Kaikōura 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 16:00 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 Pacific/Auckland local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Tue 19 May (range 1.8m). Next neap on Sun 17 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.

Kaikōura sits on a small marine terrace peninsula on the northeastern South Island coast, where the land meets one of the most dramatic submarine features in the Southwest Pacific. The Hikurangi Trough — a submarine trench that is an extension of the Hikurangi Subduction Zone — drops to 500 m or more just 500 metres offshore of the Kaikōura Peninsula. Cold, nutrient-rich water upwells from this trench year-round, driving a food chain that supports year-round populations of sperm whales, dusky dolphin super-pods of hundreds of individuals, New Zealand fur seals on the peninsula rocks, and dense seabird aggregations including wandering albatross and Hutton's shearwaters. The tidal range at Kaikōura is approximately 1.6 m mean above LAT, semidiurnal. Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are present in the Kaikōura Canyon year-round — one of only a handful of locations on earth where deep-diving sperm whales can be reliably found within an hour's boat ride of the coast. The male sperm whales using the canyon are 15–18 m long and dive to 1,000+ m to hunt giant squid in the canyon depths, spending 45 minutes to an hour at depth before returning to the surface to breathe. Whale Watch Kaikōura uses hydrophones deployed from the boat to locate surfacing whales; encounters typically last 15–20 minutes before the whale flukes and dives. A partial refund applies if no whale is sighted — a sightings rate of approximately 95%. Dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) occur in Kaikōura waters in pods of dozens to several hundred, making them among the most reliably encountered dolphins in New Zealand. Swim-with-dolphin tours from the town run in the early morning when the dolphins are most active and conditions are calmest before the afternoon southerly builds. The Kaikōura Peninsula Seal Colony is a permanent haul-out site for New Zealand fur seals (kekeno), accessible by a 30-minute walk from the town on the South Bay road. Hundreds of fur seals rest on the rock platforms year-round; November through January is the pupping season. Maintain 10 m distance — required under the Marine Mammals Protection Act. Commercial snorkelling-with-seals tours operate from South Bay. The 14 November 2016 Kaikōura earthquake (magnitude 7.8) raised the shoreline by up to 1 m, exposing reef platforms that were previously subtidal and changing the character of the South Bay beach. The coastal highway (SH1) and rail line were both destroyed and required two years to rebuild; both are fully operational. The earthquake's uplift effect is reflected in local surveys — pre-earthquake tide charts may not accurately represent current intertidal exposure. Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2–0.3 m on height — model-derived, not from a local gauge. For authoritative New Zealand tide data, consult Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) at linz.govt.nz.