The video blog doesn’t tell half the story, so I’ll write a few words here. If you’re in a hurry just to see a nearly naked man in the swamp, just skip past all of this.

I set out on a 3 mile (5 km) paddle in heavy winds (gusting in excess of 18m/hour or 30km/hour) around 17:00 to arrive at a spot very close to one of my favorite sinking holes with enough time to set up a campsite for the night and eat something before it got dark. The paddle wasn’t that bad since I wasn’t going straight into the wind for more than 1/3 of the trip. I did, however, develop a painful blister because I was paddling hard and it’s early in the season, so my skin isn’t toughened up yet. That would be more of an issue for the return trip.

I arrived about 90 minutes before sunset, so I had lots of time. I found a pretty good spot for my hammock so I wouldn’t have to sleep on the ground, which was likely to flood at high tide. Since I did have some extra time, I shot some video for my vlog, checked out some of the mud nearby, and took a dip in the mud just as the sun was disappearing. I had to clean up in the creek as it was getting dark. In the summer, that would be risky, since the alligators hunt as dusk and it’s hard for them to tell what they are about to bite into. The alligators aren’t very active this time of year because the water is still pretty cold.

While shooting my vlog, my tripod tipped over and my camera took a dip in the mud. I had to use some of my fresh water to rinse the salty mud off of it. I had to be careful not to use too much water, since I brought what I thought I needed for the trip, but more importantly, I wasn’t sure if the camera was going to survive the dousing. It is not a waterproof camera. As of now, I think it survived.

When it got dark, the mosquitoes came out in numbers I haven’t seen in years. They were swarming me, so I had no choice but to slather myself with repellent. It’s a good thing I brought repellent, I didn’t think I would need it. I ended up retiring to my screened-in hammock shortly after dark to get away from the marauding blood suckers.

Although I got to bed early, I didn’t sleep well. First it was hard to get used to the clatter of the dead grass, which sounded like I had an army of skeletons surrounding me in the darkness. Once I figured out that the swamp wasn’t haunted, my next challenge was the wind rustling the rain cover on my hammock. The wind was gusting hard and it was also changing direction. The loud flapping noises would often wake me up. At 3:30, I was sure it was almost time to get up; it was a long night.

In the morning, most of the mosquitoes were gone, but I started my day with a fresh slathering of repellent. The tide was still going out when I got up, so I had time to pack up my campsite before I ventured out to explore the mud. I hiked around a bit and I went into the deep mud twice; both times in the Speedos I chose to wear around camp. The tide started coming back in before it got really low, so I didn’t get the inspiration I needed for a full immersion in cold mud. I did take a brief swim in the creek before toweling off and putting on dry clothes to get warmed up. I’ll probably have a couple of short videos to publish. One will probably be a freebee.

My return paddle wasn’t too bad, even though the wind was still gusting pretty hard (I put a bandage over my open blister). I got back to the boat launch at 12:00 on March 25. It was an adventure. I’m not sure if I’d do it again, but it would be really difficult to get up and out of the house early enough to get to the mud by 08:00 (I’d have to leave by 06:00). My greatest challenge is always aligning my schedule and suitable weather with the low tides; especially when so many low tides turn out to offer a very brief (and sometimes non-existent) window of opportunity.

Mudding season will be in full swing soon. I’m ready!