Randy Gallagher (left) and his business partner James Blackwell (centre) are the proud owners of the new Osoyoos Water Shuttle, which will be operating out of the Nk’Mip RV Park for the remainder of the summer. The business will be run in conjunction with Osoyoos Water Sports, which rents boats and personal watercraft from the same location. Osoyoos Lake hasn’t had a water shuttle service in several years. Also seen on the 23-foot pontoon boat that will provide the shuttle service is summer student Lane Stelkia. Photo by Keith Lacey.
It has been several years since a water shuttle service has been offered on Osoyoos Lake, but business partners Randy Gallagher of Penticton and James Blackwell of Osoyoos, who own and operate Osoyoos Water Sports, are hoping there will be solid response to the service, starting this week.
“We think there is going to be demand for a water shuttle service on Osoyoos Lake,” said Gallagher, who is also the owner of Penticton Boat Rentals in that community 70 kilometres northwest of Osoyoos. “The original idea was to shuttle people to rent boats and equipment off us at Osoyoos Water Sports, but we discovered there is a need for a shuttle service all over the lake, so we’re going to try it this summer and see how it goes.”
Osoyoos Water Sports, which just opened this summer, rents boats and personal watercraft, and operates out of the Nk’Mip RV Park.
After being approved by town council a month ago, Gallagher has spent the past month getting proper licensing and approval from the Ministry of Transportation to operate the Osoyoos Water Shuttle from his dock at Osoyoos Water Sports.
Through his friendship with a staff member at the Spirit Ridge Resort and Spa, Gallagher said there were numerous requests by visitors to Spirit Ridge to access a shuttle service on Osoyoos Lake.
“My friend at Spirit Ridge said there were numerous requests to provide service for the guests up there,” he said. “That’s how we ended up in Osoyoos. We started working with the Osoyoos Indian Band and the people at Nk’Mip, who have been wonderful, and we started up Osoyoos Water Sports earlier this year.
“That led to further discussions about perhaps offering a lake shuttle service. We finally got permission from the town to proceed about a month ago and I’ve spent a lot of time getting everything in order so we could finally start the shuttle service this week.”
The Osoyoos Water Shuttle officially opened for business on Monday.
Town of Osoyoos staff, especially planners Steve Shannon and Phil Armstrong, have been extremely good to deal with and work with over the past two months, he said.
The shuttle service will take customers to and from Nk’Mip RV Park, Gyro Beach, the Coast Hotel and Cottonwood Park (Sage Pub), he said.
“The routes for this year will be mainly in the north end of the lake,” he said. “We’ll hope to expand to the southern part of the lake next summer.”
The main vehicle to be used for the water shuttle service will be a brand new. fully-equipped and large 2012 pontoon boat, he said.
“We also have a second pontoon boat that we’re renting out that can be used if the shuttle service really takes off and gets busy,” he said.
Because the shuttle service is brand new, hours of operation haven’t been finalized yet, but if there’s great demand, there’s no reason it won’t be offered from early morning until late evening, he said.
“We’ll determine the hours of operation based on what kind of response we get from the public,” he said.
For more information, go online and visit www.osoyooswatersoprts.com or call 250-486-5770.
