Treasure Beach, Jamaica 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 04:00 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 UTC local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Treasure Beach is not a single beach but four connected bays along the south Jamaica coast of St. Elizabeth Parish — Calabash Bay, Frenchman's Bay, Billy's Bay, and Great Bay — separated by low rocky headlands and joined by a road that runs along the low cliff above the shore. The south Jamaica coast is drier than the north, backed by savannah and the Santa Cruz Mountains rather than the tropical forest that defines Portland Parish; the light here is more direct and the landscape more open. The coast faces the Caribbean Sea to the south, and the swell regime is governed by Atlantic energy wrapping around Jamaica's western tip rather than arriving directly — the result is a moderate-to-calm shoreline on most days, with the occasional swell pulse from a distant southern hemisphere or Gulf of Mexico storm. The tourism model at Treasure Beach is distinctly different from the north coast. There are no all-inclusive resorts; the accommodation is almost entirely small guesthouses, villas, and the Jake's Hotel complex at Calabash Bay, which has been running a boutique community-tourism operation since the 1990s. The Jake's Off-Road Triathlon, held annually in January, brings a specific adventure-sports crowd. The fishing is real: the boats at Frenchman's Bay and Billy's Bay go out before dawn for kingfish, wahoo, and dolphinfish (mahi-mahi), and the catch comes back to the bay in the morning for sale direct from the boats. Calabash Bay is the calmest of the four bays, sheltered by the natural curve of the headland to the southwest; the snorkelling on the fringing reef at the headland runs from 2 to 8 metres depth and holds healthy coral coverage for south Jamaica. Frenchman's Bay to the east has more swell exposure and the fishing boats work from a steep shingle ramp directly off the beach. Great Bay, the furthest east of the four, is the most remote and least visited, accessible by a rough track; the beach here is wide and natural, with no facilities. The tidal regime is mixed semidiurnal Caribbean, spring range roughly 0.4 to 0.6 metres. The spring low at Calabash Bay exposes the full sand flat below the normal waterline, adding 20 to 25 metres of dry beach and clearing the top of the fringing reef to less than 0.5 metres — snorkellers plan for the rising tide from the half-tide mark to avoid the shallowest coral heads. Shore anglers fish the evening flood at the rocky headlands between the bays, targeting the snapper that move onto the reef on the incoming water. All tide predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine gridded model — accuracy within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height.