Watamu 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 07:00 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 Africa/Nairobi local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Sun 17 May (range 3.6m). 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.

Watamu sits at the southern end of Kenya's Malindi–Watamu coral coast, 100 kilometres north of Mombasa on the main coast road. The settlement itself is small — a few hundred permanent residents, a cluster of dive centres, hotels, and the international researchers and conservationists who have worked here since Watamu Marine National Park was gazetted in 1968, making it Kenya's first marine park. The park protects three bays — Blue Lagoon, Turtle Bay, and Watamu Bay — separated by rocky coral headlands, with the reef system extending seaward from each bay. The tidal regime here is the same as the rest of the Kenya coast: semidiurnal with strong diurnal inequality, spring range 3.0 to 3.5 metres, neap range around 1.5 metres. The tidal transformation across the three bays is one of the most dramatic on the Kenyan coast. At low spring water, the wide reef flat in Turtle Bay exposes to ankle and knee depth for 600 to 800 metres from the beach — snorkellers wade in at the waterline and walk out along the flat until they can roll forward onto the coral. By high water, the same flat is covered to 1.5 to 2.5 metres and the snorkelling shifts from the flat to the coral heads and the deeper channels between them. The water colour changes visibly with the tide: the shallow turquoise of the covered flat deepens to a rich blue-green over the submerged reef as the depth increases. Watamu Marine National Park's three bays produce different tidal conditions simultaneously because the rocky headlands create local variations in current and water depth. Blue Lagoon, at the southern end of the park, is deepest and maintains adequate snorkelling depth even at low neap tide. Turtle Bay, in the centre, has the widest tidal flat and the most dramatic low-water transformation. Watamu Bay to the north, closer to the town, is the shallowest and the most affected by the strong tidal currents that run through the gap between the headlands at spring tide. The incoming flood tide at Turtle Bay produces one of the most distinctive sight-fishing opportunities on the Kenyan coast: as the water rises over the flat, fish move in from the outer reef — bonefish (albula vulpes) across the sand and seagrass sections, and blue-spotted rays (taeniura lymma) from the sandy channels. The window is the first 2 to 3 hours of flood, when the fish are in clear shallow water over a pale bottom and wading anglers can sight them at 20 to 30 metres. Watamu has a small community of fly-fishing guides who specialise in the flat; bookings are through the dive centres. The Watamu Turtle Watch programme monitors green turtle (chelonia mydas) nesting on the beach, primarily at Turtle Bay and Watamu Bay. The nesting peak runs from June to August; nests are identified and protected by the programme's rangers, with night walks for visitors during the peak season. Hatchlings emerge 55 to 65 days after laying, typically from August through October. Neither nesting nor hatching is tide-dependent in the strict sense — turtles nest above the high-water line on the dry beach — but hatchling emergence and the run to the sea is influenced by the temperature of the sand above the nest, which rises and falls with both time of day and tidal state (wave wash at very high spring tides can cool the upper beach significantly). For divers, the outer reef at Watamu is accessible by boat from the park's main jetty, 10 minutes from Turtle Bay beach. The dive sites on the outer reef face and the Blue Lagoon drop-off are diveable at any tidal state, though the tidal current in the channel between the headlands at spring tide requires attention: at peak ebb, currents through the Turtle Bay–Blue Lagoon gap can reach 2 knots. Experienced divers use this current for drift dives along the outer reef; beginners should dive on neap tides when the current is weaker. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) issues entry permits for the marine park; park fees apply to all visitors including snorkellers and divers. Tide predictions for Watamu come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height. The Kenya Ports Authority Mombasa gauge is the authoritative regional reference; KPA publishes annual tide tables for the Kenyan coast. These predictions are not for navigation.