"It was right around Regata time, July 24, 1981, around 1:00pm. We were in a rented ski boat and were running on the west side of the lake in the vicinity of Peachland, just a bit northwest of the tip of Rattlesnake Island. A waterskier had just passed us going fast in the opposite direction to us when suddenly a creature surfaced directly in front of us facing a northeasterly direction. We saw no head, just a body, my thoughts being that the head might be laying flat just below the surface. At first I thought it was the wake of the other boat, but then realized that the boat's wake was going the other direction. As we came closer, the creature broke into a fast-paced undulating motion. I pointed our boat directly at it but as we neared it, the creature dove, causing a large frothy whirlpool. I turned the boat around and could see the creature two or three feet below in the water. It moved at great speed at least half-way across the lake before it dove deeper and out of sight. The creature was at least 50 feet long and seemed to be either very dark green or black."

"I have not reported this story publicly before now as it is just too unbelievable. This sighting occurred in late July of 1986. I was paddling a canoe near Ellison Provincial Park, and my 2 girls were trolling for fish (they were about 8 and 10 years old at this time). Since it was dusk and the stars were beginning to be visible, we began to head toward the dog beach at Ellison to head back to camp. It was a warm night; the lake was smooth as glass and it was a very quiet evening with no motor boaters. We were about 100m out from the beach when we noticed a rounded object on the water. The object was not moving. Thinking it was something like a play toy or an inner tube, I decided to paddle over and investigate. As we approached, the first thing I noticed was a strong fishy smell. When the bow of the canoe was within a meter or so of the object, we noticed it was about 1 ft wide by 4ft long and had 2 rows of arrowhead shaped scales running its length. It was dark green in color. We sat there a few seconds and I asked the kids to reel in their lines. Then we heard a kind of moaning or low growling noise. We realized that about 5 to 10 M further ahead there was a large head facing away from us silhouetted against the dusk sky. The head appeared to be about the size of a horse head and it appeared to have horizontal conical shaped structures like horns. My kids turned to ask what this was and I said "the Ogopogo." At this juncture, realizing what I had just said, my hair stood straight up, and my older daughter freaked out and demanded we head to shore! The creature appeared to notice we were there and slowly moved away. It did not move with any undulations but moved slowly with the head and hump in the same position. Its movement seemed consistent with the idea of a large body under the water (and likely under my canoe!) and a long folding neck. After moving off about 50 M, it turned as if to take a look at us and then it submerged. This whole incident lasted about 2 minutes. I did have a camera in the boat with me but was just too shocked to think of trying to use it. We have often returned to Ellison Park to camp and paddle, but I have never seen anything like that again. Thank you for providing this report venue[www.ogopogoquest.com website]. John P.

This sighting was reported to the local media: "It was about 15 feet long and swam real gracefully and fast," Giroux told the press. The Girouxs claim to have seen an animal with a round head "like a football;" at one point several feet of the creature's neck and body came up out of the water."

As reported to the media, John Kirk was vacationing in Kelowna with his family and they believed they had a close encounter with " The Ogopogo". Mr. Kirk also reports that he had frequent sightings over a period of 3 years.

"What we saw was more than any wave. It was September 1995, we were showing family Kelowna sites and we were at the park looking over the lake. There, 50 feet out, a snake-like body, 15 -20 feet of slithering movement. We watched and looked at one another questioning this. Even stopped other couples to ask "do you see what we are seeing?" and they did. The sighting lasted 15 minutes or longer. Yes we're believers!"

A Penticton businessman and his wife apparently watched the head and neck of a large creature swimming through the water for several minutes while boating off Rattlesnake Island near Peachland.

The following was reported "At midnight Monday, six adults including four security guards, spotted a strange looking creature at the end of Bernard Avenue. The 4-metre (12 foot) long creature with four flippers, 2 at each end, thrust forward like a caterpillar."

A minister and his wife were hiking in Kalamoir Park on the west side of Okanagan Lake near Kelowna when they spotted a strange creature swimming on the surface of the lake and took its picture.

Visitors from Prince George, British Columbia, were walking in Bertram Creek Park south of Kelowna. They suddenly saw a disturbance in the lake approximately 300 feet out. What appeared to be a huge log was moving parallel to the shore against the waves. They estimated it was 40 feet long and watched for about 45 seconds before it disappeared.

James Ivany writes that he saw the creature while he was vacationing in Okanagan Lake Provincial Park in August 2000. "A girl and I were sitting on the beach talking all night long. At around 5:30am, soon after daybreak, I left the beach to use the public restroom. As I was returning to the beach, I looked out towards Rattlesnake Island and saw what looked like a submarine surfacing. The girl to whom I had been talking also saw it as well and was pointing towards it. It looked to be about 100 feet or so in length and it was travelling very fast. About 30 seconds later it went out of sight, heading south towards Penticton. It looked like it had a wake behind it, which may have made it appear longer. It was clearly not a wave since the lake was almost like glass that morning, with clear skies, no wind and mild temperatures. The few waves there were were very small and extremely slower than what I saw. It was silent, faster than any speedboat I had seen on the lake earlier that week but with no sound, it was obviously not a speedboat".

A marathon swimmer, Daryl Ellis, reported being accompanied for a short distance during his swim by two large creatures as he passed Rattlesnake Island. He described them as one being 6 - 9 metres (20 - 30 feet) long and the second being smaller. They followed him for quite awhile and then disappeared. When he swam near the Okanagan Lake floating bridge in Kelowna, a creature with a large eye the size of a grapefruit came within 9 metres "to get a close look at him.". Mr. Ellis's sighting was painted by a local artist with police sketch-artist training.