quarryman said: All tidal mud locations are inherently dangerous and that is because if anything goes wrong, most especially if one becomes stuck, the incoming tide will be fatal. Most any muddy tidal area is potentially dangerous but the conditions that make it dangerous are not necessarily obvious. The most common problem is some sort of soft mud on the surface but either some sort of sticky clay or sand underneath...

You may be able to walk around on what appears to be a fairly solid surface only to happen upon a small area where perhaps water upwelling for some reason creates a quicksand condition. As long as you're moving, you may never notice it, but if you happen to stop, in just moments you can sink to your ankles. Most of the time laying down to spread out your body weight will usually allow you to slowly wiggle your foot loose, but not always, the only way to free your foot may be to dig the locked sand out from around it before the tide comes in. If that happens, you better have brought a couple of metal digging tools on a lanyard around your neck...

Sticky clay can be a hazard as well as if you force your feet down with a lot of force, you may discover that due to the extra force required to overcome the suction you cannot pull your foot out. Gravity works for you in sinking deeper but not the other way round...

A general observation, most folks find it more fun to sink deeper and the risk of becoming stuck increases the deeper one sinks. Note again that the texture and composition of mud may change the deeper you go but it is difficult to detect...

Mud fetishists often have at least some advantage over the general population in avoiding getting stuck. That is due to two reasons. First, doing mud activities is strenuous and so a mud fetishist is often conditioned physically by what they have survived in the past. Second, technique and experience often matter, mud fetishists often have a lot of experience in surviving something that is actually very dangerous but that they have become habituated to. Note however that mud fetishists are often deliberately getting into very dangerous situations that most folks would never think of doing...

Give some thought to your practices. Know the tide table. Make sure someone knows where you are. Have something metal and small with you to to dig with and some small floatation thingy with you to spread your weight out on...

I won't do tidal mud. I've been stuck in mud at a quarry before and only got out as this was one of those rare occasions when someone was with me. Minimize your risk to the extent possible, it is real...