I have lived in the Okanagan since 1982 and have been waterskiing out of Gellatly Bay for over 30 years. I have had only a passing interest in "Ogopogo" sightings - thinking maybe there is something to the reports - maybe not. About 5 years ago I was out skiing - pulling my friend across the lake from Peachland towards Rattlesnake on a perfectly calm day - no other boats around. I noticed a small black shape heading northeast towards Kelowna moving at a good pace, leaving a "V" wake behind in the middle of the lake. I motioned to the skier that I was turning the boat to have a closer look. I drove up from behind - following the strange "object" in the water. When we came to within 150' or so the dark object disappeared under the flat water and the wake was gone. My friend's 23 yr old daughter was in the boat and saw it as well. There wasn't much to see above the water and no pictures so I didn't report anything. We knew we had definitely seen something odd and it wasn't a rogue wave or a muskrat or beaver etc.

Now the really interesting sighting: Tuesday morning June 1/21 - clear and sunny, around 10:30am. Gellatly Bay was perfectly flat without a boat in sight, which is just what a water skier wants! Then we saw something moving on the water while driving to the boat launch - before the Ferry Dock. I just about stopped in the middle of the road - with cars behind me to point it out (now I wish I had). People were walking along the path but no one was looking out. It reminded us of a small whale sighting (not a breach but a smaller one moving along - we had just returned from 6 Months in Cabo and saw whales almost on a daily basis) I first noticed a splash of water and then a dark hump coming to the surface and then it looked like a 20’ or so log moving along on the surface leaving a wake and then it submerged - wake gone - only to resurface again after 5 sec. or so with more splashes and several dark humps moving along towards the NE leaving a wake before going under again and then flat water. We couldn’t believe our eyes - I almost drove off the road. We launched the boat and headed over to the area and sat around for 15 m or so to see if anything would appear again. As i said it was flat calm and no boat wake looks like that!

The big Wakeboard boats are designed to leave a large wake behind which may appear to be humps moving along in the water which I have seen many times and I could see being mistaken for something swimming in the water and even make a great photo - this wasn't it! We estimate that it was maybe 12 - 1500 feet off shore. I’m glad my wife saw it as well or I may be doubting what I saw! I was trying to write off this sighting as something normal but couldn't come up with an explanation. The fact that this activity started and stopped twice along with the splashes leaving only flat calm water is the part that was most compelling.

Unfortunately - no pictures or video. I kept going over the event in my mind and decided to call Castanet to see if they had any other sightings which they said no but took my name & number just in case - to corroborate someone else's story. I didn't want to be interviewed as just another one of "those" sightings which I always had been skeptical of. I decided to Google Ogopogo sightings - just to see if there were similar sightings to ours and I came across the Ogopogo Quest website - so here is my report for the records!
Larry S.

We received a very interesting report from Marlene.

I was just watching a documentary about the Ogopogo. They were saying it was sighted close to Rattlesnake Island. So I was looking on "Google Earth " and I see this thing... It's to the right of the picture, going left, towards the island. Kind of looks like front flippers as it is going towards the left. Here is like a street view facing towards it. Looks like 2 front flippers and 2 side flippers."

"My wife, son and I were on the boat around 1:30pm in the afternoon heading back to the Penticton marina (South). My son was driving as I was watching for stuff in the water. As we were heading South I told him to watch out for the Sea Doo ahead as he was jumping around and making big waves. My son asked what side should we pass him on. I told him to wait until we got closer as he may change directions. When we started to get closer 300ft away we all noticed there was no jet ski there but this object that had three perfect symmetrical waves coming off of it. My wife said slow down as she thought it was a kayaker. We slowed down and approached the area and told my wife and son to grab their phones and start taking a video. Now this is the weird part not one of us had our phones. That never happens. So anyways the object that was making the waves disappears, but the waves were huge, bigger than the wake my 25ft boat was making. They were these perfect three waves rolling away to the West, not the east. There were no boats in the area either and a super calm day. So we are not sure what we saw but the size had to be huge as we thought it was a jet ski jumping around. The picture is so vivid in our minds."

