This is the second parallax view cache. The first is GC4MJXC just a few hundred yards away. Please read the cache page of GC4MJXC if you have not done that cache. It will help you understand what I am talking about here.
Like any good sequel, Parallax 2 takes the parallax cache idea to the next level. In this case the next level of accuracy needed to find stage 1 of the cache. Like “The Parallax View” this is a two stage cache. If you go to the published co-ordinates you should be up on the pavement of Marine Parade looking down over Madeira Drive. Beneath you (in between the two roads) is what we affectionately call the “half landing” in our family. The bit you can see is paved with rectangular slabs slightly longer North-south than East-west. To find stage 1 you need to find exactly the right slab.
From that slab the above two parallax photos were taken:
In the left hand photo (above) the near object is the spike underneath the RH street lamp of one of the lamp posts on Madeira Drive (you have to figure out which one). The far object is the top of the short squat light house at the end of the Western sea wall that protects the marina. If you are 5ft 11 these two objects line up incredibly precisely.
In the right hand photo (above) the near object is one of the flag poles at the end of the Volks Railway (the southern-most one). The far object is the glitter ball on top of the chippy on the pier. These are slightly displaced vertically, so not quite as easy to line up.
When you have lined up both these parallax views you will be standing on a specific rectangular slab, (try the nearby slabs to make sure). You are now standing exactly at stage 1 and can answer the following questions to find the cache:
1. Count the slabs going south from where you are standing. Don’t count the one you are standing on, or any slabs that are not complete or have a piece cut out. No of slabs = A.
2. Count the slabs going South East in a diagonal. Don’t count the one you are standing on, or any slabs that are not complete or have a piece cut out.. No of slabs = BC.
3. Count the cracks between the slabs going west all the way until the slabs run out. The first crack is the west edge of the slab you are standing on. The last is the last crack between two slabs. Don’t count the very edge of the terrace, just cracks between two slabs. Hint: the last crack is much shorter than the others, less than a couple of slabs long. No of cracks = DE.
4. Just north of where you are standing is a painted metal railing with circles in its design. Start from the circle that is nearest to where you are standing. Count the circles (including the closest one) going east until they run out. No of circles = FG.
5. Now for the best bit. I am confident that the parallax for the left hand photo towards the marina is so accurate you will easily be able to answer this last question. Look at where on the slab you are standing to get the parallax exactly right. Specifically where in a North-South way.
a) If you are at the south third of the slab use H = 0
b) If you are in the middle third of the slab use H = 6
c) If you are at the north third of the slab use H = 3
Now use the following formula to get the cache co-ords less than half a mile away.
N 50 49.(B+F)(G+C-H)(G+F)
W 000 07.(D+E)(H+E)(A+C-E)
On the few occasions I have been to the final GZ my GPS has behaved bizarrely badly. It must be something in the environment of that GZ. You may need to use the hint.