Kenting 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 12:00 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 Asia/Taipei local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Mon 18 May (range 1.6m). Next neap on Tue 19 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.

Kenting is Taiwan's southernmost coastal district, the tip of the Hengchun Peninsula where the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea meet at the island's lowest point. The national park — Taiwan's first, established in 1984 — covers both coasts of the peninsula and the interior limestone plateau, protecting the most diverse marine environment in the country. Tidal regime is mixed semidiurnal with a mean range of approximately 1.0 m: two highs and two lows per day of unequal size, spring tides nudging toward 1.4 m and neaps compressing toward 0.5 m. The South China Sea side, where most of Kenting's resort beaches sit, faces southwest and receives the dominant swell from that direction in summer. The Pacific-facing east coast of the peninsula runs rougher and less developed. Fringing coral reefs extend along much of the peninsula's nearshore — Kenting's reefs are the most accessible in Taiwan for casual snorkellers and divers, reachable directly from the beach in some locations. Visibility in the clear water is routinely 10 to 20 m on calm days. Low-tide reef walking exposes the upper reef flat, but this damages live coral — established practice and national park regulations prohibit walking on the reef at any tide state. Snorkelling and SCUBA from the beach or from small local dive boats is the correct access mode. The Kenting main street (Kenting Dajie) runs through the resort village perpendicular to the beach, with the night market active every evening. The beach immediately fronting the resort zone is wide at low water; the 1 m range leaves a noticeable difference in beach width. The Hengchun township 10 km north is the gateway to the national park and holds the only remaining intact walled city in southern Taiwan — the Hengchun Old City walls (1879) ring the town centre. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is the authoritative source for tidal predictions; Open-Meteo Marine supplements with gridded model data accurate to approximately ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2–0.3 m on height.