Email from UBC student Breyden H., who reported to us that he has seen "Ogopogo" on four different occasions over the past few months. He also submitted a sketch of what he saw during one of his sightings.

"I have had multiple sightings this year of what I think is a species of creatures people call "Ogopogo" that I'd like to tell you about, starting with the most recent sighting, which was today (September 29, 2018):
My 4th sighting - Sept. 29, 2018: I was looking at the lake at around 7:45am today when I spotted what at first looked like a log. Although there were small waves in the lake, it didn't appear to move the way a floating log would. I kept watching and about 5 minutes later, it moved from left to right. Although I tried to video it, the sun prevented me from getting a good view. By the time the view was a little clearer, whatever it was had already submerged."

"My 3rd sighting - Sept.28, 2018: I was up early and was looking at the lake. I live on the second-floor of a house with a very good view of the lake. I picked up my binoculars and did a couple of sweeps of the area. At around 7:10am, I saw something surface on the eastern side of Okanagan Lake and raise a fairly long neck and head out of the water. First the hump appeared and then the head and neck surfaced only a second after, in fluid motion. It appeared to be surveying its surroundings, looking from left to right as I watched. I estimated the length to be comparable to about half the length of a small kayak, with its neck about half a meter out of the water. The head looked to be about a foot and half long, from what I could see of it. The creature surfaced not far away from the Kelowna General Hospital location. The day was sunny with some clouds in the distance and the lake was a bit wavy at first but then calmed as the morning went on. The color of the creature was jet-black and the skin was very smooth due to the sunlight reflecting off it. I was able to watch it for a solid 10-20 seconds then grabbed for my camera, but unfortunately the camera wasn't charged. By the time I plugged in the charger, the creature had submerged. I've attached a drawing of what I saw. This could not have been a jumping fish because the head and neck stuck out of the water for approximately 15-20 seconds before submerging. And it was not a waterfowl because I saw a flock of ducks on the lake and they were very small in comparison to this creature. If I had to guess, I would say this was a juvenile member of the Ogopogo species." .

"My 2nd sighting -June 2nd, 2018: My second sighting was actually in two parts. I had awakened around 5:00 am and looked out towards the lake. I spotted something lying on the surface of the water, close to the Bill Bennett Bridge, As I reached for my camera, the "subject" began moving. It even looked like there might have been two other shapes briefly surfacing near it. The larger creature was clearly serpentine and appeared to be 40-45 feet in length and it had shiny, smooth skin. It moved southwards and at one point started going really fast. I had my video analyzed by the BCSCC (British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club), and according to them, the creature moved 300 meters in 3 minutes! At one point, it turned towards the east side of Okanagan Lake and submerged. About two and a half hours later that same day, I again looked in the direction of the Kelowna General Hospital and saw something briefly surface and submerge. My mom joined me at the window and right in front of both of us, the back of what was probably the same creature I had seen before rose out of the water and in no time flat, blasted through the water like an arrow. It left a massive wake as it did so. We were stunned by this this sudden yet spectacular display. It was absolutely amazing to have 2 such experiences within one morning!".

"My 1st sighting - May 11th, 2018: I have a good view of the lake from the second floor hallway of our house. As I looked out, I caught activity in the lake out of the corner of my eye. There, a huge, elongated creature was lying still on the water and as I watched for 1-2 minutes, it began to move. I ran to get my camera and I managed to film the sighting. As I did so, I noticed the creature stretched so that I could see multiple humps when it moved horizontally as it swam southward in the lake. I estimated it to be about the length of a logger truck; I could tell it was a creature because it was leaving a wake behind it. Because my first few video clips were shaky, I ran for my tripod and mounted my camera on it just in time to be able to video the creature with multiple humps visible on the surface. It finally turned in my direction on the Westside of the lake, and did a semi-loop before going out of sight behind a neighbour's house. In total, I have almost 10 minutes of my sighting captured on video, taken close to the Bill Bennett Bridge."
Breyden H.

