Das Wattenmeer: Exploring the mud flats of the North Sea coast

At low tide, the North Sea coast is a sea of mud. From the Netherlands to Denmark, the slope of the sea floor is shallow, resulting in huge differences in the water level between the tides. At low tide, the water peels back, sometimes as much as 15 kilometers, revealing acres and acres of intertidal mud flats. This is known as the Wadden Sea, or Wattenmeer in German, and it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Das Wattenmeer, or the Wadden Sea, pictured here off the coast of Cuxhaven, Germany. Despite how far from shore I am, the water is only at most a few inches deep.
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