Gulls screech down to a hard landing beside the boat, empty coves beckon, seals flop lazily over the rocks and ancient Douglas firs, growing on a maze of small Gulf Islands, are reflected in the water.
But look in the other direction and a massive tanker is ploughing a determined route towards the U.S, crab fishermen are pulling up their traps, a B.C. ferry is chugging along on its regular run towards the mainland and someone has erected a monstrous concrete-block wall beside a beach.
It's all part of a day in the life of the Salish Sea, where awe-inspiring scenery makes it easy to forget that seven million people - three million Canadians and four million Americans - live around the edges and many make their living from the ocean or rely on it for recreation.
The fragile ecosystem where the nutrient-rich water from the Fraser River mixes with the ocean is facing climate change, development, industrial projects and the possibility of many more tankers if Kinder Morgan twins its pipeline into Burnaby and a proposed coal terminal in Cherry Point, Washington, gets the go-ahead.
Even love can hurt. Each year, there are more boats, jetskis and campers who believe a small fire won't be a problem.
As cash-strapped governments become less involved, it's up to individuals to put aside polarized views and ensure everyday actions help protect the unique ecosystem, says Angus Matthews, executive director of the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre.
"If we want this Marine Conservation Area to be all it can be, the community needs to be involved," he said.
"The focus has to be on best practices. We can make it better than government can."
Even on the contentious question of tankers, there has to be give and take, Matthews said.
"We have to accept a certain degree of economic development - Canadians have to decide what they are ready to accept - but I really hope that, if we accept it, we can do it safely," he said. "We have to talk about mitigation."
Part of the Salish Sea is in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve - which was expanded this week - and a larger area is being studied by the federal government as the proposed Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area.
One major difference is that a marine conservation area acknowledges that all activities will continue while protection is a primary concern in parks.
"Under the Parks Act, everything is prohibited except that which is permitted, and in a National Marine Conservation Area, everything is permitted except that which is prohibited. That's a very significant point," Matthews said.
Mining, oil and gas exploration and "exploitation" are the only activities specifically prohibited in a national marine conservation area.
Branding of the area with the Salish Sea name has been a vital step forward, said writer Bruce Obee, whose passion for the area takes him out in his five-metre rowboat for days at a time.
"People can relate it to the entire ecosystem. They can now understand the issues," said Obee, who has written numerous books on the ecology, birds and animals of the area.
Todd Golumbia, another acknowledged Salish Sea expert, pulls up near Sidney Spit in his Parks Canada Zodiac, and his news supports Matthews' concern that government oversight is shrinking: The Parks ecologist, who has spent 10 years in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, accumulating a wealth of knowledge, has only one more month on the job as Parks Canada cuts positions.
"I'm just wrapping things up," said Golumbia, who plans to stay in the area as a consultant.
The Gulf Islands National Park reserve is losing seven positions and another 10 will have shorter seasons. The Parks Canada budget was cut by $29.2 million earlier this year and 638 jobs are being cut across the country. The work will continue, but there will be changes, Golumbia said.
"I think there's a huge opportunity in trying to establish relationships with various communities," he said.
"There's a lot of brainpower in the small communities on the Gulf Islands."
Much of the challenge is changing thinking, so the impact on the environment is minimized without banning activities, Golumbia said.
That can range from not letting dogs run along fragile dune ecosystems, where they disturb shorebirds, to not pouring toxic substances down the sink or sharing docks instead of pile-driving yet more posts into the ocean because everyone wants their own.
There are signs of hope, Golum-bia said. "There is a changing culture that you can go to a place and just experience it. You don't have to go and catch a fish or shoot a deer or pick up a shell," he said.
Changes in the Salish Sea are apparent within the last decade, and underline the domino effect as populations shift - especially when there is human interference.
Humpback whales are returning after decades of being hunted to the brink of extinction and bald eagle populations have rebounded with the banning of the pesticide DDT.
"And we have a high density of harbour seals now. Their numbers were down to less than 10,000 on the whole coast because they were shot as predators to fish and that threw the whole system into turmoil," Golumbia said.
Now many fishermen believe there are not enough fish to support the seals, but nature, again, has a solution.
"The transients [marine-mammal-eating killer whales] are showing up and feeding on lazy harbour seals," Golumbia said.
That means some whale-watchers are now being treated to scenes of bloody carnage.
"It's not all pretty pictures, but it's great that people see the resilience of nature," Golumbia said.
WHAT IS THE SALISH SEA?
? The Salish Sea is the name given to the area that encompasses the Strait of Georgia, Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget Sound. The name, recognizing the area as a single marine ecosystem, was officially adopted in February 2010 after approval was given by B.C., Canada, Washington state and the U.S. federal government.
? The watershed takes in 110,000 square kilometres.
? The sea surface covers 16,924 square kilometres.
? The Salish Sea is dotted with 419 islands.
? The coastline stretches over 7,470 kilometres.
? Maximum depth, in Jervis Inlet, is 732 metres.
? The highest mountain, at 4,393 metres, is Mount Rainier, Washington.
? The international border between Canada and the U.S, runs through the middle of the Salish Sea.
? Fresh water from the Fraser and other smaller rivers pours nutrients into the ocean, making it one of the richest temperate ocean environments in the world.
? The Salish Sea is home to 20 species of mammals, 128 types of birds, 219 fish species and more than 3,000 invertebrates.
? The human population around the edge of the Salish Sea is approximately seven million.
? The name honours the Coast Salish people - consisting of 55 First Nations in Canada and 23 tribes in the U.S - who have lived in the area for more than 5,000 years.
? A patchwork of land and adjacent marine area within the Salish Sea is protected by the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve that covers 62 square kilometres - 36 square kilometres on land and 26 square kilometres of water.
? The federal government is continuing to consult on the proposed Southern Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, stretching from Gabriola Passage and Saanich Inlet to south of Sidney. If approved, the NMCA will cover about 1,400 square kilometres.
Sources: Bruce Obee/Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre/Parks Canada
