It's 8:30 p.m. and the paddleboards glide into the water in Brentwood Bay just in time for a sunset.
It's the second full moon in a row where it's in Capricorn, a rare occurrence. The group is here to do a Moon Ceremony & Paddle with Mer Tales Ocean Journeys, started by marine biologist Gina Lemieux in conjunction with South Island SUP.
"During the Full Moon ceremony, release what needs to be released and make space for what you want to welcome into your life," the description reads on the website.
Lemieux started Mertales in 2021 and came up with the ceremony idea when she was doing five rhythms dance and conscious dance embodiment, which often involved ceremonies.
"I just really liked the idea of a container around an intention," said Lemieux. "I thought, let's try a moon ceremony on the water and keep it really simple and connect with water."
The idea is that just before the moon comes up, the group does a small and simple meditation on the water, where everyone sets an intention, releases something that's holding them back and then can share with the group if they feel emboldened to do so.
And it's not the only paddle experience Lemieux does. Called to create the company due to her passions for both paddle boarding and marine biology, which her professional career is in, she also offers journeys like the Marine Ecological Tour and the Kelp Float.
Though participant Annette Ruitenbeek has been paddle boarding for a year and a half with Lemieux, she felt called to try the Moon Ceremony for the first time.
"I don't think we have enough ritual. I don't have enough ritual in my life," said Ruitenbeek. "That's why I'm interested in really any opportunity to explore something that's meaningful. And the moon has always been really meaningful to me."
Ruitenbeek explained that as a child living in Canada, she would spend the summers visiting her grandmother in Holland. To stay connected, the moon became a point of symbolism between them both.
"I'd always cry when I had to leave her and she said, 'Don't worry, we will use the moon as our telephone,'" said Ruitenbeek. "And as a very young child, it was really interesting to think about the fact that her moon was the same moon I saw. So that whole concept about the earth and about where we are in place or in relation to each other opened up for me."
Just before the full, orange moon peeks out over the trees behind the marina and houses, a cascade of fireworks starts off the shore to the right from the Saturday show at Butchart Gardens.
The group gleans the experience alternating between contented silence and friendly chatter. As participant Linda Coggins explains, this moment for her is thanks to the fulfilment of a bucket list wish that emerged long before she moved to Victoria six years ago.
"Even before I came, I wanted to paddleboard. I just kept seeing pictures and thinking about it," she said. "Then we came here and it took me a couple years to because I didn't know anybody that did. I just longingly watched people. Finally, I got enough courage to sign up for a lesson. I had no idea they had a paddle club, but that was great to have a way to go out without having to call a friend.
"I feel it's been a very opening experience for me because it's not just doing something that I wanted to do, but connecting with this particular landscape – I'd only connected with the ocean on vacation before, it wasn't very meaningful. So this just really opened up and made it accessible.
"You think about the relationship between the water and all the life that's around here."
During this one trip alone, the group had a seal swim between them, only a few feet away from one of the paddleboarders, a black cat call out to us from the tip of a ship's bowsprit, and a handful of purple starfish.
"We share really meaningful experiences," said Ruitenbeek, who once saw whales come under their paddleboards. "To have people who share that [experience with you]..."
When on the ocean, it's easy to feel small and in awe which lends itself so aptly to the meditative aspect of the moon ceremony. Seeing sea life really emphasizes that feeling of wonder at nature for Ruitenbeek.
"It just made me think about, do I feel vulnerable on the ocean, or do I feel strong? Do I feel at one with the ocean or do I feel alien? I think when I catch myself asking questions like that I realize it's why having a community is so great. It's just a really safe place to think out loud."
As the group drifts back among the yachts in the dark, flashlight sticks marking us in the night, someone calls out excitedly. As the paddles dip into the water, a faint stream of bioluminescence glitters green in the dark water.
It's easy at that moment to echo Ruitenbeek's sentiments about the beauty of the ocean so easily right at our fingertips, if only we seek it out.
"I feel like I don't go out enough on the water, and then every time I do, I'm like, this is amazing. I should be here every day."