Story reported to this website by Tracey W, a longtime Kelowna resident.

"My husband and I were driving across the bridge this past August 24th (2018)to go for dinner with my sister and her family into Westbank. Just as we were nearing the end of the bridge headed towards the westside, I looked on the right hand side [which would put it on the side of the bridge towards the downtown area of Kelowna] I saw something long swimming in the water – it looked like it was coming in and out (up and down). I yelled at my husband to slow down and explained what I was seeing, as I was excited. My husband just saw the waves being made before we came off bridge – we were going to try and pull over at the top where all the billboards are but traffic was too busy. I have lived in Kelowna for 30 years and watch the lake like a hawk whenever we travel to Penticton etc…. I was so excited that finally I saw something. It was not much after this that the two gentleman were on the news [they were able to video their sighting from Bear Creek Provincial Park] and I thought how funny we haven’t heard much about sightings and just as I see it, someone else did too.
Tracey M, Kelowna

There is much to be told in this story about what David Halbauer and his brother Keith saw at the water’s edge near Bear Creek Provincial Park last Friday (September 7th). There are compelling hints at the existence of the Okanagan’s legendary lake monster.

" You’re sitting on the beach on a sunny day, you don’t expect to see a dinosaur coming out of the water," Kelowna’s David Halbauer told Global News. We were all just stunned." A long and dark snake-like creature emerged from the water about 100 metres offshore, Halbauer said. "I don’t think I could put my arms around it," he said of the creature’s diameter. "It rolled up and down as it went in the water. Another lump of the same thing came up about five metres in front of it." He hastily grabbed his cellphone and tried to capture the amazing sight in front of him on video, but said a glare made it impossible to see exactly what he was recording.

"I don’t know what it was,"his brother Keith, visiting from Edmonton with his wife, said. "But then I saw waves behind it. The rest of the lake was calm. So, it’s pretty neat."

It was about 15 metres or 50 feet long, the men told Global News on Tuesday night. In the video, Halbauer can be heard describing it as 40 feet long. "Like a dinosaur," Halbauer said."It was like a giant snake."

(*note: this sighting took place 2 days before a sighting by Andrew Stark of Kelowna, an amateur photographer who gave us an incredible picture of what he saw).

Story reported to www.ogopogoquest.com by Andrew, a local photographer, in September 2018. "I was sitting on the shore of Bluebird Bay on a quiet Sunday (September 9, 2018). I am an amateur photographer and I love catching images on the lake. A large moving object suddenly reared out of the lake and moved quickly from left to right in my view. As you can see in my picture, there is a boat in the distance toward Squally Point, but nothing else, certainly no boats large enough to kick up such a wake. There also was no tremor recorded in the Okanagan September 9th (18) that would kick the lake up as I saw." Andrew S, Kelowna

Story reported to Ogopogo Quest by Martin from Vancouver, a contractor working on new highrise condo in Kelowna. This was the third possible "Ogopogo sighting" reported in less than 3 weeks, with more reports coming after this one!

