Yeah, tides are like a low‑frequency loop—perfect for a simple state machine. I’ll map high and low to 1 and 0 and throw in a checksum. Just give me the wave period, and we’ll turn it into a puzzle you can debug in seconds.

12‑second cycle is a solid 120‑ms tick. Map 60 ms of swell to 1, the rest to 0. Add a XOR guard bit every 3 cycles. You’ve got a reversible pattern you can test on a single Arduino pin. Try it, and let me know if it feels as cryptic as the sea.