San Pedro, Ambergris Caye 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 17:00 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 America/Belize local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

San Pedro is the main town on Ambergris Caye, Belize’s largest island, sitting 56 km north of Belize City and 2 km south of the Mexican border at Boca Bacalar Chico. The island is separated from the Yucatan Peninsula by that narrow channel — a channel that defines the northern limit of the Belize Barrier Reef, the largest barrier reef system in the Western Hemisphere and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reef is the reason San Pedro exists as a destination, and it sits 1.5–2.5 km offshore, immediately accessible by boat. The tidal regime is microtidal — spring range 0.2–0.4 m above Chart Datum, mixed semidiurnal pattern, neap range 0.1–0.2 m. The Belize Barrier Reef modifies how this small tidal signal propagates along the coast. The reef acts as a sill: water floods into the lagoon between the reef and the shore through passes in the reef during the flood tide, and drains back through the same passes on the ebb. This concentrates tidal current through the reef passes to 0.5–1.0 knots on spring tides — significantly faster than the open-lagoon flow of 0.1–0.2 knots — and makes those passes the most productive fishing locations near San Pedro. The lagoon between San Pedro’s waterfront and the reef is 1.5–2.5 km wide and averages 2–4 m depth at mid-tide. This is the training and snorkelling ground for day-trip operations from the town docks. At spring low water, the lagoon shallows in places to 1.5–2.5 m — still adequate for motorized boats but shallow enough that kayakers and paddleboarders should watch the sandbar areas on the return run. Hol Chan Marine Reserve, the most-visited dive and snorkel site in Belize, is a natural cut (hol chan means “little channel” in Mayan) in the reef 6 km south of San Pedro. The cut is 25 m wide and 8 m deep at mid-tide; it narrows slightly at low water as the reef edge becomes more exposed. Tidal current through Hol Chan on the ebb reaches 1.0–1.5 knots, which drives nutrient-rich water through the cut and concentrates nurse sharks, southern stingrays, green morays, and large reef fish. The adjacent Shark Ray Alley, a shallow sand-bottom site where rays and nurse sharks have been fed by fishermen for decades, is 2–3 m deep; a spring low drops it to 1.5–2.5 m, which is actually the most photogenic depth for snorkellers — the animals are visible from the surface in excellent light. For anglers, the Boca Bacalar Chico channel at the north end of Ambergris Caye is the most productive water near San Pedro. The channel is 50–200 m wide and connects the lagoon to the open Caribbean; tidal current through it runs 1.0–2.0 knots on springs, flooding south from Mexico and ebbing north. Tarpon — some over 1 m in length — stack in the current on both tides, taking large streamers and surface poppers near the mangrove margins. The channel bottom is 3–6 m; local guides run flat-bottomed skiffs up the channel from San Pedro, a 30-minute run north. Bonefish flats extend along the entire lagoon side of Ambergris Caye but are most accessible from San Pedro in the areas immediately north and south of the town, where the bottom is turtle grass over sandy marl. The flood tide pushes fish from the channel edges onto the flats in 15–40 cm of water — visible, and accessible to wading anglers or those in a poling skiff. Spring tides produce the best flat access; neap tides keep fish in slightly deeper water and reduce the area of fishable flat. San Pedro town runs along the east shore of Ambergris Caye; most guest accommodation faces the reef side, not the west (lagoon) side. Street Golf Carts are the main transport — the island has no paved road through to the north end, and a water taxi connects the north-of-town resorts to the town dock. Water taxis run on demand rather than to a tidal timetable; the lagoon is navigable at all tidal stages for the small vessels used. All tide predictions for San Pedro come from the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.3 m above Chart Datum.