Charlottetown, 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 Tue 12 May (range 1.2m). Next neap on Thu 07 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.

Charlottetown sits at the head of the Hillsborough River estuary on PEI's south coast, where three rivers — the North, West, and Hillsborough — converge before opening into Northumberland Strait. The harbour is sheltered, the water warm by Canadian standards, and the tidal range is moderate: mean range approximately 1.2 metres above MLLW; spring range reaching around 1.5 metres. The Hillsborough River estuary is tidal for several kilometres upstream from the harbour; the twice-daily tidal flushing drives the renewal cycle that sustains the oyster and mussel beds in the bays and coves around the city. Charlottetown is the provincial capital and the 'Birthplace of Confederation' — Province House on Great George Street hosted the Charlottetown Conference of September 1864, the first of the three conferences that produced the Canadian Confederation in 1867. Province House (1847, Italianate sandstone) is a national historic site; the confederation chamber interior is preserved. The city's identity is layered between that 19th-century constitutional weight and the present-day food, arts, and tourism economy that PEI has built since the 1990s. The Victoria Park waterfront on the southwest side of the city runs along the Charlottetown Harbour, with views across to Rocky Point on the west shore of the Hillsborough River. At low water the tidal flats below the park are exposed — red-sand intertidal zone, accessible for clamming and birdwatching. The Victoria Row arts district and the Peake's Wharf waterfront development are the commercial-cultural anchors of the downtown. PEI's food economy is tidal in the most literal sense. Malpeque oysters, grown in the bays of the northwest coast on lease sites that tidal currents keep flushed, are harvested year-round (hand-harvested, PEI aquaculture regulations require it for the quality product). PEI blue mussels are farmed on longlines in the estuaries; the mussel harvest season peaks in autumn. Charlottetown's farmers' market at the Charlottetown Event Grounds and the waterfront restaurants carry the local product directly. Gateway Village on the Confederation Bridge approach at Borden-Carleton (60 km west) is the entry point for most visitors arriving by car; the bridge itself — 12.9 kilometres long, completed 1997 — is the longest bridge over ice-covered water in the world. Gulf water temperature in Charlottetown Harbour reaches 19 to 21°C in late July and August — warmest swimming in PEI is typically the last two weeks of July and first two weeks of August. The shallow Gulf of St. Lawrence heats faster than the open Atlantic; Northumberland Strait temperatures can exceed those of beaches much further south. Victoria Beach and nearby Northumberland Strait beaches 30 to 40 kilometres west of the city are the primary swimming destination. 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 the DFO Charlottetown gauge. For authoritative official Canadian predictions, consult Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) at tides.gc.ca — the DFO publishes verified gauge-based predictions for Charlottetown Harbour.