Souss-Massa

The Souss-Massa coast is Atlantic Morocco — the stretch of open ocean shoreline running south from the foothills of the Anti-Atlas to the edge of the Saharan coast. The tidal regime is semidiurnal and mesotidal: two highs and two lows per day, with a mean range of approximately 1.7 metres at Chart Datum in Agadir. Spring range reaches around 2.2 metres; neap range drops to 0.8 to 1.0 metres. The tide is not dramatic by Atlantic standards, but on the flat beaches south of Agadir it shifts the waterline by 30 to 50 metres and defines when the rock breaks fire. Agadir is the regional anchor, a city rebuilt entirely after the earthquake of 29 February 1960 — a Richter 5.8 event that lasted roughly 15 seconds and killed approximately 15,000 people, erasing the medina in minutes. The modern city was constructed on the coastal plain below the kasbah hill; the kasbah ruins remain on the ridge above and are visible from most of the city. The rebuilt Agadir is open, low-rise, and oriented toward the beach — a 9-kilometre arc of sand facing west into the Atlantic. Taghazout, 20 kilometres north of Agadir, is the surf destination that put this coastline on the international map. Anchor Point — the right-hand point break at the north end of the village — is the benchmark: long, predictable walls from a rocky point that work best at mid to high tide on a northwest swell. Panoramas, a few hundred metres south, breaks below a clifftop terrace restaurant and produces a similar right-hander that is visible and photographed from above. The Souss River estuary, immediately south of Agadir, is a wildlife reserve where tidal influence extends several kilometres upstream. Flamingos and white storks use the intertidal mudflats; the mix of brackish and saltwater habitat supports the estuary ecology. The reserve is accessible by foot along the south bank of the river. Authoritative tide predictions for this coast come from SHOMAR — the Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine of Morocco. Predictions on this site are generated by Open-Meteo Marine (±45 min / ±0.2–0.3 m accuracy) and are suitable for general coastal planning, not navigation.