Water Sports

The Okanagan Valley's numerous local marinas offer full-service boat rentals. Okanagan Boat Charters, 291 Front St., Penticton (tel. 800/524-2212; www.obc.bc.ca), rents houseboats with fully equipped kitchens that can accommodate up to 10 people. Prices for a weeklong rental begin at C$1,525 (US$1,340). Pier Water Sports, 2 Martin St., Penticton (tel. 250/ 493-8864; www.pierwatersports.com), rents water skis, knee boards and tubes, paddleboats, kayaks, canoes, Sea-Doos, and powerboats. If you have a hankering to parasail, contact Okanagan Parasailing, on Okanagan Lake just west of the art museum (tel. 250/490-2033).

A popular activity is renting a rubber raft from Coyote Cruises, in the blue building along the river at 215 Riverside Drive (tel. 205/492-2115), then floating from Okanagan Lake down to Skaha Lake, which takes about 2 hours. On a hot day, you'll be joined by hundreds of other people in rafts, inner tubes, and rubber dinghies; the water fight of your life is almost guaranteed.