"Sept 18, 2018 - I was working on the 22nd floor of a new highrise condo in Kelowna. I am working from out of town so I was taking in the views at approx 9am this morning. I noticed that there are not many boats in the water on a weekday and how calm the water was. I saw something in the water today that is very hard for me to explain. It looked like a giant snake breaching out of the water (barely) but enough to make pretty big waves in and around it. There were no boats in the area, and the water was very, very calm. I told a co-worker to look out at the water in the area in question and my co-worker was looking and seeing what I was seeing and was also dumbfounded. I still do not know exactly what "it" was, but after doing some research on the internet the possibility of something very large living in the very deep and extensive waterways of Lake Okanagan is very possible...This "it" must have been approx. 30-50 feet long breaching out of the water for approx 2-3 minutes. I tried grabbing my cell phone out of my pocket to get a picture or video of this disturbance in the water, but by the time I got it out of my pocket, it had submerged and the waves almost instantly vanished and the water went calm. It is very interesting that there was a sighting last week near Bear Creek Park when MY encounter this morning was not far from there at all. Rough bearing from Google Maps is: 49°53'13.4"N 119°31'14.7"W. It was approx. 200-300 meters from the shore and definitely worth investigating further. I have always had a hard time believing in something that I have never seen with my own eyes...But after my experience today, I honestly can say that there IS something in these waters. They find new species all over our planet everyday and much of our planet has not been fully explored. I wish someone could get some drone footage of this area to possibly get a glimps and put all the speculators to rest.

I know there is something down there. I just find it very interesting that the Sighting last week by the man with the video was at Bear Creek Park which is not far at all from my sighting...Very similar description. There MUST be something. Would love to purchase a Drone and go up and down that stretch to get some concrete evidence.
Martin Z."

Global News Interview with Bill Steciuk on September 26, 2018

After 3 reported Ogopogo sightings in a span of less than 3 weeks, Kelowna's Global News Anchor Doris Bregolisse followed up with Bill Steciuk. As a result of this interview, the www.ogopogoquest.com website received over 117,500 hits in a span of 5 days, as well as a variety of reports from people detailing sightings that they experienced over the years. Some of the reports were of sightings which occurred in the last days of September, after the interview.

Click here to view interview on Global News

Story reported to this website by Katrina T., from Peachland, British Columbia, on September 30, 2018.

"On September 30th, around 4:00pm in Peachland, I saw something swim from the middle of the lake then disappear when it reached the shore. It was making huge splashes. My phone was almost dead or I would have taken a video. I took a bunch of pictures and you can see where it goes, and the caves. Right after I saw it, 5 boats came over investigating."

Wendy Steciuk was looking out the living room window of her lakeside condo located south of Mission Creek, near the Bluebird Road access to South Beach. It was about 4:45 pm on February 9, 2019, when she saw something on the lake. She grabbed her camera which she always has handy due to previous "Ogopogo" sightings, and snapped pictures from her balcony. She took several pictures and the object was definitely moving. Her camera view finder indicated that the "subject" was about 130 meters away."

"While we were going over the bridge into Kelowna around 6:40 am, we saw weird movement in the water . We pulled over to take a second look but we were unable to capture a photo. It appeared to be multiple scale-like humps coming out of the water and slowly rotating . Around those lumps were multiple larger waves following the creature. We are unsure if it was due to different temperatures of waters or if we have seen the legendary OGOPOGO."

"I was kayaking with my friend this past Sunday [September 8, 2019] on Okanagan Lake towards James Grant Island and all of a sudden we both saw this wave coming towards us . The lake was so smooth, quiet and mirror like. No boats were around us nor had passed us and it was quite calm. Then we both saw this long wave come towards us out of nowhere. We didn’t see any head but this wave. She said she felt a bump under her kayak. As it passed us it just disappeared. Our husbands were at the Fintry community beach and watched this pass us. My husband described it as a funny wave moving down the lake almost something large just below the surface."

Andrew Stark is an avid photographer who lives in a lakeside condo complex south of the Eldorado Marina off Lakeshore Road. He took the following photos around 4:15pm on April 6, 2021, from his patio overlooking the lake. His estimate of distance was about 300 meters towards the southwest. The object stayed visible for about 2 minutes.

"E.D. was walking along a service road in Summerland,about 300 feet above the lake, around 8:15am on May 10, 2021. She first noticed a disturbance in the water with fish jumping and a large black object thrashing in the middle. There were also many sea gulls flying over the one specikfic area. This lasted for about a minute. The black object then submerged and reappeared, moving on the surface towards the middle of the lake at a fast rate.This whole event lasted about 3 minutes and it then submerged out of sight.