Since I've almost run out of devious puzzles, I thought I'd place a
cache that was more of a physical challenge. You don't need a boat
for this, though if you're on one in Sail Bay, you could start your
hunt from it.
What you will need is at the very least a pair of swimming
goggles, but preferably a mask, snorkel and fins. The cache is a
waterproof key container, attached to the bottom of a buoy chain.
The container will float, so if you lose hold of it, it should pop
up to the surface. You may not want to take your GPSr on the water,
but it should be obvious when you get to the water's edge where you
need to go.
To perform the necessary duck dive, swim forwards, take a deep
breath, then bend at your middle so that your head is pointing
straight down. Then use that downward momentum, bring your back
straight again and your feet should stick up in the air as you
descend. Hold your nose and blow to equalise pressure in your ears
if you feel uncomfortable. Pulling yourself down the buoy chain
using your hands is NOT the way to do this, it's inefficient and
you could cut your hands on the rusty chain. Duck diving really is
much easier!
I measured the depth with my dive computer as 2.3m, which is
about 7 feet, at low tide today. At the highest of high tides the
swim from shore will be longer, and obviously the water will be
deeper. Just follow the chain down from the buoy and unloop the
cache from the chain! Sounds simple, eh?
IMPORTANT! The cache is attached to the chain by passing the end
of the lanyard through a chainlink, then pulling enough through to
pass the container through the loop in the lanyard. To remove it
from the chain, pull on the red tab at the end of the lanyard,
until you get enough of a loop to pass the container through. Even
if you run out of breath at this point, the container's buoyancy
will probably be enough to get the cache to bob to the surface.
Otherwise, just dive back down and pass the red tab through the
link.
The cache contains a log book in a ziplock bag. There is no pen
inside, so please take the container back to shore to sign the log,
then replace it as you found it. If you have trouble replacing the
cache, please keep it and send me an email as quickly as possible
so I can grab it off you to rehide it.
Check
here to find the current state of the tide at Crown Point.