Several years ago I was studying red-bellied macaws at Lago Sandoval in
Peru. My little Nikon Travelites were great. To safeguard them in my
luggage on the flight home, I wrapped them in my big pile of jungle-moldy
laundry. When I got back home to Santiago, Chile, I tipped the whole wad of
mildewed clothes into the washing machine...forgetting my bins inside. When
I pulled my laundered optics out of the machine, water sloshed back and
forth in them. A few hours in the sun dried them out well, the optics were
not out of alignment at all, and I still use them. I love having binoculars
I can hand to little kids to play with.

Alexia Stevens
Product Sales and Kamana Student Services
(425) 788-1301 x30
alexia at wildernessawareness.org
www.WildernessAwareness.org

Wilderness Awareness School is dedicated to caring for the earth and our
children by fostering understanding and appreciation of nature, community,
and self.
-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Ed Schulz
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 10:29 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Binocular waterproofness


Tweets,
A couple years ago I rolled my canoe and my Swarovski 8x30 SLC's
went to the bottom of the channel between Jetty Island and Port of
Everett. They were in about twenty feet of salt water. I was not
happy. I went home and tied a long pole to a garden rake and went
back to the area and attempted to snag them with the rake but the
water was too deep with the current running. The low tide was
about 5am the next morning and I returned with the long rake.
After about an hour I was ready to give up and go get the
snorkeling gear when they finally appeared on the end of the rake.
They were just fine after spending about 18 hours at a depth of
around 20 - 12 feet of water. No leaking or fogging at all.

As the sun warmed up the fog lifted, so since I have binos handy I
continued birding by canoe and came upon a flock of 30+ Common
Mergansers. When I got home I rinsed the binos in the kitchen
sink with fresh water and lots of little tiny shrimp-like
crustaceans came out of the eyecup sleeve gaps and focusing knob
area. A day that ended better than it began.

Ed Schulz
Everett, WA
eschulz at gte.net