The Second Sentinel (Auckland) Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
By Ledge End on 08-Mar-09. Waypoint GC1NE0P

As this cache has been out of action for too long, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

Regards,
TheCur8or
Geocaching.com Volunteer Reviewer.

Can you please look to archive this one. I have been there twice as well with no luck. I have tried contacting the CO about the cache 5 months ago and as yet I still get no reply.

This geocacher reported that this geocache should be archived. A community volunteer reviewer has been notified.

Its definitely gone.. the tree it was in as changes significantly since the last time i was here.. can it!

Looking at some to do by canoe, this one has been missing for a long time, time to go.

This geocacher reported that this geocache should be archived. A community volunteer reviewer has been notified.

Think it's time to give up on this one.

Two years without a find? Needs to be replaced or canned please

I am lucky enough to have access to a jetski so this is the third time I have been out here. Landed twice and were able to have a good look around both times. I have extensively the item in the photo both in February and in June now with no luck. Could the CO take some action to check?

I have been out here a couple of time on the jetski. First at high tide and not really able to land but still able to have a good look. But today I was out here near low tide and able to land and have quite a good look on the island. Even with the hint and the previous finders notes I was not able to come up with the goods. Is it possible it has succumbed to the recent storms and king tides.

Wind picked up. I'll be back

Out with Arch_NZ on his boat today, we had a go at finding this one. No luck for us unfortunately.

Found it im pretty sure i found this cache when it was called sentinel on the sea because it was under the pohutukawa root on the big sand stone side where you can acess the top this cache was also my first cache i ever found in 2013 and it was unintentionally because me and my dad used to go fishing at watchmans island a lot and found it pretty easily 3 years later i love geocaching and its one of my favourite hobbys if you where wondering i also came from sentinel beach on a kayak tftc

Did I find the right cache. I found a log sheet but no container, an absolutely beautiful evening for a paddle.

I found this geocache with Cats&Dragons. He is trying to find as many T2.5 and D2.5 and above rated caches as possible for a challenge he is working on. We left on our mission at 4:30am to get the tides right for a morning paddle and so we could return back to Hamilton at a decent hour. If we had to pass by other caches with lower ratings we generally picked them up as well. We had a great day, the weather was fantastic and the quality of the caches was extremely high. A huge thanks to the CO’s for placing and maintaining such interesting, challenging geocaches in such cool locations.

This was our first cache of the day. We debated where to start our paddle from and soon found a great spot to launch from. It was a quick paddle out in back in calm conditions. The most physically demanding part was probably logging the double Kayak back up the steps to the car. We were back in the car and off to the next cache before 7am!

Well with having to work between Christmas and New Year there was little opportunity to get out and cache different parts of the country so a call was made to iammrwalker to see if he was around and could get a leave pass.
On the affirmative for that plans were hatched which would take in a spot of kayaking, some great short walks up in the Waitakere's and even the results for a couple of previously solved puzzles.

This was the first of the day in what could have not been better. A quick paddle out here and once located the cache and then a nice paddle back before continuing the days adventures

thanks for the placement , thanks for the cache

Thanks for bringing us here. Sailed in laser. Beautiful day. One for the city siders

Coordinates changed from:
S 36° 50.108 E 174° 43.912

Coordinates changed to:
S 36° 50.102 E 174° 43.926

Distance from original: 77.2 feet or 23.5 meters.
Team Welsh has put in a replacement cache (much thanks to you!!) and this has been verified by Alligatorsnz (thanks also!!)
Cache has moved to the other side of the island where it will hopefully be a bit safer from erosion.

passing by again so thought id stop in and mark the position of the "replacement cache" that welsh family have placed ( and photos for the CO of were we think the island has gone.) Haven't managed to riase the CO via email...? so the "welshfamily" replacement is at 36°50.102'S, 174°43.926'E, and id say the clue would be similar : no need to climb island.. where wood you look above sea level?

