Ross McDermott

As we were watching Dan Basaraba's video of Ogopogo...

Do you believe there is more than one Ogopogo?

There is, lots... It's a species of animal. Ogopogo, who knows what that is! It's more like a USO (Unidentified Swimming Object).

There is definitely something in the lake, that... no doubt about that.

Dan Basaraba: Ogopogo is the myth, the mystery. What's out there isn't proven yet.

Ross: There some large animal out there who hasn't been identified. Or it could be a sturgeon, but there is no proof of that either. A sturgeon has never been caught in Okanagan Lake. So people say it's a sturgeon, well it's just as mythical as Ogopogo.

We walked to Peachland Marina

This is the spot! This is where I came when I took the photo of what I thought was Ogopogo. Straight out, about 50 - 60 meters.

The lake was very clear, nice and sunny. And I saw a shadow a really large shadow moving in the area about 50-60 meters out. So I got on my binocular and just has a look, and I could see definitely a shape under the water and actually, I did think ok... that could be something... So got on my camera, put on my zoom lens, which I have a 200 mm zoom. And I just sat here and zoomed in and waited and waited and waited. And the water, which was very calm, start to getting all turned up, like a boiling sort of action, lots of rolls coming out of it for no reason. And then that when in the photo as you see something actually comes up and breaks the water, almost like three distinguishes humps, that came up. It was only for a second that it did that. I snap the photo and soon I putted the camera down, it went back under the water and the shadow basically just dissolve. It didn't even... I didn't see it swim away or anything it just sort of sunk down out of view.

That photo there... What I did in Photoshop, I took it back to the office and put it on the computer, scan it in, I took all the water and made it go magenta. I mean everything in the picture that is water, I turned it magenta, everything did turned magenta except for these 3 humps, that stayed black so it's definitely not a wave, its something in the water. That what sold me that it wasn't just a wave, cause even after I took the photo, I look at it, I wasn't sure, I thought that could be a wave. But when I did that on Photoshop I was long more than just a wave.

It was on July 9th I think. Two fifteen pm. 3 hours after Dan shot his video. It was a very busy day for Ogopogo.

He showed us Rattle Snake Island, where there is the most sightings of Ogopogo.

These waters about... according to Arlene Gaal, you can ask her yourself, but around 80 to 90% of the sightings that are reported, occurred in and around Peachland. This is the Hot spot, that's why a lot of people think that's where he lives. But I think it's more than one. It has to be. I mean the first sighting was in 1872, by a Westbank woman. She sighted something in the lake. That was the first report sighting that I know of. There's be numerous, numerous sightings ever since. Actually the very last sightings of 1999, was here in Peachland, coming out of the Edgewater Inn back on Beach Avenue, two people from Westbank, Nellie and Stan Bayrack. They observe the creature immerge almost to the other side of the lake and actually they report seeing the head and the neck right out of the water. That was the last sightings of the millennium.

Why do you have so much interest in Ogopogo?

It's interesting. While I was a child, I was always interesting. When I was like a young boy, 12-13, I use to read extensively on Lock Ness monster. Actually I was born in Scotland. So that was one draw in the line. And I also got interesting in BigFoot and things like that just because it was entertaining to me to read about these things. And I believe there is more between heaven and earth that mankind would ever know. So just the mystery of it, something large, something unidentified, it's just intriguing to me, and it's make me wonder you know, that's really neat. I didn't take the photo in any intention of trying to win 2 million dollars, that's ridiculous anyway, the only reason, like I said to Dan, I threw the photo into the contest at the last minute, just for the sake of doing it! I don't expect to win and I don't want to win, and I don't even want notoriety! I refused couple of interviews, people asked to interview me after the photo ran and I said no, that's ok, it's done!! But for you guys I'll do it though! And I... basically it, I just find it really fascinated that it could some perhaps prehistoric but in a way some unidentified species living in fresh waters.

Do you thinks it's a plesiausor?

Yes they think. Some people say that. Other say it's a fresh water whale, a sturgeon... There is all sort of explanation but nobody knows what it is. There's never been a clear cut photo...

The Japanese...

I believe they had sonar. And they also took divers to Rattlesnake Island and actually dove. There is a lot of caves and stuff under the island. Underwater caves and things like that... They had sonar hits but they never actually saw anything conclusive. But I know... I also heard stories when they were constructing the bridge in Kelowna, the floating bridge, a lot of the divers that was contracted to do some of the work, refused to go down because they saw large animal swimming by in the water. It frightened them so much that they wouldn't go down. So...that's kind of neat.

The best time of year is early July and August. That's when most of the sightings are actively reported because the creature seems to be active at that time.

Could it be because there are more tourists at that time?

It could be! Most of the reports sightings aren't from the tourist but locals. You can go up and down the street and you can ask peoples: Have you ever seen Ogopogo? Lot of people are going to say no, but they will tell you they seen something strange in the lake. I mean it sighted much more that it ever been reported. I've worked here for two years now and that time, I had people telling me I saw something weird out there the other day. And after I ran that story and that photo, I had about 8 or 9 calls from people as far as Vernon saying: "Thank you for running that. Now I know I'm not crazy." You know what I mean, cause they seen the same thing!

The debate on whether or not something is here, it's... there is definitely something in the lake. The debate should be not: Is there something here, but "What is it?"

Why do you think Ogopogo should be known all around Canada?

Have you ever saw the Wildlife list?

The Dangerous species list? I never seen the list myself! I know that, this is something you might be interest in. Back before the railway and before the actual highway were going through the valley here, the ferries were the main motor of transportation up and down lake Okanagan. The province of British Columbia actually armed one of those ferries to prevent it against Ogopogo attacks. That is documented. And that's provincial government that did that. That's back in, probably the early 1900s.

You have to make sure that people know, Peachland B.C., this is the place to come if you want to have the chance to see Ogopogo. There's more sightings here than every where else. If you read that stories on the council adopting Ogopogo as their resident, I mean that tell you how important it is to this community.