It is a landscape that looks empty and is not: each tide carries it from shining water to glistening mud and back, and every square metre is grazed by birds.
The Fraser delta lies on one of the major bird migration routes of the Americas, and the flats and marshes here, including the nearby Reifel Bird Sanctuary, support hundreds of thousands of birds in winter and spring. Western sandpipers arrive in huge flocks in April and May, feeding on the biofilm that coats the mud, and at certain times of year the whole shore seems to ripple with their flight. Bald eagles, peregrine falcons and short-eared owls hunt over the grass. Seals haul out on sandbanks, and at the right season, salmon pass through on their way upriver.
Steveston, the old fishing village at the south-west corner of Richmond, is the nearest settlement and the best place to get your bearings. It was once one of the busiest salmon canning centres in the world, home to dozens of canneries and a large Japanese Canadian fishing community, which was forcibly removed in 1942. The Gulf of Georgia Cannery, now a national historic site, preserves the machinery and stories of that period. The boardwalk along the working harbour is lined with fish stalls where you can buy prawns or salmon straight off the boat, and the fish and chips are widely praised.
The ride along the river dyke from Steveston to Garry Point is flat and quiet, with a path used by cyclists and walkers, and the main roads of Richmond are straight and busy. Traffic on Steveston Highway slows to a crawl at commuting hours. A day starting at the Kootenays, in the high interior, is a long way from here, but the Fraser Valley freeway brings you down to the sea in a few hours.
Richmond has more than enough fuel, restaurants and shops. Garry Point Park is a good place to fly a kite or watch the sunset over the Strait, with a great view of the mountains of Vancouver Island on a clear evening.