The idea was originally inspired to my attention by another cacher named FluCacher, however, this challenge requires a lot less islands than he had in mind to finish. Basically, the idea for this challenge is that you need to find physical caches on at least 23 different islands in the state of Washington. Only finds will count towards this challenge, though, if you are the owner of the only cache on one of the qualifying islands and it was published before this listing, I will allow that. To qualify for this challenge, please create a bookmark list (which includes this challenge itself) and list the cache you did, the island name, and the date found for each island. Please note, one of these islands must be from an island that you have is not reachable by ferry or bridge (ie you need to use a personal boat to get to). I have provided a sample bookmark which I have used to show my qualifications.
Here are the islands that you can choose from.
Category 1: Public islands you can drive or walk to.
1. Bainbridge Island
2. Bateman Island (near Kennewick)
3. Camano Island
4. Ebey Island (Highway 2 in Snohomish)
5. Fidalgo Island (ie Anacortes)
6. Fir/Craft Island (S of Anacortes)
7. Foster Island (near U of W Arboretum)
8. Fox Island (west of Tacoma)
9. Harbor Island (man-made, near West Seattle)
10. Harstine Island (Mason County)
11. Indian Island (south of Port Townsend)
12. Leque Island (just east of Camano)
13. Marrowstone Island (east of Indian Island)
14. Marsh Island (near U of W Arboretum) - currently no active caches
15. Mercer Island
16. Silcott Island (Clarkston, WA)
17. Smith Island (east of Everett)
18. Spencer Island (east of Everett)
19. Whidbey Island
20. Canada Island or Havermale Island (Spokane)
Category 2: Public islands you can take a ferry to.
1. Anderson Island (near Tacoma)
2. Blake Island (ie Tillicum Village)
3. Guemes Island
4. Jetty Island (Everett, ferry is only ~3 months a year)
5. Lopez Island
6. Lummi Island (near Bellingham)
7. Orcas Island
8. San Juan Island
9. Shaw Island
10. Vashon (or Maury) Island
Thus, that is almost 30 islands to choose from without needing your own boat.
Category 3: Public islands (or mostly private islands) which require your own boat (along with an example for each island but note some of these islands like Patos, Sucia and Kellogg have more than one to choose from). There are 2 different Hope Islands, its not a typo.
Category 4: Islands which no longer have active caches, and possibly can't have new ones listed but archived caches which are ok to use if you found them before they were archived/pulled.
Category 5: Private Islands, thus, you cant use these, but listed for your knowledge. They may not be private entirely but they must be private enough to have no caches. To prevent someone listing a cache there improperly for this challenge, these will be excluded. Will look at each island on a case by case basis if caches get placed in future in regards to future finds.
Allan, Battleship, Canoe, Center, Crane, Gedney/Hat, Henry, Herron, Johns, McNeil, Pearl, Posey, Raft, Reach, Rennie, Reach, Reed, Saddlebag, Spieden, Stretch, Squaxin, Vendovi and Waldron.
Category 6: Islands of your choosing. I am trying to stick with a set number of islands but I realize there are many little islands out there. You may use one such island for this challenge. Still needs to be an island that requires a boat. Alciato has a great bookmark list you can look at which shows some, but not all. And remember, just because you need a boat to get somewhere, does not mean its on island (ie Cottage Lake).
Alciato's list
I tried to choose islands which have established names, not just what the local folks call it. All the islands from the Wikipedia Washington Island List are here and some others I chose to add which seemed established as a name. If you think an island should qualify that is not listed here, just post on the cache page or contact me and I will decide.
Other fun....Here are the ranks you can achieve if you like for unofficial bragging rights. If you want to just do the bare minimum to just finish the challenge, you will be ranked accordingly. If you have finished the challenge already and found the final with 23 islands and want to get a rank promotion, simply update your bookmark list and post a note to this listing asking for rank approval.
23 caches will get you Lieutenant
26 caches will get you Commander
29 caches will get you Captain
32 caches will get you Rear Admiral
35 caches will get you Vice Admiral
38 caches will get you Admiral
41 caches will get you the highest rank , usually only given during war times, Fleet Admiral
The final cache location is on Camano Island because someone once told me Camano Island could use some fun with a challenge cache. The terrain for the final is 2.5.
Obviously cachers who have been around a while and got the chance to do caches say on Cypress Island and Jones Island have an advantage yes, but this challenge is very doable for anyone who is starting today. I see no reason to penalize folks if they did caches on these islands in the past.
*Other Rules or Notes
1. Please do not try to list caches on islands with no caches for the purpose of this challenge without checking first. Some of these small islands have no caches for a reason, so I will look at any new cache/island on those lists on a case by case basis to decide if they are okay.
2. Mystery, Multis, Letterboxes or Wherigos that are listed on the island itself but do not finish on the island do not qualify. There was an example of this on Hat Island not too long ago, that cache would not qualify. A cache should be listed AND finishing on the island to qualify. If an exception cache comes up, will post it on this page.
3. You may sign the logbook before finishing the challenge, but you may not log the cache as a find until you qualify. Any found logs that are done by accident will need to be converted to a note until the qualification occurs.
