Find healing and balance on Lake Ontario with Oceah Oceah’s guided sunset paddleboarding tours.
As I’ve grown into my young adult years and started exploring cities nearby, I’ve fallen in love with Toronto—its food, its vibrant communities, and its deep history.
Yet, even in a city I admire, it’s easy to feel disconnected—where concrete hides the Earth beneath, and subway noise drowns out the memory of water.
At those moments, I’m grateful for the many watersheds that interact with Toronto, including Lake Ontario and the Humber River.
“When we’re connecting with the water, even through paddleboarding, it’s an opportunity to think of our connection and how we use [the water], how we treat it and then hopefully that starts a ripple effect.”
- Jenifer Rudski, Owner of Oceah Oceah
Lake Ontario’s vastness is humbling and grounding. The Humber, a historic landmark for a central First Nations’ trade route called the Toronto Carrying Place Trail, reminds us of the innate human need for connection.
Paddleboarding on Lake Ontario with Oceah Oceah
Local SUP and yoga outfitter Oceah Oceah offers a powerful way to reconnect with the water, the self, and community.
Oceah Oceah is owned by Jenifer Rudski, a Tetlit Gwich’in and Maliseet woman who says her connection to water “has always been a place of healing [and] inspiration.” Oceah Oceah is Jenifer’s way of sharing this gift with others.
She and her sisters offer SUP tours and rentals, plus SUP/yoga sessions, at two different Lake Ontario beaches: Westside’s Budapest Park in the Sunnyside neighbourhood, and Eastside’s Bluffer’s Park at the Scarborough Bluffs.
Jenifer began our 90-minute session with introductions to one another—and to Lake Ontario itself.
What to expect on your first SUP lesson
Next came the paddleboarding basics: sizing paddles, learning stance, and finding our balance on the board.
I have to admit, the idea was nerve-wracking at first. I’d been kayaking before and, as I was learning, I became quite familiar with being suddenly plunged into cold waters.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t end up falling in on this trip!
As she guided our group of five, Jenifer was encouraging and attentive to each of us. When I first stood up, I couldn’t look away from my feet. “I like to look at the horizon when I’m paddleboarding,” Jenifer shared. I followed her advice, and began to feel the water’s rhythm more than my nerves.
Driven by her love of water, Jenifer has surfed, paddled, and led retreats across the globe. She now calls both Toronto and Hawaii home.
Exploring Toronto’s waterways: SUP on the Humber River
Among Oceah Oceah’s tour options, the Humber River Paddle Tour is a great chance to find a quiet moment of connection and grounding.
Along this river route, you can witness the natural wonders of Toronto that you don’t often find when surrounded by the bustling streets and tall buildings of the downtown core.
The tour winds through a bird sanctuary, where great egrets, kingfishers, woodpeckers, and even turtles are common sights along the shoreline.
SUP yoga and full moon ceremonies
In Anishinaabe teachings, water is medicine. Jenifer honours this belief by weaving healing practices into every paddleboarding session.
This summer, Oceah Oceah also offers unique—some may say “life-changing”—full moon SUP, meditation and social sessions.
At each full moon gathering, paddlers join Oceah Oceah at dusk to take part in a water ceremony and set intentions for the new lunar cycle.
Glide onto the water as day fades, the full moon rises, and your focus slows from the minutiae of every day to the gentle movement and magic of the water. When you return to shore, be prepared to tuck into bannock and other local refreshments.
After being on the water myself, I can testify to its rejuvenating effect. Now that I’ve taken the Intro to SUP lesson, I’m super eager to take to the water again for one of these special experiences.
If you’re seeking a unique way to experience Tkaronto and reconnect with nature, culture, and yourself—Oceah Oceah’s daytime, sunset, and full moon tours offer just that.
—This story has been updated with new details since it was first published in June 2022.
