Douarnenez 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 Europe/Paris local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Tue 05 May (range 3.9m). Next neap on Sat 09 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.

Douarnenez is a fishing port on the south coast of Finistère, at the head of its own bay where the Atlantic coast turns the corner between the Crozon Peninsula to the north and the Cap Sizun headland to the south. Mean spring tidal range runs approximately 5.5 metres, driven by the same Bay of Biscay tidal system that produces Finistère's characteristic 5 to 6-metre spring ranges. The bay is broadly exposed to Atlantic SW swell — the outer beaches face the open ocean — but the inner harbour area at Tréboul and Rosmeur is well sheltered from the prevailing westerlies by the curve of the bay and the Île Tristan that sits in the middle of the roadstead. The sardine industry built this town. At its peak in the late 19th century, Douarnenez was the largest sardine port in France, with dozens of canning factories lining the quays and seasonal workers arriving each summer to process the catch. The fishery collapsed early in the 20th century — the sardine biomass crashed, as it periodically does across the Bay of Biscay — and the canning factories closed one by one. Today the harbour works on crab, langoustine, gillnet-caught sea bream, and inshore fishing by smaller vessels. The cannery heritage is documented at the Port-Musée (Musée du Bateau), an open-air maritime museum on the Tréboul quay that includes a collection of floating historic vessels: a Thames sailing barge, a pilot schooner, a steam trawler, and other working craft that are accessible to visitors and maintained in working condition. The museum also operates the floating pontoon as a workshop for traditional wooden boat repair — visible to visitors from the quay. Île Tristan, sitting in the centre of the bay roughly 500 metres off the Rosmeur quay, is accessible on foot across a sand bar at very low spring tides — the causeway emerges for a brief window around the lowest spring low waters, typically the 2 to 3 days around maximum spring range near new and full moon. At neap tides and most of the spring cycle, Île Tristan is surrounded by water and inaccessible without a boat. The island is historically associated with the legend of Tristan and Iseult; the actual reason for the crossing is more prosaic — a restored château, bird observation, and the view back to the two ports. The outer bay beaches face the Atlantic directly. Plage de Trez-Bellec on the north side of the bay and Plage des Dames, Plage de Sable Blanc, and the beaches of the Anse du Ris on the south side catch the full SW swell on any significant westerly weather. A surf school operates at Plage de Sable Blanc; the break there works consistently on NW to W swell with a moderate tide, with the most manageable conditions around mid-tide on either flood or ebb. The very low water at spring tides exposes reef and rock on the outer beaches that is permanently submerged at other times — a productive window for shore fishing for bass, pollack, and wrasse, and for exploring the rocky intertidal zone. The tidal current through the bay itself is modest compared with the Raz de Sein tidal race 15 kilometres to the west at the tip of Cap Sizun, but the ebb from the inner harbour can run at 2 to 3 knots in the channel at springs, which is relevant for kayakers rounding the Île Tristan. 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 local gauge. For authoritative French tide data, consult SHOM (Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine) at shom.fr.