I had an idea for a mud clip. I would chain my ankles and try to escape the swamp, again. In order to give myself a competitive advantage, I decided to wear running shorts.

Of course, this would be a test of the follow-me camera rig. When using the follow-me rig, I need to record audio separately. It turned out that the wind was gusting terribly, and my external audio was adversely impacted by wind noise, in spite of my best efforts.

Getting on with the story … I started shooting in the sandy part of the creek, so I could run through the shallow water and fall down a couple of times to get good and wet. I then moved on to the salt marsh; ankles still chained, and resumed my “run”. Slogging through the mud and swamp grass with my ankles connected by a rather short chain was bad enough, but I also had to keep up with the audio recorder. I spent a lot of time, setting up one shot after another. I realized that this clip would be more out of the mud than in the mud, so I wanted to make the struggle as realistic as possible.

After much running and tripping, I finally took the plunge into the really deep mud hole. I sank up to my chest right away. After that, it only took a couple of minutes for me to disappear below the quaking surface. It’s always sad to see me go, but at least I went out, doing something I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, the cool mud, combined with a brisk wind, gave me a chill, so I moved quickly to get back to my kayak, rinsed off, and into some warm, dry clothes.

Since I arrived home, I reviewed the audio and the video. I think I can cut together a short clip from the hour of video I shot. I’m pretty sure I’ll be tossing most of it. The good news is that I may have another chance to shoot in the swamp tomorrow. I’ll probably try something less complicated, so I can set up a shotgun mic with a good windscreen.

Well, it happened again. This time, the tide was really low (that’s a good thing), but I couldn’t stay out a long time, because there was a frigid wind blowing. If the mud had been 10 degrees warmer, I could have just stayed immersed, but I was losing body heat, both in and out of the mud.

The images on this post are all from the aftermath of my feature adventure. The premise of my misadventure was that I was being chased, and trying to find a way out of the swamp. You should be able to determine from the pictures on this post, that I was unsuccessful. 🙂

This was my first full immersion of the year. I must say, the mud was a little too cold to really enjoy it as much as I normally would. It was still a good time.

I was worried about getting cleaned up in the cold water; especially since I would be borderline hypothermic by the time I got to a spot where I could immerse myself. As it turned out, the cleanup wasn’t too bad, even though the water was pretty cold. I put on an old, dry shirt for my trip out of the marsh. Between the protection afforded by the shirt, and my aggressive paddling, I had warmed up a bit by the time I got to a nice spot for washing off. I wish I would have shot video of the cleanup, but I was pretty focused on getting rinsed off and into dry clothes.

All in all, the trip was a good one. The mud was great. My only regret is that I wish I could have stayed out there longer. Spring is right around the corner, and things are warming up. Between now and June is usually some of my best sinking weather. The really hot summer weather brings it’s own hazards (more bugs, snakes, and alligators). Once the days are in the 70’s (> 22C), the cold is manageable.

On a side note: There is lots of moss again, this year. Given that water temps are close to normal, I have to assume the growth is the result of nutrient overload. It’s probably a combination of farm runoff and people fertilizing their yards. We’ve had a good deal of rainfall the past 2 years, so people use more fertilizer on their lawns, and more of it makes it to the estuary. It’s hard to say what sources are the biggest contributors, but it’s sad to see the algae take over. It depletes the dissolved oxygen in the water, choking out fish, and reducing biodiversity. I love my creek for more than just mudding. A thriving, healthy ecosystem is the underpinning of all life, including our own. It’s a lovely planet, and I hate to see it gasping for air.