Phone Apps

Download the free ‘SkyView Lite’ app onto your phone. It is a beautiful and intuitive stargazing app that uses your camera to precisely spot any celestial objects in the sky (day or night). Find popular constellations and planets in our solar system.

This highly rated app helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos.

Download the app and play the hide and seek game.

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity in which participants use GPS on their cell phones to seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches," at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world, including Myrtle Beach and surrounding areas.

Getting Started

Create an account. The geocaching.com account and the basic cell phone app are both free, but you’ll also see an optional fee-based premium membership that offers additional features.

Caches use a 5-star rating for the level of difficulty and the terrain, so start out at the easy end of that range. It’s also best to seek traditional caches now, though cache types have evolved extensively over the years - one variation involves solving a puzzle as part of the hunt, for example.

Caches also come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, so you might want to begin by seeking “regular” size caches at the outset. Click on the listed size of a geocache in the app to get an idea of its dimensions. And, though most containers have a straightforward boxlike shape, there are no absolute rules, meaning caches might also be inside a container that’s a replica of an item like a birdhouse in a tree or a stone on the ground.

Seeking a Cache

After you’ve done some research on potential caches, you’ll use the app when you’re out looking for them. Check the app’s map page for nearby caches and then click on the one you want to find. The cache page offers details and hints to help you on your quest.

The map view shows how close you are (plus or minus about 30 feet), but it won’t show you the best route to take to get to a cache. Switch to the compass view when you get close because that can point you in the direction where you should look when you’re in the immediate vicinity of the cache.

Now you must sleuth out likely hiding places for the cache. Take your time and be observant.

Once You Find a Cache Geocaching - Etiquette for Cache Finders

• Check out the swag inside the cache and sign the logbook with your geocaching.com username.
• Take one item out (if you want to), and replace it with a new item of equal or higher value.
• Carefully seal the cache and hide it exactly as you found it. Don't try to make it easier or harder for the next person to find.
• Once back at home, go to geocaching.com and write a log to let the cache owner know you found it. Note the condition of the cache and provide future geocachers anything they might want to know - don’t provide any spoilers, though.

To learn more about geocaching, go to www.geocaching.com or do a google search.