Westport 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 4.1m). Last neap on Sat 16 May. 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.

Westport is a planned Georgian town in County Mayo, set at the head of Clew Bay — a shallow, drumlin-filled inlet on the southern shore of Clew Bay that is among the most geographically unusual tidal environments in Ireland. The town quay is 2 kilometres from the town centre, at the end of a tidal river channel; the bay proper begins a further kilometre beyond. Clew Bay is defined by its drumlins: elongated, oval mounds of glacial till deposited as the last ice sheet retreated across the Mayo lowlands. Up to 365 of these formations are scattered across the bay — some are permanent islands, others are drowned at high tide and exposed at low water, and the intertidal zone between creates a complex mosaic of channels, sandbars, and mudflats that shifts subtly with each tide. Spring tidal range in the bay is approximately 3.8 metres above LAT, among the highest on the Connacht coast — neap range is around 1.9 metres. Tides are semidiurnal. Croagh Patrick — the conical quartzite mountain sacred in Irish tradition as the site of St Patrick's 5th-century retreat — stands 764 metres above the town and bay. On clear days the mountain's profile is visible from well out in the bay; approaching Westport from seaward, it serves as an unmistakable landmark. The annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage (last Sunday of July) draws tens of thousands of walkers to the summit via the western ridge. The high tidal range combined with shallow, drumlin-obstructed water makes the bay complex for navigation. The main navigable channel to Westport Quay runs approximately north-south through the outer bay before turning east toward town; buoyage is sparse in the outer bay and drying heights change with seasonal sand movement. Local knowledge is important. Westport Quay hosts leisure craft and a small commercial fleet. Clew Bay sea kayaking — island hopping through the drumlins — is increasingly well-known; the area around Clare Island at the bay mouth and the Achill Sound to the north are popular multi-day routes. Sea angling is productive: turbot and brill on the sandy banks, pollock and wrasse on the Clare Island cliffs, and mackerel in abundance through summer. Open-Meteo Marine predictions for Westport carry ±45-minute timing and ±0.2–0.3-metre height uncertainty. UKHO chart 2057 (Clew Bay) and Marine Institute Ireland data are the authoritative references for this area.