Now I can see where we are going
I’m the guy who needs his wife to read the text to him on upcoming road signs, so you don’t have to work too hard to convince me of the usefulness of a good pair of binoculars on a boat. Up until our boat show visit all we have had on board have been a couple of very compact sets, more appropriate for backpacking than navigating. We have put them to use though, both for eyeing good spots as we made our approach into an anchorage, and for checking out the bikini-clad sailors on neighboring boats once the anchor is down (just kidding Rebecca 😉 ).
Although a new pair of binos wasn’t a huge item on our shopping list, we did find a good deal on a pair of West Marine Raiatea 7x50s. No, they do not have a built in compass. No, they do not have image stabilization. No, they are not $1000.00+ Steiners! They do seem robust enough for our uses though, and I think they will be a huge improvement over what we have been using up to this point.
Hi Mike and Rachel,
Great blog and choice of lifestyle. I read and share it with my wife. She asked “what do we do for health care after moving to a boat?” The only thing I could think of quickly- we could become Canadian citizens and we had better get started. Honestly can a couple overcome such a question and endeavor into a sailing lifestyle? I do not know and we will find out. Those binocs would be handy in your cockpit underway. Maybe in their own recessed covered and padded well. Hopefully it is already there? Thanks for your updates and Best wishes! David and Margarita
Hello David and Margarita
It’s funny that you should call my wife Rachel. Her name is actually Rebecca but she says that whenever anybody does get her name incorrect, they call her Rachel (just as I tend to get called Steve). 🙂
Health care is definitely a concern for some people but as the two of us are young(ish) and basically healthy, we’re willing to take our chances. It is my understanding that affordable, quality health care is available in many other countries. Let’s hope we don’t have to test that out too much.
Mike