Like every one before i had meant to come by to pick up the sentinel many times.... but alas this time i arrived to find that the spot described ( like every one else who has been ... recently) is either hanging in mid air... or under that massive pile of errosion below.. or deep still - tossed into the sea when the cliff fell? and is halve way to china by now.... or perhaps the cranny is just in accessable now as a result of the falling in cliff....

so i can't really claim the find that brought us to the island... its not there.... but i did take a wander to the other end of the island and find the "temporary replacement cache" placed by team welsh.. but since that's still not the published cache.. can't really claim that one ...

MR CO.. do let me know if you want a hand replacing an "official" cache - if you no longer have the means to get to GZ now? something needs to be done... replace or hand over to team welsh?

MR CO.. this needs replacing or officialising the "replacement cache"... let me know if you are unable to get out there now.. and your wishes.. ( always looking for a reason for a paddle..)

Great island, always wanted to visit, thanks,

We also came from the South on a very high tide.
Landed on the small beach and had a good look round.
Due to tide, a lot of wading was involved.
Had good check of the Root System without luck.
Placed a small container/ Log at the amended coord.
In tree limb, as far East as is possible to go on Island.
Tftc.

Wow ! Finally ! This has been on my wish list since I began caching two or is it three years ago !
Thanks ledge end for having the idea to put a cache here !
It is my number 2,200 find so wanted a special adventure !
Ric didn't take much persuading ....Did some research and decided to leave from Hamilton Beach as Sentinel Beach has about 64 steps ! Weather and tide times suited my available day ,,,so we soon set out on Ric's two person sit on kayak .... took a bit longer than I expected ...Didn't fall out or anything ...
Unfortunately, on arrival at the Island and after thorough searching , we couldn't locate the cache left by Team Welsh recently ....We have left a temporary one there and signed a scrap of paper and Ric took photos .
We have contacted ledge end the CO.
Thanks again for the fun !Favourite for sure !!!!!!!

Current too strong. Would recommend checking before attempting to swim out. Or take a boat

What a mission this one turned out to be. Originally planned to go to Rangitoto Island but decided it was too hot. Text Trout-fly Do you have a trailer? "No", do you have roof racks? "No", Do you have a submarine? "No!!! Why are you asking these questions?" Had the use of a kayak but no way to transport it there. Pagenz went and purchased roof racks for the RAV so 3 hours later (even longer story), Trout-fly, avoyager, Pagenz and myself made a joint team assault on the Sentinel. Incoming tide a bit of a cross wind was overcome and the island was reached. Now, the area where the cache was located was unclimbable and very dangerous, a reasonable large slip and no ledge to stand on and not a lot to hang onto. Managed to get the cache down from its hidey place, signed etc. but was unable to replace without risking life, limb and other important things. Attempted to replace as best we could and the cache fell down and into the water. Back to the kayak, round to where the cache was floating, retrieved and back to the island again. Now what to do? The cache could not be replaced where it was so another place had to be found. The cache has been replaced at S 36 50.102 E 174 43.925 and wedged in tightly within the root system. Apologies to the cache owner that it couldn't be replaced where it was originally but it was just impossible so we did the best we could. Definitely a favourite point from us and I can now drive over the Harbour Bridge without always looking wistfully at the Island thinking 'that if only we could get there".

TW has summed up this fabulous cache and our adventure getting there. Teamed up with TW, TF and PNZ to tackle this cache. The day started off on a laugh, ending many hours later with a grinning smiley - having had so many laughs in between. Plans were formulated, then scotched, then adapted, then rehashed. Marathon efforts by all to knock this cache off. A favourite and memorable day and a favourite cache. TFTC.

Not much for me to add to TW's log. This reminded me of the old saying that a camel was a horse designed by committee. Av, PGNZ, TW and I meet up early to make the assault on the Second Sentinel (is there a first sentinel?) and after issues with roof racks, retailers, rejects, reaching, replacement, repositioning, re-tieing and finally rejoicing, we had it DONE. Thanks.

