2021-07-11 52 9

Location

This Geohash is located a kilometer off the shore of Lake Steinhude.

Participants

Fippe

Expedition

This is a tamer version of the recent waterhash in Australia. First of all, it is summer here in the north. Also, I'm taking my air mattress. And I'm only cycling a part of the way.

I took the train to Wunstorf and cycled to Steinhude. I knew I wouldn't be be able to get to the spot on the shore which is closest (870m) to the coordinates, since it is in a bog. Instead, I went to a pier 1140m away from the coordinates. I got changed in some bushes, and inflated my air mattress. The air mattress has two handles. I own a waterproof phone bag which is attached to a lanyard. I attached the lanyard to one handle with a cow hitch and to the other handle with a carabiner. This would fixate my bag on top of the air mattress to minimize water contact. My phone and ID (=train ticket) went into the bag, my bike key onto the carabiner. I left my clothes, towel and shoes in my backpack, which I left chained to the bicycle, but no valuables besides a few coins, so hopefully nobody would steal my stuff.

Then I went into the water, on the air mattress and swam to the Geohash. I saw several planes, at least one of them must have been a military one flying to Wunstorf Air Base. I saw people on canoes, and in sailboats. My constant guide was the Wilhelmstein island, the coordinates are about 2/3 of the distance between the shore and the island.

After some time I reached the coordinates. Performing the Dance™ is unsurprisingly difficult on water, but it worked and I recorded proof. I couldn't hold the phone still enough for a panorama though. I submerged completely to achieve the underwater Geohash and also geoflashed. While submerged, I noticed that I was almost able to stand. Almost, because the "ground" my feet felt was quite muddy and my feet sunk in there, no standing on anything resembling solid ground was anywhere close. Indeed, Lake Steinhude is very shallow, with 2.9 meters as a maximum depth and 1.35 meters as an average depth, but I do wonder how deep the mud goes.

On the way back, a ship, the Steinhude, passed me at a safe distance. The way back felt shorter than the way there, but it took about the same amount of time, in total I was in the lake for about 3 hours. It hadn't been particularly sunny, but later I would have an intense sunburn, I should know better and bring sunscreen the next time. I probably also should have brought food and water. Nobody had stolen my stuff, my phone survived and I reached the Geohash, so a definite success. After getting out of the water, I dried myself, deflated the air mattress and got changed. Then I cycled back to Wunstorf and took the train back to Hannover.