Newbie Confusion

[Seeekker]

First off, whats the best method to find the EPOCH servers. I found one with EPOCH in the title by searching through the giant list with a few filters on. Then I loaded into the game with nothing as I expected but I was stuck on this island with a bunch of steel sheds and some closed off bunker. I died a few times trying to jump down from the rocks but was eventually able to. There appeared to be vendors in some of these sheds but I could not interact with them and the bunker was inaccessible. I had no choice but a 20min swim to another shore which pretty much turned me into a popsicle. I then searched one building and came out to see 4-5 heavily armed soldiers not too far away. Of coarse they opened up on me but I ran behind the house and got away. Are their soldier AI in this game? Maybe i stumbled upon a mission. Is there a different spawn point but that dreaded Guantanamo like place? Was I even on a correct Arma 3 epoch beta server?

[Renegade2k6]

There are 3 man hole covers on the ground, clicking them will take you to 1 of the 3 traders on the main island.

[axeman]

Have also made that swim, was curious  :) 

[BoONDocK]

Also just hit your filter tab in the multiplayer server screen and search for EPOCH all the proper servers should pop up

[Oggies]

There some youtube vids showing off the game, very helpful when starting out.