Bakau 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 23:00 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 Africa/Banjul local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Mon 18 May (range 1.7m). Last neap on Wed 13 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.

Bakau sits 8 kilometres west of Banjul on the Atlantic coast, a beach suburb that functions as both residential neighbourhood and working fishing community. Cape Point, the rocky headland at Bakau's northwest tip, is the most prominent coastal feature between Banjul and the Senegalese border — a projecting wedge of laterite rock that creates a natural windbreak for the beach immediately to its south and an exposed ocean-facing cliff to its north and west. The view from the cape's clifftop takes in the open Atlantic to the west, the island cluster of the Cape St. Mary lighthouse to the north, and the long sandy beach curving southeast toward Fajara. The tidal range at Bakau is 1.6–1.8 m on spring tides, semidiurnal. The intertidal zone on the main beach below the cape is sandy and moderately sloped — the beach widens approximately 50–70 m between high and low spring water, exposing a firm sand flat suitable for walking and launching. The two daily tidal cycles are approximately equal in height, with the difference between the higher and lower high water rarely exceeding 0.2 m on this Atlantic-facing coast. The beach gradient here is steeper than the broad flat beaches further south at Kololi, and the Atlantic swell arrives more directly — wave height on the Bakau beach tends to be marginally larger than at sheltered coves further down the coast. The Cape Point beach below the headland's south face is the primary launching and landing site for Bakau's pirogue fleet. The beach is used rather than a formal harbour because a constructed harbour would silt and require constant dredging in the Atlantic longshore drift environment. Instead, the boats are dragged up the beach on wooden rollers at the end of each trip — a technique unchanged since the first Portuguese navigators noted the practice in the 1450s. The timing of landings is governed partly by tidal state and partly by swell height: a rising mid-tide with a 0.8–1.0 m swell is the preferred landing window. At high spring water, the beach is at its narrowest and the waves land closer to the base of the cape's rocky face, compressing the available landing strip. At low water, the boat has to be dragged further up the flat before it clears the swash zone. For families and swimmers, the beach between Cape Point and Fajara to the southeast offers the most accessible Atlantic swimming in the greater Banjul area. The water is warmest October through May — 24–27°C — and the swell is most manageable in the April–October period when the Southwest Monsoon wind pattern is absent. Strong longshore currents develop when the Atlantic swell arrives from the northwest during the November–February period; swimming parallel to the shore rather than against any rip is the safest approach. The beach is open, uncrowded outside the peak European tourist season (December–February), and the Cape Point clifftop provides a clear vantage point over the full beach length. The Cape Point area is a standard stop on organised bird-watching itineraries. The rocky cape and the adjacent scrub hold an unusual mix of coastal and woodland species: pied kingfishers hunt the intertidal zone at all tidal stages; ospreys are regularly perched on the cape rocks from October through April; the shrubby vegetation on the inland side of the cape road holds warblers and sunbirds. The tidal flat exposed at low spring water south of the cape concentrates wading birds — grey herons, little egrets, and common sandpipers are present throughout the year, with migrant wader species swelling the count from September to April. For photographers, the Cape Point clifftop at sunrise is the primary vantage point — the light comes from behind the shooting position, illuminating the beach, boats, and Atlantic horizon directly. The pirogue landing activity peaks at 06:00–08:00; the low-angle morning light makes the brightly painted hulls (yellows, greens, blues) vivid against the sand. The north face of the cape catches the full west-light at sunset, with wave-impact on the rocks strongest at high spring water. Anglers fish Cape Point's rocky margins at the lower tidal stages, when the rock ledges and gullies are exposed. Barracuda, snapper, and jack species work the current that wraps around the headland on the ebb. Buying directly from the pirogue landings on the beach is standard practice for local residents. All tide predictions for Bakau come from the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.3 m above Chart Datum.