Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Geo-Caching….not

Florida Keys (high 83, low 73)

Yesterday, the plan was to do a little geo-caching.  For those not familiar with the sport, it’s like a treasure hunt.  There are little “caches” placed all over the world….lots of them.  Some are small, the size of a bullet, some are large like a small tool box.  They all have a place to write your name and date you found it, but some also  have “treasures.”  Most of the treasure is junk really, but it’s the fun of the hunt.   There is a  Geo-caching website where you can check out any caches in your area.  Type in your zip code and you’ll find some nearby caches.  I guarantee you….wherever you are, there will be some caches.

What we have found so interesting about geo-caching, is that you will find some little hidden places in the area that you may never have discovered.   Most caches give a little history of the area.  You might find that perfect little place that only the locals know about.  That’s the best part.

We have a Garmin 60CSx handheld gps.

Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx GPS Receiver   Reviews   Prices   Yahoo  Shopping

We use it for geo-caching, as well as hiking and kayaking.  It helps to keep us from getting lost.  You can “mark” way points along the way and then find your way home by back tracking on those way points.  It also has a feature called “tracks”.  It shows you where you’ve been, how long you’ve been gone and how far.  Handy for finding your way back….always a good thing.

For Geo-caching, you can find caches on the internet (free) then download them to your gps. It will direct you to the exact gps coordinate and then tell you how far in feet you are away from the cache.  Of course it’s not exact, so you do have to hunt for these treasures.  The small ones are especially tricky, but fun because people use their imagination in placing these.  There are little hints given and sometimes you still cannot find the cache.

I remember one where they had painted the box to look exactly like part of the sign it was attached to.  It took us several visits to actually find the cache, even though we knew exactly where it was!

Here are a partial page of what I found when I typed in our current zip code.

Geocaching   Hide and Seek a Geocache   Search for Geocaches

You can check off the ones you want and then send them to either your smart phone, or you’re gps.

There is also an app for Android phones, and probably i-phones as well. 

Unfortunately, yesterday, I didn’t take the time to send any numbers to the gps, thinking I could do okay with my Droid phone.  Since I have never used the Droid for geo-caching, I didn’t have it down pat, plus my phone kept running out of juice.   Next time, I’ll use my Gps and have it fully loaded with local caches.

So…our geo-caching trip yesterday was a bust….but we did find a great waterfront restaurant for lunch.

sparkys landing

There was a pretty view.  Some people here told us they saw dolphin playing in the waters, but we were there on an outgoing tide and didn’t see any dolphin. 

This is the view from our table.

Al at Sprarkys Landing, Marathon

seagul

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Al had the coconut snapper wrap….delicious.

al's coconut yellowtail wrap at sparkys

I had their famous “fish tacos.”  Sounds yucky, doesn’t it?   They were very good too!

fish tacos at sparkys

You barely knew the fish was there because of the cabbage and pickled red onions….boy were those onions good!

Afterwards, we wandered around the area and took some pictures.

Here are some beautiful frangipangi plants.  These are the flowers that are used to make the Hawaiian Lei.

The flowers come out first, then when they drop off the leaves follow.

frangi-pangi

frangi-pangi

I wish you could smell them.

frangi-pangi

 

As we wandered around the docks, we saw beautiful yachts,  old wooden boats, and lots of sailboats. 

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Here is a huge bunch of lobster and crab traps.  Lobstering is big here in the Florida Keys.

lobster traps

 

We’re not far from Cuba.  This sign just about says it all.

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This was some kind of Italian roadster.  Very expensive, I’m sure.

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The tide was going out, the winds and seas were calm.

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back  home for sunset at Sunshine Key.

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Al was up late watching the basketball game, so we’re not getting too early of a start (as usual), but the winds are calm again, so we’re going kayaking around Sunshine Key again.

14 comments:

  1. We have never done Geo-caching but may try it while we are here in the desert.
    The frangipangi is gorgeous!
    Interesting sign about the Cuban parking.
    ~wheresweaver

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  2. looks to me like your lunch was a 'treasure in itself'!..
    great new header..I can only imagine how lovely the flowers smell!

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  3. What ever happened to the days of following bread crumbs back? ;-)
    The header photo is gorgeous, really pretty flowers.

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  4. The new header picture is AWESOME. We never have tried geocaching but it sounds like fun.

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  5. What's your geocache name? I'm an avid cacher (RVers) and try to find at least one in every new place we go. Isn't it a great way to see things you didn't even know were there? Love your photos!

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  6. Love all your photo's and descriptions today! Those are beautiful flowers for sure! Sure makes me wish I was at the beach and having some seafood of any type for lunch!!!

    so... no Rock Chalk Jayhawk..... but, it was kind of expected.

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  7. we also have never done the GC but have the gps for doing it...something we just might try soon....sounds like fun..gorgeous header picture...we are heading to the beach as I type...food looked divine...

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  8. Beautiful header photo.

    Beautiful photo of Al's Coconut Snapper Wrap.

    Geocaching? I know a lot of folks love it. Me? Not so much - I just don't get it!

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  9. Did your GPS lead to that delicous fish taco? ;c)

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  10. Did your GPS lead to that delicous fish taco? ;c)

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  11. Love your header photo, makes me think fondly of Hawaii!

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  12. We visited Sparky's Landing last year, and of course, I HAD to buy the tee shirt! We loved the food, too.. Jeannie, a.k.a. "Sparky"

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  13. Although we have had a GPS on the laptop when we are in the motorhome, never used one for anything else.

    We are thinking of a handheld GPS for walking in the woods and maybe kayaking or canoeing too.... will have to try out some geocaching I guess if we do!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

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