Dangast - Everyone here at the harbour quickly learns that the clocks tick differently on the Wadden Sea: Swimming times change daily, ferry schedules to many islands vary, the arrival of fishing boats depends on the tide, etc.

We had used our stay in Oldenburg to spend a day on the North Sea coast before the big autumn storms, so it was only logical to visit the small town of Dangast again, which, however, sometimes gets quite crowded simply because of the sheer number of day visitors. But the rhubarb cake from the spa house still attracts many people.

Dangast - The Tides: Ebb and Flow in a Daily Rhythm

So, it can be advisable to start your day trip early if you'd rather not meet too many people. And there are still numerous tourists who then look over the dike in amazement and ask where the water is. Often, a more or less correct answer was required. So, it's a good thing that there's an explanatory panel in Dangast that can help.

As already mentioned, the tides, high and low, determine the rhythm of coastal and island dwellers. What's going on here? A quick tour, taken from the building of the old tide gauge at Dangast harbour.

- The moon revolves around the Earth, and together they revolve around the sun.

- The moon pulls the Earth's water masses toward it. A tidal bulge is always formed at the point closest to the moon.

- The moon and Earth rotate together around a common axis of rotation. Centrifugal forces act at the outer ends of this system of two celestial bodies. This creates a second tidal bulge on the side of the Earth farthest from the moon. This is why there are two low tides and two high tides a day.

- The Earth rotates once a day, practically passing beneath these tidal bulges.

- The moon's orbital period around the Earth is 28 days, while the Earth rotates on its axis once a day. Because the Moon's orbital direction around Earth and the Earth's rotational direction are always the same, it takes more than 24 hours for a given point on Earth, in this case the tide crest, to be exactly opposite the tide crest again. This daily delay is 50 minutes. Therefore, the two high and low tide times shift by 25 minutes each day. A tide, the time interval between two high and low tides, lasts an average of twelve hours and 25 minutes.

- When the sun is aligned with the moon and Earth (during a full moon and a new moon), their forces intensify: the tide crests become even higher, and it is a spring tide.

- When the sun is perpendicular to the moon-Earth axis (a half-moon), the forces weaken: the tide crests become lower, and it is a neap tide.

Aquatic animals have adapted to this rhythm.

The animals' lives are also coordinated with this time rhythm: at high tide, fish and seals take advantage of the abundant food supply that floats along with the incoming tide. At low tide, large flocks of foraging wading birds use the mudflats, and seals sunbathe on the drying sandbanks, not far from Dangast.

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