Earlier this year in mid-February 2017, my wife Doreen and I took a winter getaway week to Southwest Florida and rented a beach condo in Bonita Beach just north of Naples. We had spent a week in Bonita Beach the prior winter, meeting my sister Audrey and her husband Peter who were visiting their snowbird friends Joan and Dan who are seasonal resident renters in nearby Bonita Springs. We had such a great time in 2016 that we repeated the trip in 2017, but this particular trip proved to be the start of something new. Actually, the trip planted the seed of a new hobby for the both of us.
It started with a day trip to Everglades National Park and an exhilarating speedboat ride that eventually led us through the world famous mangrove swamps of the park. The weather was picture perfect, the scenery was outstanding and the wildlife, particularly the dolphins and the birds were fascinating. Two other couples were on our guided boat ride; a young couple from Italy and an older couple who were retired chemical engineers from New Jersey. The retired couple were working on their goal of visiting every one of the U.S. National Parks. What an awesome goal! They were nature and wildlife enthusiasts and mentioned that they had spent much of the prior day birding at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in nearby Naples. I had read about the sanctuary and knew that it was a huge hotspot for many different bird species and the avid birders that seek them out. I had a passing interest in trying to visit the sanctuary if we could make the time for it, but it wasn’t at the top of my list of things to do while on vacation. However, after speaking to the New Jersey couple and experiencing the wildlife in the Everglades, my interest was immediately piqued.
After returning to Bonita Beach that evening, Doreen and I talked about possibly visiting Corkscrew, but I knew deep down that without binoculars we probably wouldn’t have the full experience that the sanctuary offered. I’m the type of person that has to have the right equipment and a little bit of knowledge before diving into new things. So, I just simply said that it was probably not worth the trip without being equipped with binoculars, and we left it at that. What Doreen didn’t realize was that I was determined to learn more about what this birding stuff was all about and I wanted to know what were the best binoculars for serious beginners in the hobby. When we returned to New York, I got to work. It wasn’t long before I felt that the best choice for us were Zeiss Terra ED 8×42 binoculars.
In mid-March I ordered two Zeiss Terra EDs online and the box came in the mail two days later. Doreen didn’t know that I was doing research on birding and binoculars, much less that I had made this purchase until the box was delivered and she asked what was in it. I said, “Why don’t you open it up and find out?” “Oh wow! Binoculars?”, she said. “Yes”, I said. “One for me and one for you. It’s for our new hobby – birding! Remember when we were in Florida and we wanted to go to that bird sanctuary, but decided not to go because we didn’t have binoculars? Well now we can bring these with us anywhere and enjoy birding together”. Needless to say, she was so surprised, happy and excited to start something new.