I noticed that the tide was really low, yesterday, as I was driving my dog to the vet (she got a clean bill of health, thank you for asking). I checked the tide charts and headed out this morning about an hour ahead of low tide. I could have arrived even earlier; the tide was already low when I arrived.
I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me, but I had to play in the mud for hours, waiting for the tide to come in so I could paddle out. I barely managed to paddle in, and that was before the tide was as low as it was going to get.
It was really hot, today, but once I got in the mud, the only thing that made me aware of the heat was my video gear overheating. Fortunately, everything kept working long enough for me to record 25GB of video!
The video I shot today will be a little on the raw side. I didn’t bother with setting up a shotgun microphone and I shot some scenes with only one camera. You might say I prioritized fun over shooting video. I pretty much destroyed my eyes and some of my gear. The the only bad thing about the spot I visited today, is that there is no water to rinse off, and no way to paddle back to the water when the tide is really low. You’re pretty much committed until the tide comes back in, and your eyes can take a beating.
The last video clip I shot was a 5 minute wallow in the really deep, sloppy mud with methane bubbles popping all around. Sinkers who enjoy manure pits would love this mud in mid summer. It may be the closest thing to manure that I’ve found. The smell, texture and density are all similar.
I dove down so deep that my feet were sticking about 25-30 cm when I was stretched out vertically, upside down. The mud does get a little thicker when you get down 1-2 meters but there is no bottom. Needless to say, I love to try to find the bottom with my fingers. Especially on a hot day when I’m waiting for the tide to come in, so I can paddle my boat back to the creek.