A reported sighting this month of Okanagan Lake in Canada’s renowned Ogopogo has sparked curiosity as to whether Cadboro Bay’s mysterious water monster has surfaced recently.

Cadborosaurus willsi, affectionately known as “Caddy,” was last spotted several years ago off the shores of Galiano Island, according to Paul Leblond, a retired University of British Columbia oceanography professor who wrote a book on the Cadborosaurus in 1995.

“The search is still ongoing,” he said.

Leblond said Jason Walton, vice-president of the B.C. Scientific Cryptozoology Club, keeps a video camera at Telegraph Cove monitoring the waters for a hint of the sea serpent.

The woman who claimed she spotted Ogopogo this month said she noticed waves in the water of Okanagan Lake and snapped a photo, thinking it might be the legendary lake creature.

Leblond said his threshold of proof for Caddy sightings are higher than those who documented the Ogopogo sighting. He needs specific details, like a hump, an eye or a head, he said.

“Hell, waves are all over the place,” he said.

The first sighting of the leviathan dates back to 1932, just off Chatham Island. Since then, there have been hundreds of reported sightings among the waves of Cadboro Bay, which sparked the name Cadborosaurus.

People who say they have seen it describe a serpent-like creature with a long neck and horse-like head.

Tammy Voak, who grew up in Oak Bay, says she used to hear stories about a creature lurking in the waters as a kid, but has since dismissed it as Island folklore.

“You’d think you’d see more of it if it was out there,” she said, as she watched her kids play on the only likeness of the Caddy which can be seen now, the 100-foot-long play structure in Gyro Park modelled after the green serpent. “Yeah, you need proof,” piped in her 11-year-old son Dustin.

But Victoria’s version of the Loch Ness monster did carry enough credence to spark a short-lived tourist attraction, Caddy Tours, which operated from 2003 to 2005. The tour’s former operations manager, Eric Hildebrandt, said there was not a sea monster to be found during any of his tours, which also included viewing of other marine wildlife around Discovery Island.

He doubts the serpent exists, but said his riders enjoyed getting lost in a tale of mystery at sea. “There’s not a lot of mystery left in life,” said Hildebrandt. “So for people to believe in something mythical like that, it makes them feel kind of good.”

While Leblond likes the idea of the homegrown, entrancing tale as much the next Islander, he wants scientific proof to either validate or repudiate the murmurings about the monster.

“We hope that eventually it’s going to be cleared up. Either someone is going to catch one or it will be stranded somewhere or someone will get a photograph,” he said. “Until then, it remains a mystery.”

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