I managed to arrange with my cousins the borrow of a kayak... but when we turned up at their place the kayak was much bigger than I expected. After a committee meeting with Team Welsh, Trout-Fly, Avoyager and myself - it was decided that roof racks or a new car was required.... what should have been a quick detour took 3 hours but finally we had roof racks, a kayak roped to the rack and 4 excited geocachers on a mission. I told Team Welsh she needed to look the part as we drove through Ponsonsby with a huge kayak on a 4WD. Arrived at Westhaven and realised we couldn't launch the kayak from the sea wall. Another hiccup. Off to the nearby beach off Jervois Road and finally kayak was in the water. The next hiccup was dropping the cache in the water.... but all said and done we finally got this cache found, signed and crossed off the Must-Do-One-Day list. T4tc

Great Auckland Day for a Kayak, beautiful on the harbour, nice quick trip to Watchman Island today, even if it was at low tide & we did get a bit muddy. Taken both TB's today & dropped off one.
Thanks for bringing us here, we see this little Island every time we drive over the Harbour Bridge.
We came from the South Side (Herne Bay) today.

YES. This cache had been tormenting me for several years. Decided I'd just snorkel out there. Did it tonight at low tide. YAY! Dropped off two TBs (penguin and I LOVE NZ). An island is a great place for TBs. Thanks for giving me the impetus to get out here.

Nice cache......not so easy for short asses like me to reach though

Found with FriwiNZ we have been talking about logging this one for years. Finally kayaked out there and it was well worth the effort! TFTC!!!

I had been wanting to do this cache for a very long time so this morning Flipdags and I launched our kayaks from Beach Haven. We reached the island fairly quickly as the fog was disappearing, great fun, even once on the island reaching the cache wasn't that easy, TFTC,

Can't believe it's been > a year since this has been found and over 3 since we got a frownie. We left Westhaven thinking conditions were ideal. No wind, smooth sea, thinking tide was about high so would help us on the way back. It was actually choppy though few white caps and wind coming across harbour from the north. Got out in about 40 minutes. Easier landing at high tide (last time was nearly low and many more exposed rocks) but it was about mrs j's limit. She felt pretty shaky and sure was glad no climb was involved. Muggles have been finding the cache more often than cachers and it was fun to read their logs. Just about ready to launch and about 20 king waves caused us consternation. Must have been the ferry but it had been doing the rounds on the north shore when we arrived. Finally got off and the paddle back was actually much easier than going out even though it was more into the wind, which had been increasing in strength and definitely more into the waves which had swung from pretty nearly broadside all the way out. Took less than 30 minutes back. Had a lovely trip. We don't take the boats out nearly often enough. Thanks for getting us on our bums and using shoulder power. Gets a fav from us! NINO TFTC
PS - have only just read that there were 2 caches placed. We found the larger, clear box.

First cache I have got to in a kayak.

We walked out to the island ! After reading a report from the '70s where some Scouts managed to walk out to the island at a very low tide, we studied the charts and thought we'd have a crack at it with our Scouts. Although the tide was only 0.8, we thought that if we choose the right path, it should only be about a 1m or so deep. As insurance we made some rafts by lashing some minnow kayaks together, and had a dinghy wiith an outboard motor nearby in case we needed it. We headed off from Cox's bay by carrying the rafts from The Ship (Hawke Sea Scouts den) to the retreating tide (we kept away from the channel because we know the mud is particularly squelchy and sucky there). We then started wading out into the harbour towards the water tower on the hill above Kauri Point. Once the island appeared to the southern side of the main harbour bridge span, we veered towards Chelsea Sugarworks. When the island was aligned with the southernmost bridge support we headed straight towards it. It was waist deep most of the way, but got chest deep (on an 182cm adult) for the last half hour as we approached the island. It took 75 minutes to wade to the island. By then the tide had turned, so we ended up paddling back on our rafts.

So put us down as a westward approach to the island ! (Note : wading is not recommended unless it is a very low tide, dead-flat calm, and you have maritime support).

It was great to have the extra incentive of a cache on the island, and we've introduced another family to geocaching. Huzzah!

