17-Aug-2005 -- Confluence 7N 122E is located in my hometown of Zamboanga City, Philippines. When I learned of the Degree Confluence Project on a National Public Radio (NPR) feature in San Diego, California and found out that there is one located in my birthplace I made plans to make an attempt to visit and make a report on this confluence. In August 2005 I took my family to my hometown to visit my relatives. This event presented me with an opportunity to give it a shot at my plan to visit confluence 7N 122E. Although this was not a successful visit, I am submitting this report to document my attempt and may serve as a guide to anybody who may want to try it in the future. My experience gave me a better strategy to reach the confluence the next time I will visit Zamboanga City. If you are interested to learn more about this beautiful city in southern Philippines, I recommend this website- http://www.zamboanga.com.

In the afternoon of August 17, 2005, I, and my two brothers Romeo and Victor, made an attempt to visit (or get as close as we could to) 7N 122E. My plan was to reach the place via paved roads as much as possible and do minimal travel on foot. I was equipped with Garmin eTrex Vista GPS receiver loaded with software version 3.2. I plotted the cursor to 7N 122E on the Map screen of the GPS receiver and vector towards it as we traveled onboard a 1964 Willys Jeep with our youngest brother Victor driving from downtown Zamboanga City towards the west coast highway. In Barangay Cawit was the entrance of the road to Barangay Tulungatung and according to the GPS receiver this was the closest accessible paved road to the site. The first fork on the road to the right of our traveling direction was the road to Barangay Baluno. The GPS receiver pointed to this road’s direction as leading to the site. We decided to take this direction and see if we will get closer. At the end of the paved road in Barangay Baluno was a location that put the confluence 2.22 miles (3.57km) NNW of our location. The reading on the GPS receiver was 6deg 58.218sec N, 121deg 59.275sec E and accurate to within 30 feet. The time was 1630 (4:30PM) local. This turned out to be the closest we got to the confluence.

On our way back, we decided to continue on to Barangay Tulungatung and observe our distance in the GPS receiver relative to the confluence. We were getting farther away. We turned back when we reached Barangay Tulungatung proper. We, however, noticed that there was another road that fork to the right before we reached Barangay Tulungatung. This was the road to Barangay Nangkal. We decided to check out this direction and see where it will lead us relative to the confluence. It was getting closer and at the end of the paved road it put us at a location that was 3 miles (4.83km) away from the confluence in the NNE direction. From what we had discovered and observed, we concluded that degree confluence 7deg N 122deg E is located between Barangays Baluno and Nangkal. On my next trip to my hometown, I have a better idea on how to reach the place and hopefully make a successful visit. Or somebody will before I do.