The seagulls raise the alarm, as the bald eagle soars above Christie Island in search of supper. They chase him off like a squadron of F16s around a stray MiG.
Sheer granite cliffs rise above the water, the odd arbutus tree clinging to the rock face. Harbour seals, surprised by our presence, pop up like periscopes. In these waters, my guide tells me, you can often see orcas and humpback whales.
I am on Sewell’s Sea Safari off the coast of Vancouver, in a jet-boat on Howe Sound, the most southerly fjord of North America. Like Cape Town, Vancouver is one of those cities in the embrace of wilderness, all ocean and forests and snowcapped peaks.