(For more photos of the expedition see https://picasaweb.google.com/108491931795796962395/20120218WatchmanSIslandWalk?authkey=Gv1sRgCOSUzYHB8MfzXA )

This entry was edited by Jacksonz on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 at 10:50:53 UTC.

Our first ever geocache. Thanks Jacksonz!

Location check please! Perhaps muggled, or maybe has fallen to the elements.

Been wanting to do this for years. Then my mate Doug offered to take me out in his 4.5m boat. We got there 2 hours before high tide and made a safe landing on the north side of the Island. Had some fun getting and replacing the Geocache but really happy to finally have done it. Thanks for bringing me here.

Dropped of Garfield Travel Bug.

Wow. I've had my eyes on this cache since I fist saw it. I always wanted to swim out to it. It just seemed awesome! And I used to be a hard out swimmer.
But I was too scared, and probably rightly so, to do it alone. I thought about having a friend sit at the beach while I did it, but still, I wouldn't feel safe enough...
So, anyways, my mum was up in Auckland now, and I decided that I would convince her to go with me! Surprisingly though, she didn't actually need that much convincing!
She had the smart idea of taking wetsuits though, and good thing we did!
The weather was so yuck! And raining, and gross, and stuff.
We thought we would go anyways, as there wasn't major swells or anything.
Halfway there though, it started pouring down! Like we had next to no visibility, and it was completely crazy, and I didn't really know too well where we were going at that point!
But the weather soon cleared a bit, and we continued swimming.
Got there in the end!

Once we were at the island, the next mission was to get up on it! It was low tide, and the shells from the oyster things were cutting up our toes! I actually got a really deep cut from one that was still bleeding this morning!

We then found the cache, and sat for a bit. Mum had brought lollies, but we really appreciated the 'little something to get you back'!! Thanks!

As we were chilling though, the cop boat came past, and then stopped. The cops were looking at us, and we were slightly confused, thinking we were in trouble for something, maybe you weren't actually allowed to swim there, I don't know...
And they were too far away to ask.

But then they just asked us if we were ok, if we had swam, where from, and whether we had seen some missing kayakers...

So after that we headed back, and luckily the waves were with us here! We managed to get back, in about like half the time! Also, it didn't rain for us on the way back! Yay for nice weather!

This was a super awesome cache! Seriously, thanks for the challenge and cache!!
TFTC!!

absolutely awesome cache! gave me a chance to live up to my caching name was not an easy task though, the island seemed to get closer only very slowly. and the rain did not help - but I was not sure when I would be up in Auckland next and that kept me going - and of course I had the best company for such an endeavour the little surprise was exactly what we needed, thank you so much!!! having swam from Home Bay as it was the closest, I guess you can add 2 for that side, although in my case it does not say anything about the keener Auckland side - but it says something about the keener south in general a big TFTC!!!!

finally after all these months of procrastinating (actualy years) I through the old kayak in the water at the point chev boat ramp for a short 5 km paddle to the island. Arrived at the island about half hour before sunset and made the find. This made for a pleasant return into the sunset with both the tide and wind in my favour. a perfect way to end the day. Thanks for bringing me here from the southern side.

Well well, what a surprise Watchmans Island was! Not only does it have a sunset beach, but a perfect grassy lawn for relaxing on a summer day, drinking a few cold ones, and watching the city hum. I'll definitely be back for sure! Thanks for taking us there. We paddled from the south, then headed over to near The Wharf restaurant, and back to Westhaven Marina.

Coordinates changed from:
S 36° 50.102 E 174° 43.924

Coordinates changed to:
S 36° 50.108 E 174° 43.912

Distance from original: 68.9 feet or 21 meters.

Moved to a position where hopefully it will be a bit safer from muggles and the elements!

With no finds in almost a year, I think I had better go and check up on this one tomorrow morning!!

We put the kayaks in at Westhaven thinking the great free parks and easy to launch beach were great plus it seemed sensible to go INTO the wind on the way out and going under the bridge was fun. In our life BGC such a journey would have been adventure a plenty for a memorable day but now not getting to sign a log has added a very real disappointment to the fun; what salivating characters we've become. My guess is the cache has been muggled & recently; there is now a hand painted white flag on the ramparts and the 2 rum & coke tins I washed out and brought back for recycling still seemed to contain "original" liquid. We'll be watching and waiting to get a chance to knock this one off...thanks for taking us somewhere different in our harbour.

