Mangrove Bight, Guanaja 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 16:00 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/Tegucigalpa local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Sat 23 May (range 0.3m). Last neap on Tue 19 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.

Mangrove Bight occupies the northwest corner of Guanaja, the point where the principal ferry from La Ceiba docks and the first land most visitors touch on the island. The name is accurate: the shoreline behind the dock is dense red mangrove, the roots intertwined with the muddy substrate of the sheltered embayment. Bonacca — the commercial cay that functions as the island's capital — sits a short boat ride to the south, its wooden buildings packed onto a small islet with no natural ground to spare. Tides here follow the Bay Islands microtidal pattern: spring range 20–50 cm, mixed semidiurnal character. Open-Meteo Marine supplies the forecast data for this location — timing accuracy is ±45 minutes, height accuracy ±0.2–0.3 m. The small range makes intertidal zone work predictable, and the mangrove fringe remains submerged even at low water, which matters for the juvenile fish and crustaceans that use the root system as nursery habitat. For kayakers, Mangrove Bight is the best entry point on Guanaja for a mangrove circuit. The root tunnels and shallow channels behind the dock can be paddled at any tidal state, though slightly higher water (within two hours of high tide) opens more of the interior passages. Birding from a kayak here is exceptional: reddish egrets, tricoloured herons, and green kingfishers work the root margins. Osprey are a fixture above the bight year-round. Anglers fishing the mangrove edges at dawn — before the morning ferry disturbs the water — will find snook and tarpon holding at the root edges, particularly where the tidal current creates a slow circular flow inside the bight. Tarpon in the 10–30 kg range move through on incoming tides between April and July. Light tackle with surface lures works well in the pre-dawn flat calm. The ferry dock itself provides a concrete platform for casual fishing after the boat traffic dies down in the early afternoon. Yellowtail snapper respond to small cut bait dropped at the dock pilings, especially on an ebbing tide when current concentrates food scraps. Beach families won't find a traditional beach here — the shoreline is mangrove rather than sand. The nearest sandy beaches are a short water taxi ride south toward the western end of the main island. However, the calm protected water in front of the dock is safe for supervised swimming from the dock itself, and the shallow clear water over the sand patch 200 m north of the ferry terminal has a gentle sandy bottom accessible from a dinghy. The view from Mangrove Bight southwest toward Bonacca and the Pine Ridge hills behind it is one of the most characteristic in the Bay Islands: low wooden town on a cay, steep green hills behind, open Caribbean sky. Morning light from the northeast hits this scene cleanly. Photographers working the ferry arrival get strong candid frames as passengers disembark onto the wooden dock.