Placed as part of The Pirate Project.
This cache is a twist on the “Talk Like A Pirate” Day (September 19) theme and pays tribute to one of my favorite musicians of all time - Jimmy Buffett. The “Mayor of Margaritaville” passed away on Friday, September 1, 2023, at 76 years old.
I was in high school when his album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” — which contained the mega-hit "Margaritaville” — made its debut in 1977, but I had already discovered this genius singer-songwriter four years earlier with his release of the album “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean.”
Your job here is to discover the changes in Latitude (and Longitude) to arrive at the final coordinates. No treasure map needed. No need to get sand between your toes or put on sunscreen. You may, however, have to navigate the rough seas through typical Kentucky undergrowth.
What’s a pirate without a faithful parrot? Certainly to Buffett’s fans — called “Parrotheads” — they are everything.
Did you know that the term Parrothead originated at a popular Ohio theme park just northeast of Cincinnati on June 28, 1985? Fans were wearing Hawaiian shirts, carrying giant inflatable parrots being given away at the park’s carnival booths, and wearing parrots on their heads. As Buffett sang, Coral Reefer Band member Timothy Schmidt looked out and coined the iconic term as a play on the name given to the Grateful Dead’s fan base (the Deadheads).
I digress. This cache specifically pays homage to Buffett’s song, “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”
“The song contains the bittersweet confession of a modern-day, washed-up drug smuggler as he looks back on the first 40 years of his life, expresses lament that his preferred vocation of piracy on the high seas was long gone by the time he was born, and ponders his future,” according to Wikipedia. It is one of his most popular tunes and one of the "Big 8" played at nearly every performance.
Cache is not at the posted location. To determine the final coordinates to this hidden treasure chest (OK, it's actually an ammo container) that contains some pirate SWAG, you will need to answer the following questions about Buffett and this song. You don’t have to be a Parrothead to get the answers, although it would be helpful.
The cache is at the following location:
N 37° 05.ABC W 084° 02.DEF
• He was a “victim of fate” at what age? The smaller digit = A.
• According to the song, how many weeks had he been drunk? That answer = B.
• When he wanted to sail upon the ocean’s waters he was how many feet tall? Double your answer to get C.
• Add together the two digits of Buffett’s birth day. That answer = D.
• The third digit of the year “A Pirate Looks at Forty” was released = E.
• Number contained in the title of the studio album on which the song first appeared. That answer = F.