NavList:

I have to agree with Dave overall point.

I find celestial navigation extremely rich. I don't own a boat (anymore) and never did deep water sailing when I did.  But it doesn't matter. What's important, to me anyway, is the beauty of form of applied obserational astronomy. For me, that's justification enough.  It's a wonderful medium to learn and appreciate the sky as well as the evolution of technique and equipment.

Much of what man does with nature is distructive. We are quite skilled at destroying nature - consuming, extracting, hording, poluting. But CelNav is different. It's all about information - extracting angles, relationships, visibility, timing, direction.  There's something quite elegant here. 

And then there is the other dimension, time and history. CelNav opens so many doors to maritime and aviation history, science, innovation and personalities.

But perhaps the simplest reward is the confidence you can figure out where you are and what time it is (Lunars).

So, when my wife sees me in the back yard taking shots and quips "Has the house moved?" I just think of what she misses.

Popko