The much-awaited Bluff oyster season began yesterday and if professional oyster shucker Harley Batchelor's opinion is anything to go by, a bumper season awaits.
Mr Batchelor (35) has shucked oysters for Direct Fish & Oyster in Bluff for the past 17 seasons.
"It's going to be a good season this year,'' he said during a break in his shift.
"Today's oysters are awesome. Nice and big and easy to open. It's going to be really good.''
Direct Fish & Oyster owner Willie Calder said he was out with several boats at midnight to catch the first oysters of the season.
He harvested 106 tubs from midnight to about noon yesterday.
"It's not a bad start,'' he said.
"The weather played its part, which made it enjoyable, and the catch rate ended up OK.''
The slimy, briny, delicacy soon made its way to restaurants and markets around the country yesterday, including Queenstown's Botswana Butchery where, by sheer good luck, local man Willy Grey found he was the first diner to order the delicacy.
The restaurant's venue manager, Matt Goodison, said head chef Chris Bindon had arranged to have a truck waiting on the wharf for the first oysters of the season yesterday morning.
They were delivered in time for lunch, and he expected more than 50 dozen to be served yesterday.
Shucked in the kitchen and served in the half-shell or in a buttermilk batter, they were sold by the half-dozen ($33) or dozen ($65).
The season runs until about August, with the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival held every May.