Cachers who have completed the requirements and found the final
|
No.
|
Cacher Name and Rank |
Date Found |
| 1 |
Fleet Admiral Curious Joe (44) |
04/25/2011 |
| 2 |
Rear Admiral Rey del Roble (34) |
04/26/2011 |
| 3 |
Commander Grossi (26) |
05/13/2011 |
| 4 |
Admiral Crouchcrew (39) |
05/31/2011 |
| 5 |
Vice Admiral Rocketglider (35) |
07/10/2011 |
| 6 |
Commander Johnny Boy (27) |
07/23/2011 |
| 7 |
Commander K7Wave (27) |
08/19/2011 |
| 8 |
Fleet Admiral Las3dogs (43) |
08/22/2011 |
| 9 |
Fleet Admiral Rodgowdy (52) |
09/05/2011 |
| 10 |
Commander Brewman65 (28) |
10/02/2011 |
| 11 |
Rear Admiral Sol Seaker (32) |
10/22/2011 |
| 12 |
Fleet Admiral Hydnsek (49) |
02/11/2012 |
| 13 |
Lieutenant Craftea (24) |
02/12/2012 |
| 14 |
Lieutenant FrodoB (25) |
02/12/2012 |
| 15 |
Lieutenant Nexus Wanderer (23) |
02/26/2012 |
| 16 |
Commander Newa (26) |
04/07/2012 |
| 17 |
Captain Kiersolvd (30) |
07/07/2012 |
| 18 |
Captain OhJoy! (29) |
08/16/2012 |
| 19 |
Commander CorvetteKent (26) |
09/09/2012 |
| 20 |
Lieutenant bigdumbfun (23) |
03/29/2013 |
| 21 |
Lieutenant ORMEOFONE (23) |
03/31/2013 |
| 22 |
Commander FunnyNose (27) |
05/06/2013 |
| 23 |
Vice Admiral Terrible Ts (36) |
08/03/2013 |
| 24 |
Fleet Admiral Rambudo (44) |
02/09/2014 |
| 25 |
Commander Frisky Biscuits (27) |
06/21/2014 |
| 26 |
Admiral crs98 (38) |
05/24/2015 |
| 27 |
Commander Jim & Jan (26) |
08/07/2015 |
| 28 |
Commander BenandJayme (26) |
08/08/2015 |
| 29 |
Captain Cacheikers (29) |
01/01/2016 |
| 30 |
Lieutenant 2nd Son (24) |
01/01/2016 |
| 31 |
Rear Admiral Obarshay (33) |
02/06/2016 |
| 32 |
Captain jcar (30) |
02/06/2016 |
| 33 |
Fleet Admiral Prying Pandora (44) |
05/28/2016 |
| 34 |
Vice Admiral Aviatrix22 (36) |
07/21/2016 |
| 35 |
Rear Admiral Ms Marvelous (32) |
08/27/2016 |
| 36 |
Lieutenant BroncosFan4Life (25) |
02/11/2017 |
| 37 |
Vice Admiral gsbarnes (36) |
02/11/2017 |
| 38 |
Captain Evening Kiss (30) |
03/04/2017 |
| 39 |
Vice Admiral PNW_Navigator (35) |
03/06/2017 |
| 40 |
Lieutenant Rock Chalk (24) |
03/12/2017 |
| 41 |
Lieutenant Rakis2 (23) |
03/17/2017 |
| 42 |
Lieutenant Yellow1961 (23) |
04/17/2017 |
| 43 |
Vice Admiral pnwfamily6 (36) |
07/09/2017 |
| 44 |
Commander Winos_Seattle (27) |
05/13/2018 |
| 45 |
Lieutenant PNWCarrots (23) |
09/27/2018 |
| 46 |
Lieutenant Muddy Teapot (23) |
10/04/2018 |
| 47 |
Lieutenant Duma332 (24) |
01/05/2019 |
| 48 |
Commander jtcoffee (26) |
01/05/2019 |
| 49 |
Commander We R Here (26) |
08/10/2019 |
| 50 |
Captain Latetrap (31) |
09/28/2019 |
| 51 |
Lieutenant Jimmerbowl (25) |
01/30/2020 |
| 52 |
Lieutenant mmcash (23) |
02/29/2020 |
| 53 |
Lieutenant type2bill (24) |
03/10/2020 |
| 54 |
Lieutenant StraitCash (23) |
06/13/2020 |
| 55 |
Lieutenant Kennelbarb (23) |
11/08/2020 |
| 56 |
Lieutenant cbagaason (24) |
02/13/2021 |
| 57 |
Captain 2 Leep (29) |
10/12/2021 |
| 58 |
Lieutenant GearGuru (24) |
12/17/2021 |
| 59 |
Lieutenant Cachenscary (23) |
12/25/2021 |
| 60 |
Lieutenant TheLimeCat (23) |
07/23/2022 |
| 61 |
Lieutenant philGeorge1 (24) |
10/13/2022 |
| 62 |
Lieutenant captmatrix (24) |
12/16/2023 |
| 63 |
Lieutenant DM&K Cachers (24) |
01/21/2024 |
| 64 |
Lieutenant Snowflake24 (23) |
03/27/2024 |
| 65 |
(Pending) PNWBrat (unknown but over 23) |
03/14/2024 |
| ** |
Fleet Admiral Lamoracke (44) |
XX/XX/XXXX |
PS, There is a coin for the FTFer. Also, may consider adding special coins to discover based on rank levels. Hopefully 23 is a fair number, had much internal debate on the subject.