I went out to the swamp on Sunday afternoon (July 16, 2023) for what would be a pretty short wallow in my deepest swamp muck. It was raining when I arrived at the mud, but it was just a quick shower.
As soon as the rain stopped, I dove head-first into the bottomless muck. I dove so deep, it took me several strokes of my arms to break the surface, when I had to resurface. I think this was the first time I’ve ever been that deep after a dive. It was kind of intense, so of course, I had to do it twice.
There really isn’t much to report on this trip, except that it was very short. I went out in my jean shorts and stripped down to red latex briefs before getting in the mud. I paddled my new boat, so I could experiment with a boat-mounted camera support.
I’m still waiting for the tides to return to something like they were a few years ago. I know we’ve had 5″ of sea level rise here in the last 10-20 years, but the tides seem to have risen 6″ in the past 3 years, therefore I think there has to be other factors involved.
Check out this free video. I didn’t really shoot enough to make an official clip, so I won’t be releasing an HD version of this until I have some more diving video to add to it.
Sea level rise:the moon came closer to earth.
The moon’s orbit does vary somewhat over time. If, however, the tides were higher because of a larger moon effect, the tides would have a larger swing (variation) between low and high. That is not what I’m seeing. What I’m seeing is the level of the water has gone up. The swing from low to high is about the same, but the low and the high tides have both risen by around 15-25 cm (6-10 inches).
I just hope, whatever it is, that it is cyclic and the trend is about to reverse.
I should add, that the new moon tides are larger (the sun and the moon are aligned), and that is what I am experiencing, now. I’m hoping to go out later today, if possible.
I’ve been doing some research and I found that the moon’s orbit has an 18.6 year cycle that affects the tides. We hit the bottom of that cycle in October 2015 and we are now heading for the top. NASA has warned of more tidal flooding coming soon.
I’m not actually sure how that will impact my mudding opportunities, but if the tides are changing, it will have some effect. Of course the report also talked about sea level rise contributing to higher tides.
Another little point of trivia: The moon is getting about 3cm further away each year. 😉