tame eels

Sabrina and I set off in search of adventure, heading first a little south of Motueka, to see tame eels at the Jester Café. A couple places in the area advertise tame eels, and I was curious to see what exactly they meant. I think I could have done without knowing.

The eel experience here was almost as traumatic as the one I had about 15 years ago during a visit to Roberecht’s Seafood near Cabin Point...that time, I found myself peering down into tanks of murky water jam-packed full of size-sorted wriggling eels waiting to be ‘airmailed’ live to Belgium. The fact that I still remember it clearly now probably should have kept me away from this one, but no.

This time, we went down into a sunken garden, and in a dammed section of the creek we saw about 20 two-and-a-half to three foot long eels, all at least as big around as my forearm. And, as we discovered when we ventured within a few feet of them, these guys were not happy just staying in the water. The cafe sells skewers of eel food, and they thought we had some so when we came close they flung themselves out of the water and halfway onto the rocks, mouths gaping open.

I don’t have a picture of that, because we ran.