About this geocaching series:
Since there is a serious shortage of puzzle caches in the
Bryan/College Station area, I have put together a series of them,
each with a different theme and unique puzzles to solve. They also
have varying levels of difficulty, but I have designed the puzzles
to be solvable without needing extensive specialized knowledge.
Please refrain from posting in your logs any hints to either the
puzzles or the actual cache locations. However, I do encourage you
to work with others. I will not post any extra hints, but if you
keep having trouble after repeated attempts at solving them, feel
free to send me a message and I can point you in the right
direction. I want these to be challenging but still fun to do. So
good luck and happy trails.
THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES!
You are a geocacher on your way home after finding an elusive
puzzle cache that had been on your list for over 8 months. For some
reason it was only accessible by hot air balloon and since they
aren't cheap, it took you some time to save some money to rent one
for a couple of days. As you float home you see a storm gathering
in the distance but before you can land the balloon safely on the
ground, strong winds carry you off. With no control over your
craft, you remain airborne for several days before finally crashing
down onto the beach of a mysterious, uncharted island somewhere in
the South Pacific. According to your GPSr, the crash site is
located at S 34° 57.000 W 150° 30.000 (approximately 1,600 miles to
the east of New Zealand). It seems odd to you since the last time
you checked google maps, this area was nothing but open ocean. You
gather your things, build a crude shelter, make fire, warm up, and
then set off to explore the island in hopes of finding food. You
follow the coast headed north for approximately 3/4 of a mile and
then turn northwesterly facing a large cliff. Above the cliff is
the crest of a small mountain. You decide it would be a good idea
to try and climb to the top in order to get a better view of the
island.
After a few hours you manage to reach the apex. Scanning 360
degrees you estimate the island to be only around 35 square miles
with absolutely no obvious signs of other human activity. You then
remember that in your bag there is a small antique spyglass that
your grandfather left to you in his will several years ago. You
pull out the spyglass and to your surprise you see a fleet of large
sail ships headed towards a large cove to the west. It strikes you
as very weird to see sail ships in this day and age. Despite the
anachronistic presence of the fleet you decide it best not to get
anywhere near them, especially since each ship sports a large skull
and crossbones on its main sail. You suspect that the pirates are
certainly up to no good (which isn't a bad assumption considering
that it is part of the pirate code to always be engaged in
mischievous activities), but there is no way you could possibly
take them on yourself. As you continue to survey the rest of the
island through the spyglass you spot a lone cannon situated atop a
hill about two miles to the west of your location. It seems as
though this cannon could very well launch its artillery out into
the cove where the pirate ships are gathering. This is your only
chance to stop them so you hurry down the slope, being careful not
to slip on the rocks. You race across the valley and up the
neighboring hill, climb to the top and reach the cannon. There are
exactly 20 cannonballs with plenty of powder to shoot them out into
the cove.
As the last of the ships makes its way into the cove, you notice
that no one is leaving to come to shore. You observe that each ship
has lowered its sails and since the sky has already started getting
dark, you assume the pirates must all be waiting until morning.
Waiting until nightfall to make your assault seems like the best
idea, but it might be too dark for you to aim the cannon. So while
there is still some light left, you must quickly mark the location
of each ship:
Task #1 - Pirateships
This puzzle below is a solitaire version of the classic board game
- Battleship. The grid represents an ocean with a hidden fleet of
pirate ships. A ship may be oriented horizontally or vertically
within the grid, but no two ships can occupy adjacent grid cells
(not even diagonally). The numbers on the right and on the
bottom of the grid show how many squares in the
corresponding row and column are occupied by ship segments. The
numbers (0-10) on the top and the letters (A-J) on the
left of the grid indicate a particular cell (e.g. A5 or G8).
Any segment without a ship piece is considered a water segment.
Three ship pieces have already been inserted to help start the
puzzle. Your task is to logically determine where all ships are
located. Then you must write down each cell that contains a ship
piece and arrange them in alphabetical order (e.g. A1, A2, B5,
J4,...). There will be 20 in total (including the freebies).
Now that you have identified the the the positions of each ship,
you carefully put the chart in your pocket and wait. Right as your
watch flashes 2:00 AM, you commence firing a barrage of iron
missiles upon the fleet. Using exactly 20 shots, you manage to hit
every ship. At daybreak, you wander over to the cove in search of
anything salvageable. Upon reaching the cove you come to find that
your aim last night was too good, sinking absolutely everything
straight to the bottom. The only trace left behind is single bottle
being rolled back and forth over the sand by the waves. Inside the
bottle is a piece of parchment with a note scribbled on it by a
Captain Syre S. Roulette:
Task #2 - The Letter
Rolled up with the letter is a map. You enter the key mentioned by
the Captain and open the map, observing that the pirates have
cleverly hidden the location of the treasure using a puzzle. You
must solve this puzzle and identify the map coordinate where the
treaure is buried.
Task #3 - The Map
With the map coordinate in-hand you make the trek over. When you
reach the spot indicated by the map you discover two giant logs
lying in the grass in the shape of an X. Thankfully pirates never
deviate from Section 26.03 of the pirate code mandating that X
always marks the spot. You find a large stick and begin digging.
After several hours and a six-foot hole you become discouraged that
there is no treasure chest to be found. You question to yourself:
Did pirates really bury their treasure? Did I read the map
correctly? But why else would there be a huge X in the middle of
this field? Then suddenly it dawns on you that the coordinates are
never exactly right so you expand your search (and consequently
your hole) to +/- 15 feet around center. Your improvised shovel
finally strikes something hard. Could this be the chest? You start
to dig frantically and after a few minutes you indeed unearth a
large wooden chest. There is no lock, but there is a small piece of
iron wedged in the latch to keep the lid closed. You remove the
wedge and lift open the lid. As you lift your head to peer into the
chest...an alarm clock goes off on the nightstand. You reach over
and hit the snooze button, knocking a book to the floor in the
process. "Man, what a dream", you think to yourself as you slowly
lift your head up against the headboard, "I shouldn't stay up so
late reading." It is 8:00AM on a Saturday morning. You remember
that today was the day you had planned to seek out an elusive
puzzle cache that has been on your list for 8 months now. You go to
your computer and log on to your account to take a look at the
puzzle again. There are three pieces left to solve:
1) What was the key to the map (as referred to in the letter
from Captain Syre S. Roulette)? Call this number A.
2) Where did X mark the spot? Convert the grid cell
coordinate from the alpha-numeric to a number where A=1, B=2, etc.
Please note this conversion is different from the one used
previously. Thus a cell coordinate of A1 would be 11 and a cell
coordinate of J7 would be 107. Call this number B.
3) What year was the book on your nightstand first
published? Call this number C.
North coordinate:
A/(C-1273) + (B*30) + 2015 = ????
N 30 3_._ _ _
West coordinate:
A/(C - 1273) + (B*30) - 788 = ????
W 096 2_._ _ _
Too bad there isn't any real booty stashed in this cache, otherwise
you'd be able to afford living in this neighborhood. Oh, and don't
forget to bring a pen!
To all of you going after the FTF. There were some typographical
errors in the puzzle that have now been fixed. Sorry about that!