling in traditional canoes and leading Luna away from the scientists were broadcast around the world. While the dispute over Luna continued between DFO and the local First Nations, the tiny village of Gold River became a hub of media activity for a few months.
After it became apparent that the First Nations were not about to let Luna leave their waters, DFO officials and the Mowachaht-Muchalat co-operated in a stewardship agreement to watch over Luna while leaving him in Nootka Sound. Under the stewardship agreement the Mowachaht-Muchalaht people helped to educate boaters and tried to reduce risky encounters with the whale. Even still some vessels were still being damaged, and a few boaters even threatened to dynamite, harpoon or shoot Luna.
Luna generally spent his summers close to the docks at Gold River, and winters further out in Nootka Sound where food was more plentiful.
Sadly, Luna was killed after accidently being struck by a tugboat’s propeller a few months after the stewardship agreement was made.
The monument will provide you with dates and other information that you will need to collect in order to determine the location of the final cache.
The final cache is located at:
N49 4A.BCD
W126 0E.FGH
A, C & H = the first number of the length of the tug that hit Luna
B= the last number of the year that Luna died
D = the last number of the number of months that the stewardship agreement was in place
E = add four to the last number of the year Luna arrived in Nootka Sound
F = the last number of the year Luna was born
G = the last number of the day that Luna was born
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
arne cvax synttvat