Darn, I think you're right. the foreground seems soft indeed. I'll reshoot next fall.

Around here, we call it a falling tide, not a receding tide.

I'm not sure that anyone said those words could be used interchangeably in all matters, but when it comes to tides, they rise and fall. Wikipedia Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth."
This is a fallen tide, soon to rise.

I think that the strange look comes from using a wide angle lens and taking the photo high up on a pier. The focus was supposed to be on the mud flats.