#4: [21-Sep-13]

#3: [02-Aug-04]

#2: [27-Aug-01]

22-Mar-2001 -- This appears to be the first attempt to photograph a confluence along the Canada-USA border. This confluence, unfortunately, is located in the waters of Boundary Bay, between Point Roberts and White Rock.

Point Roberts is a curiosity: a small penninsula of the United States that hangs off of Canada. The tiny community is surrounded on three sides by ocean; on the 4th side by the international border. The community has no school, so American school children are bused through Canada and back down into Washington State. Because they cross through two international borders, the children cannot carry citrus fruits in their lunches.

When the 49th Latitude was chosen for the border between Canada and the USA in the 1800s, mapmaking was imprecise enough that no one realized that Point Roberts would become part of the USA.

I thought it would be easy to photograph on the confluence point from the beach: just hike up to the border, and click the pix. As I drove into the area from the Canadian side, however, I found the beach was cut off by private homes and many signs warning against parking. The nearest public parking is 2km away. Working my way through the rabbit's warren of streets, I finally found a narrow access to a boat ramp. I parked there just long enough to photo the GPS info on my Palm III and where I imagined the confluence point to be out in the Pacific Ocean.

I wonder if it might be easier to get right to 49N from the American side of the border?

In Boundary Bay, the borderline with Canada is passing 760 ft north of the Confluence.