Sinking spots for DEEP QUICKSAND - NE Florida

[Sinkman61]

I’ve tried to add these spots to the quicksand map without much success. As these areas are quite large, I’m going to go ahead and share them for others who care to venture out on their own. The mud here is simply amazing. This is one of the best areas I’ve ever gone sinking. Just remember, sink in these areas at YOUR OWN RISK. The threats are obvious. They’re no more or less than most other tidal areas. Here’s the threats…

1. Tides. So please plan accordingly. There’s plenty of tide tables online. I recommend hiking in about an hour before low tide to get the most time available, especially if you like to explore. Watch your time. Tides don’t wait for you to extract yourself.
2. Snakes. This is a wild estuary after all. The worst snake is the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. There’s also the Pigmy Rattlesnake. And there might even be an occasional water moccasin. But in all the years I’ve been going here, I’ve yet to see a single snake. That doesn’t mean they’re not there. It just means that I haven’t seen any. Nothing more.
3. Alligators. Yes…they do exists. I’ve seen one. Or should I say, the remnants of one. It was most definitely dead. Alligators don’t like salt water. This area is mostly brackish. It’s still mostly salt water from the ocean. Just not as salty. That doesn’t mean that on the day you show up that a family of alligators won’t be on vacation to the beaches. There’s also freshwater ponds throughout the estuaries. I wouldn’t be going in them if I were you. You can count on those being occupied by alligators.
4. Lightning. Chances are, if there’s a storm overhead, that you’re going to be the tallest item on the mudflats. So either sink down until your head is about even with the surface of the quicksand, or get the hell out of the area if you see a storm brewing.
5. Heat/sun. While it may not feel hotter than wherever you’re from, the rays of the sun are at a more direct angle to the surface of the earth here in Florida. So protect yourself from sunburn. And if it’s in the 90’s, you might want to wait for a slightly cooler day. Heat stroke is very real. BRING PLENTY OF DRINKING WATER.
6. Heavy, wide, oversized footwear creates considerably MORE suction. If your suction is greater than your buoyancy, you will sink until the suction no longer exceeds your buoyancy. Mud/quicksand doesn’t create suction on its own. Therefore, you’ll stop sinking when you stop shoving your feet further down into the mud.
7. OYSTER SHELLS. There’s areas that have a lot of oyster shells. They’re normally clumped together in banks. Generally the mud beneath them is a bit firmer. But not always. So watch your footing. You don’t want to have a foot suddenly sink down deep in an area covered with oysters unless you’re looking to be bled out. They’ll slice into you like razor blades. You really need to be wearing decent footwear in such areas. I recommend that as a minimum, you wear high top scuba wetsuit booties with hard soles. I’ve had a lot of experience with getting cut by oyster shells. At first you may not even realize it happened. Until you see all the red ooze going down your legs.
8. Make note of the time that the back parking lot closes. You don’t want to get your car locked in on the wrong side of the gate. It’s at sundown.

You want to go to Guana River Estuary and park all the way in the westernmost end. Then you’re going to follow the hiking trails to the beach at the Intercoastal Waterway. From there, you want to hike along the shore to the north. Hike to the largest of the tidal creeks that go to the east. To the NE you’ll see a tree line. About 75 yards in you will see a huge mudbank on the south side of the tidal creek. That’s an awesome place for sinking. It’s practically bottomless. The mud here is a bit thicker near the tidal creek. Cross over that to get to slightly thinner areas if that’s what you want. I prefer the thicker mud. Keep in mind though , privacy here isn’t 100%. You can be seen from boats on the Intercoastal waterway. However, I’ve had a fishing boat pull up close to the end of the mud bank while myself and a friend were both down to our chest. Either they didn’t notice or they chose not to say anything, because they didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to us. We were both completely covered by the mud, so we probably just blended in with the mud bank itself.

If you follow the tidal creek way back, you’ll come across some amazing places that are wide open expanses of semi-thick mud. You need to go far enough in that there’s a tree line to your south as well. This area is completely off the grid and is completely out of sight of anyone. Again, it all appears to be bottomless. Most of these banks will require you to monkey crawl your way across the tops of the banks, because if you try to walk across the top, you won’t be getting very far. You’re going to sink down to the top of your calves within the first couple of steps. And when you try to pull your leg out to make another step, your other leg will be pushed completely below the surface. The thicker areas are such that there’s not going to be a buoyancy point, because the suction force is going to be greater than your body’s buoyancy point. However, if you seek out thinner areas (typically in the middle of the banks), you’ll reach your buoyancy point when you’re about neck deep. That’s just the nature of this mud. So please be mindful of your footwear.

Obviously, as it’s all tidal estuary mud, that there’s plenty of water around for your cleanup.
Have fun.

[Lintime Sinker]

Thanks u for all these advises.
This spot will be my first destination when i'll travel to USA.

[Sinkman61]

I’d gladly go with you if you want. That’s entirely up to you. You don’t need a boat to get to these locations. That’s not the case with most places along the Intercoastal. But this place is an easy hike in to get to. And if you have a bike, it’s even easier. If you’re coming from overseas, Saint Augustine is a great place to visit. It’s listed as one of the top ten small towns in the United States to live in. It’s also the nation’s oldest city. It was already here for more than 40 years BEFORE Jamestown was founded. The English just didn’t know. I’ve been here for 21 years now. This really is a great place to live. However, be warned…summers here are absolutely brutal. It’s by far the worst time of the year. Once the tropical air mass moves in, it’s here to stay until mid to late September. Our summer is like the northerner’s winter. It’s that one season that you’re dreading. But the other 9 months are terrific. Last winter we had one week of freezing temperatures. The rest of the season was terrific. The theme parks in Orlando are about an hour and a half away. NASA is as well.

Sinking in the winter can get downright frosty. The Gulf Stream is nearly 100 miles off the coast here, so unlike southern Florida, it’s warm waters have no beneficial effect here. Water temperatures drop down into the upper 40’s to lower 50’s. It’s definitely wetsuit time for anyone brave enough to get muddy. The coldest months are usually January and February, although last year the only cold month of the entire winter was December. Winter came early, and left even earlier. If my dog hadn’t been sick with cancer, I could have started sinking in February. Normally it’s not warm enough to start sinking again until April. And it’s usually too hot between the second week of July through the second week of September.