Yantai, Shandong 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 06:00 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 Asia/Shanghai local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Wed 06 May (range 2.0m). Last neap on Tue 05 May. Next neap on Mon 11 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.

Yantai (烟台) translates literally as smoke platform — the name comes from Ming dynasty signal towers built on the promontory above the harbour to warn of maritime threats by burning wolf dung, the smoke column readable at sea for kilometres. The towers are gone but the headland is still there, and the Bohai Strait visible from it is still one of China's most strategically navigated waterways. The city sits on Shandong's north coast where the Yellow Sea narrows into the Bohai Strait, and the tidal regime is straightforwardly semidiurnal: two highs and two lows per day, mean spring range 1.5–2.5 m. The pattern is consistent and readable across the seasons. Tidal current through the strait runs 0.5–1.5 knots on springs, stronger around the headlands where the channel constricts. Forty kilometres west at Penglai, the current around the cape is visibly stronger. The Penglai Pavilion (蓬莱阁) stands on a cliff above the strait, 40 km west of Yantai. It was built in 1061 during the Song dynasty and became the origin of the Chinese mythological Isle of the Immortals — a place where, in classical literature, Taoist immortals lived beyond the reach of mortality. The pavilion is still standing on its original cliff, and from the viewing platform above the gate the tidal current around the headland below is readable: on a spring ebb, the surface disturbance where the offshore channel shelves are visible as lines of disturbed water. The Penglai Pavilion area is 40 km from Yantai city and is the most visited historical site in western Shandong — accessible by bus or hire car, allow half a day. Changdao Island County (长岛县) is an archipelago of 32 islands north of Yantai, reached by ferry from the Penglai harbour (90 minutes from Penglai, 40 km west of Yantai). The islands sit at the northern end of the Shandong coastal ridge, a marine protected area with rocky intertidal zones, sea urchin and oyster harvest grounds, and raptor watching platforms that use the spring and autumn migration corridors running north-south along the archipelago. Sea urchin (海胆) and oyster harvest from the rocky intertidal occurs April through June, timed to the lowest spring tides of the year when the intertidal zone is exposed furthest and harvesters can work the lowest reef bands. Timing here is precise: the lowest spring tides in the Bohai region typically occur in the morning on the days nearest the new and full moon in the April–June period, when the lunar and solar tidal forces align. Miss the window by an hour and the target zones are already flooding. The tidal pools on the Changdao shoreline hold sea anemones, small crabs, blennies, and urchin populations in the mid- and low-intertidal bands. The pools are accessible only on spring lows — neap tides don't expose enough of the lower reef to reach the richest zones. Families who arrive at high water and wait for the turn find themselves working down through the intertidal as the water drops, with the deepest pools opening in the last 45 minutes before low water. The Changyu Wine Estate (张裕葡萄酒公司), founded in 1892, was the first Western-style commercial winery in China. The Changyu name came from Zhang Bishi, the overseas Chinese merchant who funded it, and the "yu" character meaning prosperous. The estate's founder brought in Austrian winemaker Baron Max von Babo as technical director. The hills behind Yantai — the Jiaodong hills — produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, and Marselan in a climate that combines Yellow Sea maritime moderation with cold continental winters that force vine dormancy. The estate's original 1892 winery building survives in Yantai's old quarter as the Changyu Wine Culture Museum, a 20-minute walk from the waterfront. The coastal location is not incidental to the wine: the sea moderates summer temperatures enough to preserve acidity in the grape, which would cook out in a purely continental location at this latitude. For photographers, Yantai's waterfront faces north. Sunrise hits obliquely in summer, giving long golden light across the harbour from the east-facing pier structures. The Bohai Strait horizon produces dramatic cloud formations in the morning hours from April through October. The headland above the old signal tower site gives a view west toward Penglai and east toward the Changdao ferry route — on a clear day you can watch the ferry track across the strait from here. Tide data for Yantai, Shandong comes from the Open-Meteo Marine API, a gridded model product. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes, height accuracy ±0.3 m — usable for trip planning, not for navigation.