Dichato Beach tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 00:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are America/Santiago local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Sun 17 May (range 1.7m). Last neap on Fri 15 May. Next neap on Thu 21 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Dichato is a beach village on the north shore of the Biobío coast, 40 km north of Concepción and 15 km south of Tomé. The town sits at the mouth of the Dichato River, where a small lagoon behind the beach connects to the sea through a tidal channel. The beach faces NW across the open Pacific; it is wide, flat, and exposed to the full South Pacific swell. Dichato was largely destroyed in the 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami. The Mw 8.8 event on 27 February 2010 generated a tsunami run-up of 4–6 m above mean sea level at Dichato; the wave destroyed the waterfront neighbourhood, the fishing harbour, and the recreational infrastructure that had made Dichato one of the most popular summer beaches in the region. The rebuilt town — completed through 2012–2015 — has a new sea wall, elevated evacuation routes, and vertical evacuation platforms on the hills above the beach. Tsunami evacuation signage is prominently posted throughout the town; the local population has undergone evacuation drills and the community memory of the 2010 event is immediate and specific. The tidal regime at Dichato is mixed semidiurnal, spring range approximately 1.5–2.0 m above Chart Datum — consistent with the Biobío coast. The beach is wide and gently sloping; at spring low water the beach exposes an additional 30–50 m of sand beyond the high-water line. The river mouth channel that connects the Dichato lagoon to the sea is tidal: at low water the channel is shallow (sometimes closing the bar in summer dry periods); at high water the channel opens and the lagoon-side water is navigable by small kayaks and paddle craft. Summer (December–February) brings consistent visitor flow from the Concepción metropolitan area. The beach supports surf: the beach break receives consistent NW and SW groundswell and works best on the incoming tide at mid-height. The Dichato fishing harbour, rebuilt after 2010, operates a small fleet of artisanal fishing vessels targeting congrio, corvina, and pelagic species. The lagoon behind the beach is productive for estuary fishing: pejerrey and lisa in the brackish zone on the incoming tidal flush. The channel between the lagoon and the sea concentrates fish at the tide turn. Shore fishing from the river mouth rocks and the beach is most productive from one hour after the predicted low through to high water. SHOA publishes Chilean tide tables with Talcahuano as the regional reference station. Predictions here: Open-Meteo Marine, ±45 min / ±0.2–0.3 m. The rebuilt Dichato includes a Memorial and Museum (Museo y Recuerdo del Mar) dedicated to the 2010 tsunami — a community-built monument that records the exact run-up heights at various points along the former waterfront street. The museum is a modest building adjacent to the beach access; it functions primarily as a local educational and memorial space rather than a large-scale tourist attraction. The combination of the reconstruction's visible recent character and the explicit tsunami memorial gives Dichato a different quality from other Biobío beach towns — it is not attempting to present itself as unchanged. The post-2010 reconstruction of Dichato was managed by the Chilean government's MINVU (Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning) as a pilot programme for resilient coastal rebuilding. The new Dichato incorporates setback requirements from the former high-water mark, elevated street levels in the coastal zone, and hardened sea wall infrastructure. The experience became a reference point for coastal resilience planning in Chile and was presented at international disaster risk reduction conferences. The visible difference between the rebuilt Dichato and the pre-2010 village footprint remains apparent in the open land between the sea wall and the first row of buildings.