Little Diomede has it's cache GC8DR8H, we feel it's time for St. Lawrence Island to also have a cache. St. Lawrence Island is a birder’s paradise located 164 miles west of None in the middle of the Bering Sea, about 36 miles east of Russia. St. Lawrence Island is largely undeveloped and is home to about 1,400 people who live in the villages of Gampbell and Savoonga on the northern coast. Residents are 95.5 percent Alaska Native or part Alaska Native. The isolation of the island has helped maintain their traditional St. Lawrence Yupik culture, their language, and a subsistence lifestyle based on marine mammals. Most residents are bilingual, with Siberian Yupik still the first language. The economy is largely based on subsistence harvests from the sea including seal, walrus, fish, and bowhead and gray whales. Walrus-hide boats are still used to hunt.
Both of the Islands are in the Bering Strait School District, which Mal has taught in for the last 5 years. Bering School district covers approximately 80,000 square miles. Most of the schools are accessible only by small bush aircraft. Besides Little Diomede, a few caches in White Mountain (which we placed) and one in Golovin, none of the other villages in the district have a geocache.
Mal is currently working as a long term sub at Hogarth Kingeekuk Sr. Memorial School. She will be leaving the island in March. Because the weather (winds) can be very harsh, and winters brutual the cache may be covered with snow and you may have to dig for it or it could be frozen to it's hiding place in the winter. I placed it in a place where it will be less likely to get covered with snow and be safer from winds. For your safety please stay away from the nearby abandoned building, the structore is not safe.
The coordatantes take you to teacher housing area in "downtown" Savoonga. The cache is easy to find with the spoiler pictures. In the winter getting to the location will reguire a 4 wheeler, snowmachine or walking over icy frozen trails. Getting to the island is the hard part. Most non villagers arrive as teachers, itinerant workers, and as visitors as part of guided birding tours. Because you can reach the island by boat or plane, unlike Little Diomede which you can only reach by boat or helicopeter, we're giving the terrain a 4 instead of a 5. LIttle Diomede has not been found yet, we're hoping we're hoping for a FTF before Little Diomede.
BEAWARE THAT THERE ARE A COUPLE OF CARETAKERS OF THE CACHE WHO LIVE IN SAVOONGA YEAR ROUND. THE CACHE WILL BE CHECKED FOR YOUR SIGNATURE IF YOU CLAIM A FIND ONLINE. IF YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED THE LOG, YOUR FIND WILL BE DELETED. I'VE DISCOVERED THERE ARE A LOT OF INDIVIDUALS WHO WILL CLAIM FINDS IN REMOTE AREAS (Our White Mountain caches has had a large number of such claims) WHEN THEY HAVEN'T ACTUALLY VISITED THE CACHE.