I paid the $30 for a membership to support geocaching.com. I have yet to
hide
a MO cache or find an MO cache...I have no desire nor do I like the concept.

I am tired of hearing 'active cachers' crying about not having $30 to spend
on a membership. If you do not want to buy one, don't. Quit making up
excuses.
Let us take for example the average cacher that goes out once a week drives
All over Phoenix in their SUV with AC cranked full blast in 75-degree
weather.
$20 in gas, and lets throw in a coffee and bagel from Starbucks $5. GPS
battery usage is going to be around 2$ per outing. That is $27 per full
caching day (yes, I left out lunch and a lot of other stuff as well). Let's
assume
4 outings per months, 12 months per year. That is 27*4*12 gives $1296 a year
to
geocache. A $30 membership is only 2.4% of that! If you can afford to
geocache
at the above rate then quit crying about being a poor boy. If $30 dollars is
too much, you should be out looking for a job, not out caching.

>>takes these days to keep your caches safe. And no, you don't need to do no
>>freakin' puzzle crap to keep it safe, just be creative in how you design
>>and hide the container.

>Thank you.  Puzzle caches have become all the rage down here in the Tucson
>area, and while there have been a few of them that I have enjoyed, I have
>really lost interest in them.  I might go back to finding them again, but
>probably not for the for seeable future.

Hey, some of us enjoy creating and finding these 'freakin puzzle crap'
caches.
If you do not enjoy them, then do not try to find them, but do not knock
them.
I enjoy finding difficult caches that exploit the navigational,
mathematical,
surveying, and mapping aspect of geocaching. There is a lot more to GPS work
than running around with GSPr blindly being a 'gadget man'. Those of us that
create puzzle caches are only trying to expand the sport, and give the
cacher
another alternative. I personally get real tired of finding mint containers
stuck to the bottom of park benches, or ammo cans placed 100 ft from the
road in
places that have no redeeming quality other than that there is a cache
there.

The assumption is that the pirate is some teenager out playing a joke.
I don't think it is a teenager. He obviously has been doing this for a
while. He is
not a beginner, he found 9-caches in one day and his profile was set up
quickly
and professionally. Personally, I think he is a member of our geocaching
community
that subscribes to this mailing list and is fed up with all the nonsense
that
is being muttered and has decided to play a joke on all of us. This guy got
the
response that he was out to get.

ARRRGHH. HAHAHAHAHAHA

-Rob (Wily Javelina)