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Port Stephens, NSW · New South Wales · australia

Tide is currently rising — next high at 18:00

0.70 m
Next high · 18:00 GMT+10
Heights relative to MSL · 2026-04-28Solunar 3/5

Tide times at Port Stephens, NSW on Tuesday, 28 April 2026: first high tide at 18:00. Sunrise 06:21, sunset 17:16.

TIDE CURVE

Next 24 hours at Port Stephens, NSW

-0.4 m0.2 m0.8 mHeight (MSL)02:0006:0010:0014:0018:0022:00H 18:00L 00:00nowTime (Australia/Sydney)

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.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

Sun, moon and conditions on Tue 28 Apr

Sunrise
06:21
Sunset
17:16
Moon
Waxing gibbous
83% illuminated
Wind
3.3 m/s
193°
Water temp
22.6 °C

Conditions as of 02:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

7-DAY OUTLOOK

Highs and lows next 7 days

Today
0.7m18:00
Wed
0.6m06:00
-0.3m00:00
Coef. 93
Thu
0.5m07:00
-0.4m01:00
Coef. 97
Fri
0.5m07:00
-0.5m01:00
Coef. 98
Sat
0.5m08:00
-0.5m02:00
Coef. 100
Sun
0.9m21:00
-0.4m03:00
Coef. 99
Mon
0.4m09:00
-0.4m03:00
Coef. 62
All extrema (7 days)
DayTypeTimeHeightCoef.
Tue 28 AprHigh18:000.7m
Wed 29 AprLow00:00-0.3m93
High06:000.6m
Low12:00-0.5m
High18:000.8m
Thu 30 AprLow01:00-0.4m97
High07:000.5m
Low13:00-0.5m
High19:000.8m
Fri 01 MayLow01:00-0.5m98
High07:000.5m
Low13:00-0.5m
High20:000.9m
Sat 02 MayLow02:00-0.5m100
High08:000.5m
Low14:00-0.4m
High20:000.9m
Sun 03 MayLow03:00-0.4m99
High21:000.9m
Mon 04 MayLow03:00-0.4m62
High09:000.4m

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

SOLUNAR FORECAST

Fishing windows · 7-day rating

The angler tradition that rates each day for fish-bite likelihood using moon transits and rise/set. One to five stars, not a scientific forecast.

SPRING AND NEAP CYCLE

Cycle dates near Port Stephens, NSW

Next spring tide on Fri 01 May (range 1.3m). Next neap on Tue 28 Apr.

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.

EDITORIAL

About tides at Port Stephens, NSW

Port Stephens is the deep natural harbour about 200 km north of Sydney, on the New South Wales mid-coast where the Karuah and Myall rivers drain into one of the larger embayments on the east Australian coast. The harbour is more than twice the area of Sydney Harbour and famously hosts a resident population of bottlenose dolphins. The tide here runs the standard east-Australian semidiurnal signal: two highs and two lows of comparable size each day, twelve and a half hours apart. Mean range at Port Stephens entrance — between Tomaree Head and Yacaaba Head — is about 1.3 metres, climbing toward 1.7 on spring tides. The narrow harbour entrance concentrates flow and the current on the change of tide runs sharper than the height swing implies, with eddies on both flanks. Slack water is the quiet crossing window. The wide white sand at Shoal Bay, Fingal Bay, and the long surf beaches at Birubi Point widen by 10–15 metres at low water and the dunes at Stockton Beach south of the heads run the largest active dune system on the NSW coast. Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo's gridded marine model. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the NSW Roads and Maritime Services publish authoritative tide tables for the Port Stephens entrance.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Tide questions about Port Stephens, NSW

When is the next high tide at Port Stephens?
The hero block shows the next high tide at the Port Stephens entrance in local Australian Eastern time. The 7-day table covers all four daily extremes. High water at the inner harbour at Soldiers Point lags the entrance by 30–45 minutes; high water at the head of the Karuah River lags by an hour or more.
What's the typical tide range at Port Stephens?
Mean range at the entrance is about 1.3 metres, with spring tides pushing toward 1.7 metres and neaps dropping near 0.8. The signal closely tracks Sydney Harbour 200 km south on the same coast — modest in absolute terms but the harbour geometry makes the entrance currents run harder than the height swing implies.
When is best for paddling across the harbour?
Slack water is the calmest crossing window — about thirty minutes either side of high or low. Strong ebb against an incoming swell at the entrance produces standing chop at the heads that catches paddlers out, especially on spring tides. The 7-day table on this page flags slack times. Wind-against-tide is the dangerous combination at the entrance.
Where do these tide predictions come from?
Open-Meteo's marine model produces the gridded predictions on this page — general-planning data, not navigation-grade. The Bureau of Meteorology runs the authoritative gauge at the entrance and publishes harmonic tide tables. Maritime NSW publishes specific guidance for the Port Stephens bar entry.
Is this safe to use for navigation?
No. For piloting in or out of the Port Stephens heads, transiting the bar, or working the inner harbour channels use BoM's authoritative tide tables, the latest Notices to Mariners, and Maritime NSW's published bar conditions. The bar runs hard on the change of tide and breaking seas at the heads on a spring ebb against an east swell are a real hazard, not a planning matter.

7-day tide table — Port Stephens, NSW

Heights relative to MSL. Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

DayTypeTimeHeight
Tue 28 AprHigh18:000.7m
Wed 29 AprLow00:00-0.3m
High06:000.6m
Low12:00-0.5m
High18:000.8m
Thu 30 AprLow01:00-0.4m
High07:000.5m
Low13:00-0.5m
High19:000.8m
Fri 01 MayLow01:00-0.5m
High07:000.5m
Low13:00-0.5m
High20:000.9m
Sat 02 MayLow02:00-0.5m
High08:000.5m
Low14:00-0.4m
High20:000.9m
Sun 03 MayLow03:00-0.4m
High21:000.9m
Mon 04 MayLow03:00-0.4m
High09:000.4m

Not for navigation. Generated 2026-04-27T15:20:30.440Z.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.
MethodologyGlossary

Not for navigation. Page generated 2026-04-27T15:20:30.440Z. Predictions refresh daily.