Cave Beach (Dunedin, Otago) Traditional Cache
Hidden : 7/24/2013
Difficulty:
4.5 out of 5
Terrain:
4 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Geocaching is all about exploring a little bit further... Visit Long Beach at the lowest possible spring tide and see what you can find just 5 minutes beyond the northern end of the beach.

WARNING: This cache is only accessible at a low spring tide. If there is any doubt about the tide or sea conditions, please don’t risk it.

The difficulty/terrain ratings reflect the planning and waiting involved in getting to Cave Beach, and that if you get it wrong Tangaroa doesn't take prisoners. However, once you finally get the right tide the D/T will probably be more like 2/4.

Plan to arrive at Long Beach an hour before low tide to allow time for the 1.3 km walk, cave inspection and caching before the tide turns. It is safer to go with a friend.

If you pick the lowest perigee spring tide (perhaps 0.05 m or less above Lowest Possible Tide level), you will be able to keep dry feet getting through the arches to Cave Beach. But that only happens a few times a year, usually while you're at work. At a higher spring tide you will get wet feet.

From the end of the beach, you will have a short clamber around barnacle-encrusted rocks to the first archway. From the rocks at this point you will be able to see the water level and wave height under the arches and judge whether it is safe to go further.

You are looking for a 1.6 litre screwtop in a black bag. Explicit hint provided. Please make sure the cache is replaced securely so it can’t roll away, and that it is completely hidden.

Trackables would probably prefer to visit the cache and leave again with you, rather than languishing several months until the next low spring tide.

Sites to help your planning are:

Met Service Potato Point Surf Forecast
This site shows you the tide times for the next week at the bottom of the page. It also gives a coastal forecast and sea conditions - check on the day you go to see what wave height to expect.

NIWA Tide Forecaster
This site gives you the actual height of the tide so you can pick exactly which is the lowest tide. Note that this is a computer model, but is expected to be accurate to within 0.1 m in tide height and 10 mins in tide time.
To use:
• Use Custom Location. Double-click on the map and then move the Request Location circle to Cave Beach.
• Use LAT to see how far the tide is above the Lowest Annual Tide.

NIWA Tide Envelopes showing the range for high and low tides through the year. Choose Timaru - the graph indicates which spring tides coincide with the perigee of the moon's orbit, giving especially low tides.

LINZ Tide Predictions has pdf downloads of the tide tables for major ports several years ahead. Note that the Port Chalmers tide time is about 35 minutes LATER than Cave Beach. Hint: search for 0.0 to find the lowest tides.

Spring/ neap/ full moon/ new moon/ perigee/ apogee/ whatever? Check out these sites:
LINZ Introduction to NZ tides;
NOAA Ocean Service What is a spring tide? and What is a perigean spring tide? (With excellent animated images demonstrating the tidal effects of the full or new moon and the moon's orbit.);
NOAA Ocean Service Tides tutorial;
NOAA Ocean Explorer fun Tide Quiz.

Cave Beach awaits!



The cliffs at Long Beach and Cave Beach are basalt from the Dunedin Volcano’s first eruptive phase, 12-13 million years ago. GNS NZ geology webmap.

The Climbing Rock which you pass on your walk up Long Beach and the cliffs behind are Dunedin’s climbing mecca, although the rock is described as“often friable”. There are 159 named routes and more being explored. The Crag and ClimbNZ have more information (don’t some people have strange hobbies?...).

And you'll notice there is no real cave at Cave Beach - the name was transferred from the northern end of Long Beach, where the bay with Cathedral Caves and the Ballroom Cave used to be called Cave Beach.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

fuehobauvyybpx-haqreebbgf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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