Cavendish, PEI 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 01:00 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/Halifax local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Thu 07 May (range 0.7m). Next neap on Sun 10 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.

Cavendish is on PEI's north shore, facing the open Gulf of St. Lawrence across a broad arc of red-sand beach interrupted by freshwater ponds separated from the sea by narrow sand barriers. Tidal range here is lower than on PEI's south coast: approximately 0.7 metres mean range, with spring range around 0.9 metres. The shallower Gulf geometry means tidal forcing is weaker on this north shore; the tidal cycle is still semidiurnal but the vertical change is modest enough that beach width changes less dramatically than at comparable macrotidal beaches. The beach is the dominant fact. Cavendish Beach, within Prince Edward Island National Park, runs approximately 8 kilometres of continuous red sand backed by dunes and the PEI National Park boundary. The red colour comes from iron-rich Permian sandstone underlying the whole island — iron oxide staining the sand and the eroding cliffs at the western end of the beach. The cliffs erode at roughly 30 centimetres per year on exposed sections; red sandstone fragments are visible at the base of the dunes and in the intertidal zone at low water. The water temperature is the north shore's main draw from a swimming perspective. The shallow Gulf warms to 20°C or above by late July and holds those temperatures through mid-August — comparable to Nova Scotia's south shore but warmer than the open Atlantic beaches south of Halifax. The Cavendish beach is the busiest on PEI from mid-July through mid-August; low-tide beach width is fully accessible for the whole tidal cycle given the modest 0.7 metre range. Green Gables Heritage Place, 3 kilometres south of the beach in the agricultural interior, is the farmhouse that inspired the setting of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1908). Montgomery lived in Cavendish as a girl and set her novel in the surrounding countryside. The house and grounds are a national historic site and the most visited literary landmark in Canada; the surrounding farm is maintained in the period style. The Cavendish cemetery contains Montgomery's grave. The Cavendish area has the highest tourist infrastructure density on PEI — resorts, cottages, golf courses, amusement parks, and outlet stores concentrated along the Route 6 corridor. From a coastal-access perspective, the national park beach is the best-quality experience; the commercial strip behind it is dense and utilitarian. The quieter sections of the north shore east and west of Cavendish — Stanhope, North Rustico Harbour, Brackley Beach — have better dune and estuary access with less development pressure. Tide 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 metres on height — model-derived, not from a DFO gauge on this specific section of the north shore. For authoritative official Canadian predictions, consult Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) at tides.gc.ca.