Sihanoukville tide times

Sihanoukville stands on a rocky headland at the southwestern corner of Cambodia, where the country meets the Gulf of Thailand. The city — officially Preah Sihanouk City — is Cambodia's only significant coastal urban centre, and the container port, ferry terminal, and the casino-hotel strip along the waterfront all operate from the same headland and its flanking bays. The main beaches — Ochheuteal, Serendipity, and Sokha — arc around the sheltered bays south and west of the city centre, each backed by a mix of guesthouses, restaurant strips, and the larger resort hotels that have replaced much of the quieter infrastructure of the early 2000s.

The tidal regime at Sihanoukville is mixed diurnal, and it is one of the most counter-intuitive tidal patterns that Gulf of Thailand coastal users encounter. On many days in the June-to-September monsoon window, the Gulf's restricted geometry produces something close to a single daily rise and fall — not the reliable twice-daily rhythm that visitors from European or open-ocean coasts expect. The range on those deeply diurnal days may be only 0.6 to 0.8 m over a 24-hour period, and the water level can sit nearly flat for hours at a time, making the concept of a distinct high and low nearly meaningless. On the more semidiurnal days, particularly November through February, the range increases to around 1.0 to 1.2 m on spring tides and the curve shows two distinct highs and two distinct lows. The transition between these modes happens gradually through the year and varies by lunar phase within each month.

For the ferry operations to Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem, departing from the main port pier in the city or from the smaller Ochheuteal pier, the tidal range is not the primary operational constraint. The port approach channel holds adequate depth across the full tidal range for fast ferries and moderate-size vessels. Speed-boat operators to the outer islands — Koh Tang, Koh Prins, the diving sites around Koh Condor — pay closer attention to sea state than to tidal timing: the southwest monsoon from May through October generates short, steep chop in the outer Gulf that makes small-boat crossings uncomfortable or unsafe regardless of tidal stage.

Ochheuteal Beach, the longest of the city beaches at roughly 2 km, faces south and southwest. The gentle sandy slope means the visible beach width changes with tidal stage, but the small Gulf range limits the swing to perhaps 15 to 20 m between a spring high and a spring low on the most semidiurnal days. Snorkelling and diving access off the city beaches is limited by water clarity, which is affected by port traffic and coastal runoff; most snorkelling and diving trips run out to the offshore islands. Shore fishing from the rocky points around the Sokha headland and the promontory north of Serendipity Beach is productive at low water when the reef shelf is accessible.

The city has changed substantially since the mid-2010s with significant Chinese investment in casino infrastructure. The waterfront strip between the port and Serendipity Beach is now a dense concentration of casino hotels, and the working character of the port remains alongside the tourism economy. Otres Beach, 4 km south of the city centre, has retained more of the quiet-beach character.

The predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model; accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 m on height. Given Sihanoukville's mixed diurnal regime and the relatively small total range, the height uncertainty is a meaningful fraction of the spring range. The Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Hydrography of Cambodia (DMHH) is the national authority for tide data; for safety-critical marine activity in Cambodian Gulf waters, DMHH is the authoritative reference.