The Story of the Long Finned Eel

We’re going to skip ahead a bit to Nelson Lakes National Park for The Story of the Long Finned Eel…

For over 7 years, Seth has been quoting lines from The Princess Bride to me.  One of those quotes was about the screeching eels in the lake, which he always loved to say anytime we were near or in a lake.  Well, this story is not about a screeching eel, but it is about a long finned eel.

We were backpacking around Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park, an aqua blue lake surrounded by sub alpines.

Lake Nelson National Park

Beauty.

The trail was right along the lake and through the forest, making for an easy trek; however the humidity was high.

Trail through the forest

As we neared the hut we were staying in overnight, we came upon a dock by the lake and decided to jump in to clean of.

The dock where it all began

We both jumped in (well, I lowered myself gradually from the dock into a shallow area full of algae) and Seth gracefully dove off the end.  All of a sudden I felt a pinch on my calf—now, my immediate reaction was that Seth had swum underneath me and pinched me trying to be silly and scare me, as he often does.  But I turned around and saw him about 10 feet away from me, and I started to freak out a little.

Me: “Something bit me!”

Seth: (Swimming toward me as well as the dock) “It was probably just a fish nipping at you.”

Me: “No, something bit me!!  I want to get out!!”

Seth gracefully pulls himself up onto the dock as I’m trying to climb up, slipping down, trying to climb up, and slip back down in a slight panic when all of a sudden I feel a nip on my toe.

Me: (Screaching) “It bit me again!”

Seth: Well give me your arms so I can pull you up.

Me: (Thrashing about, climbing, sliding, climbing and sliding) Get me out, get me out!

Seth: You need to let me pull you up!

This went on for what seemed like hours, but was probably only seconds, and my terror, he awkwardly pulled me up as I thumped my body and legs against the wooden dock creating sure to be bruises.

I jumped out, I looked down at my leg, and it was bleeding in a completely straight line.

Me: “I’m bleeding, something bit me!”

Seth: (Keeping a calm demeanor being used to my often hyperbolic state): “It just looked like a blade of grass scraped you or the dock?”

Me: “No, SOMETHING BIT ME!”

Seth: (Looking down into the water from the dock) “Uhhh….there’s an eel!”

And that’s the story of the mother-f-ing long finned eel taking a chunk out of my leg.  (Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, it was a very shallow bite, but you could see it’s teeth and the entire shape of its mouth in my leg after we cleaned off the blood.)

You can kind of see the eel, but more so my reflection pointing at it.

See the eels mouth?

It was a good thing we had carried in wine, so at least I got to go to sleep with a drink and this view.

Beauty.

*We later found out that a couple times a week someone goes out to that very dock and throws in slabs of raw meat for the eels.  So I either really pissed off that eel or it was really hungry.  All I know is next time I get sushi, I’m ordering eel.