Clifden 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 05:00 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 Europe/Dublin local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Sun 17 May (range 4.3m). Next neap on Fri 22 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.

Clifden is the main town of Connemara, set at the head of Clifden Bay where the Owenglin River meets the sea through a shallow, peat-stained estuary. The town sits slightly inland, its two church spires visible from the water as a landmark approach bearing. The coastline here is granite rather than limestone — older, rougher, darker — and the surrounding bogland gives the water a characteristic brownish tint on the ebb. Mean spring tidal range in Clifden Bay is approximately 3.5 metres above LAT; neap range around 1.7 metres. The bay is shallow and dries extensively at low water. At low-water springs, the inner bay is largely mud and stone, with the remaining channel narrowing to a thread running down the middle. Traditional Connemara turf boats — flat-bottomed, designed to take the ground — once worked this estuary regularly; at low tide, the outlines of stranded or abandoned peat lighters are occasionally visible on the foreshore flats. The flood builds from the southwest, pushing into the bay entrance and then northeast toward town; the ebb runs the reverse. Looking east from the water, the Twelve Bens (Na Beanna Beola) are the visual anchor — a compact range of quartzite peaks, the highest being Benbaun at 729 metres, forming a jagged skyline above the bog. The mountains collect weather quickly; cloud often sits over the peaks hours before conditions deteriorate at sea level. The approach to Clifden from seaward passes through the Clifden Bay entrance between Cleggan Head and Clifden Castle Point — a navigable passage at half-tide and above for modest-draught vessels, but requiring careful attention to the drying rock patches in the outer bay. The UKHO small-craft chart for this area (SC5621 Connacht and Connaught Coast) and Imray's Irish west coast pilot give detailed entry bearings. For sea kayakers and SUP paddlers, the outer shores of the bay and the nearby Cleggan Bay and Ballynakill Harbour offer exceptional paddling with minimal tidal risk in settled conditions. Whale and dolphin sightings — minke, common dolphin, occasionally humpback — are regular in the offshore approaches through summer and autumn. Open-Meteo Marine predictions carry ±45-minute timing and ±0.2–0.3-metre height uncertainty. Marine Institute Ireland and UKHO publications are the authoritative references for navigation in Clifden Bay.