When You Could Be in Canada, but You’re Actually in the US

We received an email this week from Boating Industry Canada editor Andy Adams discussing the news that as of Monday, August 9, travelers from the US can enter Canada for discretionary travel, based on vaccination status. Of course there are certain guidelines to follow: Travelers must meet mandatory vaccination requirements, must complete documentation using the ArriveCAN app or web portal, will need to be asymptomatic on arrival, and will need to show valid vaccination documentation upon request. Plus, individual provinces and territories may have their own entry restrictions, so before traveling it’s advisable to check both the federal and local guidelines and the details for the specific location you’re planning to visit. While overall this is good news for sailors, be aware, the Canadian government is warning of fines up up to $750,000 and/or six months’ imprisonment for anyone submitting a false vaccination status.

While we were digesting this news, we were reminded of a border anomaly that affects cruisers. Point Roberts Marina, in Washington, USA, lies at the end of a peninsula in British Columbia, CA. The Whatcom County town of Point Roberts is below the 49th parallel. To get there by road, you would have to drive through Canada, in which case the news outlined above is very pertinent. But what if you were to travel there by boat?

We called the Point Roberts Marina and spoke with Zihao Ding, the marina owner’s representative, to get a sense of how the marina has been faring throughout these tumultuous times.

“We’ve lost 400 – 600 boats since COVID started,” Ding told us.

Although most of the marina’s guests are Canadian, “80 – 90%,” the marina is still what Ding described as “empty.”

“When people hear about the border opening, they put up deposits. But the people have yet to come.

“People can’t go anywhere,” he added. “There was a shuttle ferrying people to Bellingham, since September 2020, but that’s stopping this week.

“Our marina is lower [emptier] than most US marinas. We would love people to come here.”

Ding sent us a couple of photos that indicate just how ’empty’ the marina is right now.

The Pacific Northwest is ‘just up the road’ from those of us here in the Bay, and a popular cruising destination. If you’re looking for somewhere to go, in a northerly direction, maybe Point Roberts is an option.

In his email, Andy Adams wondered, “Will we see our American friends show up this week?

“I would certainly like to think so, but the summer is more than half over and it would not surprise me to hear that many of those who normally visit us in the summers made other plans and have taken their vacations south of the border.”

Well, Point Roberts is certainly south of the border.

“Time will tell though, and let’s hope that the next weekend sees a happy return of our American friends and customers,” Adams concluded.