Preparing for Baltic Cruise Caching

[+SpiritDogs]

Hi! We live in South Carolina and are getting ready to take a two week cruise in the Baltic and we hope to geocache in each port.

 

We have a Garmin Oregon and also use Geosphere on the iPhone. I'm looking for guidance on what will work best for caching overseas. I do not currently have any European maps loaded on my Oregon and I plan to use my iPhone in Airplane mode to avoid costly international roaming. I have created my Pocket Queries/GPX files but nothing else yet.

 

What do you think are the best steps to be prepared? Where do I get European maps for the Oregon? Do I really need them?

 

Anyone have any insights into what caching will be like in any of our ports of call? (Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Aarhus, St. Petersburg, Warnemunde, Stockholm)

 

Thanks for any help/guidance you can give!

 

SpiritDogs

[+mpilchfamily]

Best i can give you is going to GPSFileDepot.com and find the maps for the areas you will be in.

[+SpiritDogs]

Thanks! I'll check it out. SpiritDogs

[+ecanderson]

Hi! We live in South Carolina and are getting ready to take a two week cruise in the Baltic and we hope to geocache in each port.

Just did that last August on Celebrity. Had a great time and (confession of an addict) planned shore excursions around possible cache sites a couple of times.

 

The Oregon will work fine for you provided you've got a decent sized memory card loaded and are prepared to load maps as you go. I ran a PQ around each port that would cover even excursions a bit far inland.

 

I obtained ALL of my maps from the openmaps site (gpsfiledepot is great for the U.S., but isn't super on coverage outside of the U.S.). You can get them here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/ I was pleased to find that they even included pathways in large parks, etc., which made things a lot easier. I'd switch to the local map as I pulled into port each day.

 

If you haven't cruised before, and depending upon the line, you will likely discover that the computer center boxes are seriously locked down. No access to USB ports, so no way to swap maps or upload field notes. If your ship has WiFi, it's a whole lot easier since you can connect up to your own notebook/netbook whatever. I travel with a little Asus eeePC that slips into my briefcase, weighs next to nothing, and runs for hours and hours on a charge.

 

Anyone have any insights into what caching will be like in any of our ports of call? (Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Aarhus, St. Petersburg, Warnemunde, Stockholm)

First, unless you have picked up visas in advance, you're going to be stuck with your guide in St. Petersburg. Given that our excursions went nowhere near any of the few traditionals in the area, I was able to bag only the virtual at the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood (GCGNHF). There are a number of tours that go there. If this is your one chance to bag a cache in Russia, you'd best plan a shorex that will take you there as one of the stops.

 

As for other locations on your itinerary that were also on ours:

 

Finland: Our shorex was to Porvoo. Picked off GC154XQ, GC140NB there.

 

Sweden: We got up into the Gamla area of Stockholm. Picked off GC12WJT there. Our shorex was to Sigtuna, and found GC1VMA9 and GC1X18M there.

 

Denmark: In Copehagen, we did our own tour into town. Bagged GC215ZV, GC1YD3A, GCYB41 and GCP86A (both right on the docks area)

 

Warnemund was a trip to/Rostock which was pretty good. Picked up four there. GCD5A0 (trad), GCD5A9 (easy multi), GC1NPA5 (trad) and GC1PF4K (easy multi). I don't usually risk multis on these stops, but those two were fine.

 

Since last year, there have no doubt been changes. Best bet is to always look right near the port area for the 'fallback position' in the event that your shorex doesn't get you to the right places or you can't take time or just can't find whatever you were looking for. Not all the ports have caches nearby. One thing you'll need to figure out in some ports (like Stockholm) is WHERE your ship will dock. Some of these cities have more than one port for cruise ships, and they're not always close together, either. When you know where you'll dock, you can plan from there.

 

LOOK at every cache you will target BEFORE you leave. It's no big deal to do a quick Google Translate on a cache page before you leave. Once you're on land over there, it's too late unless you can find a local to read the description on your Oregon <g>. I translated and printed pages for my top targets in each port to be sure I had all of the info in English. The only place I visited where that wasn't a problem was Russia -- other than English, that's my only real "2nd language".

 

If you're not such an addict that you'd plan a shorex around caches, at least be sure to work it the other way around. Look very carefully at the description of the stops on the shorex, and see if you can locate it on the gc.com map for possible targets (ref my issue in St. Petersburg).

 

Have a great trip.

[+SpiritDogs]

Awesome! We will be on Princess but it sounds like basically the same cruise. We already have a guide booked for St. Petersburg (didn't want to try that one on our own) and we plan on the virtual being our one and only Russian cache. For all the other ports we're doing our own shore excursions (we've cruised many times and always have better luck/experiences that way) and hope to be able to get at least several caches in each. We're traveling with another couple that also caches but this is the first non-US trip we've taken since starting to cache.

 

I'll check out all the ones you did :-). Thanks for the pointer on the better source for non-US maps too!

 

I really appreciate the detailed response. Sounds like you had a great trip. We're excited about going :-)

[+ecanderson]

Awesome! We will be on Princess but it sounds like basically the same cruise.

Almost. Ours was round trip Amsterdam, and we stopped in Estonia where I was able to grab a bunch of caches in Tallinn during a walk around town.

We already have a guide booked for St. Petersburg (didn't want to try that one on our own) and we plan on the virtual being our one and only Russian cache.

If you have your own guide in St. Pete, you can go wherever you can talk him into taking you. That does leave open a couple of traditionals, especially if you have an overnight there.

 

Thanks for the pointer on the better source for non-US maps too!

I found that the OSM maps were very complete in Europe.

 

One last bit of advice - do not be surprised when your GPS takes a few minutes to realize where it is and obtain satellite lock once you're there. Mine took a few minutes to rebuild a sensible almanac for the area.

[+ostseefoto]

Don't forget ISPS. Inside the ports you will not be able to walk allone or find caches. Say thankyou to Mr. Bush jr.

[+ecanderson]

In Europe, this is governed by the IEC. Say thank-you to Brussels.

 

Certainly hasn't ever bothered me anywhere yet in Germany so far, Osteefoto.