Al Ahmadi 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 02:00 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/Kuwait local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Mon 18 May (range 3.0m). Next neap on Fri 15 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.

Al Ahmadi is Kuwait's major oil port and industrial city, 30 km south of Kuwait City on the southern shore of Kuwait Bay. The city was purpose-built by the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) in the 1940s to house the workers and infrastructure of Kuwait's oil industry; the name means 'the Ahmadi' in Arabic, referencing Sir Ahmad al-Jabir Al-Sabah, the Emir who oversaw early oil development. The port of Mina al-Ahmadi handles the export of Kuwait's crude oil and refined products — one of the largest petroleum export terminals in the world. This is not a beach destination. The tidal regime at Al Ahmadi is Kuwait Bay mixed semidiurnal: spring range 2.0–2.2 m, pronounced diurnal inequality. The southern end of Kuwait Bay at Al Ahmadi is shallower than the northern end at Kuwait City; extensive intertidal mudflats are exposed at spring low water to the east of the port infrastructure, extending 1–2 km from the charted land edge. These flats are ecologically significant — they form part of the intertidal feeding habitat used by migratory shorebirds on the East Atlantic Flyway through the Gulf. For the port operations at Mina al-Ahmadi, the tidal range is operationally significant. The oil export terminal handles very large crude carriers (VLCCs) drawing 20–22 m fully loaded; the deepwater berths are in 22–25 m at mean water and have adequate depth at all tidal states for these vessels. The inshore approaches through Kuwait Bay are not used by VLCCs — they load at offshore single-point moorings (SPMs) in the deeper water of the outer Gulf where depth is not a constraint. Coastal vessels and supply boats serving the port operate in 5–10 m approach channels; a spring tidal drop of 2.0 m is significant in these shallower approaches. For nature observers and photographers, the intertidal mudflats south of Mina al-Ahmadi at the eastern shore of Kuwait Bay are one of the best shorebird observation sites in Kuwait, particularly during spring (March–May) and autumn (August–October) migration. Dunlin, curlew sandpiper, bar-tailed godwit, Eurasian whimbrel, and spotted redshank are recorded in significant numbers. The most productive observation window is the 2 hours before high water, when rising water concentrates foraging shorebirds at the advancing tide edge — a dense, moving line of birds accessible with a telescope from the berm above the flat. The Kuwait Bay coast at Al Ahmadi is also a winter haunt for greater flamingos, which feed on the intertidal invertebrates at low water. Flocks of 200–500 birds are recorded on the southern Kuwait Bay flats in November–March. They feed by wading in 0.3–0.8 m of water and move with the tidal edge — the 2 hours around low water provides the most extensive shallow wading area and the highest flamingo activity on the exposed flat. For anglers, Al Ahmadi's industrial character limits accessible shore fishing to the industrial periphery. The bay's tidal flats south of the port infrastructure attract mullet and bream that follow the flood-tide edge onto the flat. Some fishing from the rocky sections of the coastal berm south of the KOC housing areas is possible at low water. The main fishing access is from small boat; the bay's productive hamour and zubaidi grounds are best reached from Salmiya or Kuwait City's fishing harbour rather than from Al Ahmadi directly. The Al Ahmadi Golf Course, developed by KOC and irrigated with treated wastewater, borders the coastal area to the west of the port. The juxtaposition of a maintained golf course with petrochemical infrastructure and migratory shorebird habitat is one of the more surreal coastal landscapes on the Gulf. All tide predictions for Al Ahmadi come from the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.3 m above Chart Datum.