Glad to see it was still there - I was worried it was going to get washed away after I put it back.

P.S. - I live in the south, but launched from Birkenhead.

Great place for a cache. Four of us swam from Home Bay (from the south). 750m each way, swim out was mainly fine then a squall came through for the last bit and the return.
- TB
Thanks for the cache and the swim

An approach from the north side is being considered but will probably involve a support kayaker so the ferry doesn't run us over.

Not first to find, nor second nor third.

500th to find!

YAY!

Congratulations to me
Congratulations to me
Congratulations to me
tralalalala!!!
Congratulations to me

Left Diabetes TB, took shark(?)'s tooth necklace. Which I left sitting on the hull. All the way back. About 10cm from the waves. I knew I couldn't rescue it, because moving that far forward, the water would come over and wash it away. I couldn't turn back, because I was afraid turning would also wash it away. So I had no choice but to hope it stayed where it was. And it did!

I'm at 498, so this weekend, I'm going to make my attempt! Irrespective of the water temperature (but subject to sea-going conditions and wind)

Westmere seemed the closest easiest place to launch the kayak from the south side. An hour before neap high tide seemed just right for landing on a narrow and very shelly beach.
T4TC - M@

I'd just like to say in advance, that I am reserving this to be my 500th. I am at 436 at the moment. Please don't lose it between now and then.

I've had my eye on this cache since it's previous incarnation. When I finally got my water craft, the previous cache was gone.

Sometime between now and Christmas. Possibly as early as November.

XC and TK had been planning to do the first Sentinal but was surprised to see it was no longer active... Pleased though to see this one published.. We had bought the kayaks up from Turangi specially...
This morning dawned perfect and we set off mid morning.
Launched the kayaks at Sentinal beach... and paddled over... Landed on Island and carried kayaks up a bit as tide was coming in... Quickly to GZ but not quick to uncover. XC even called Greenblat to get location but TK uncovered before question was asked.
This island is much bigger when you are standing on it but still didn't take long to walk around it...
TK signed log and I uplifted TB in residence..
TFTC #955

Found in the company of the inimitable XenaCommander.
We had the scent of this one for a while but when we brought the jolly green janola bottles up from Turangi we found it disabled... but good things do happen for those who wait.. yippeee a new hide yippee and on a perfect day off we go.
Thanks to the owners for setting up a new hide. TK is worried It may not stay put for long in a storm as the placement is very precarious. A wee camobag with a cord to tie it up might help .. idea from one of P&Ps caches in a very windy spot.
Fantastic spot for a cache giving a very different view of this magnificent harbour.
TFTC

TODAY i believe is the day that FTF is claimed! so congratulations in advance to whoever it was that I saw on the island as i went over the bridge around 12.30 today!

Great way to spend a Monday...the rest is just as Greenblat has listed below.

Thanks again Ledge End.

Joint FTF with CreedyNZ.

Set out from Half Moon Bay in the good ship "El Capitane", so we'll claim first blood for the south side.

Was a relative smooth trip out and we were anchored up alongside the island at midday. Was a full tide, so the island was quite approachable but quite a narrow beach.

Transferred to the landing craft and a couple of quick strokes on the oars got us to the rock platform. We woke up the gulls but although they got a bit vocal at first, they left us alone pretty quick - no nests this time of year I think.

Cache took a bit of looking and eventually found in a very precarious place just 2ft above todays high tide. We've moved it up somewhat higher on departure but still within relevance to the clue.

Took spider TB

Can't believe that we were spotted by the cache owner from the bridge!!! Despite the access difficulties this island would make a poor hideout if you were fugitive. (or hiding from caching would-be-gurus from the north-shore who are raging with jealousy over your nano-finding skills).

Thanks for taking us here Ledge End

Published

Dropped off trackables (x3)