Napier 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 Pacific/Auckland local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Wed 13 May (range 1.3m). Last neap on Thu 07 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.

Napier stands on a peninsula on the Hawke's Bay coast, the result of one of the most dramatic geological events in New Zealand's modern history. The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake — magnitude 7.8, centred beneath the bay on 3 February — raised the land surface by 1.5 to 2.0 metres over a single day. The seafloor beneath the tidal lagoon of Ahuriri was lifted clear of the water, draining 37 km² of tidal flat and shallow harbour overnight. The lagoon became land; that land is now Napier's city centre, its airport, and the industrial port. The remnant of the lagoon — Ahuriri Estuary — survives as a 500-hectare wildlife reserve at the northwest end of the city, one of the best coastal bird habitats in the North Island. The earthquake killed 256 people and destroyed virtually every building in Napier. The reconstruction between 1931 and 1933 produced a city built almost entirely in the Art Deco style then at its peak of popularity — one of the world's most coherent and intact Art Deco streetscapes. Emerson Street, Tennyson Street, and the Marine Parade waterfront form the core of an urban landscape that now draws architectural tourism from across the world. The tidal pattern at Napier is semidiurnal with a mean range of approximately 1.3 m above LAT (Lowest Astronomical Tide). Two roughly equal highs and lows each day. The Marine Parade seafront faces east into Hawke Bay — a broad, open bay exposed to east and northeast Pacific swells. The beach is a mix of shingle and sand, not a surf beach, but the Napier Aquatic Centre and harbour area are used for flatwater kayaking and open-water swimming. Ahuriri Estuary is the coastal feature with the most tidal sensitivity. The estuary channel and margins shift significantly between low and high water — low tide reveals extensive mud and sand flats on which bar-tailed godwits (trans-Pacific migrants from Alaska), banded dotterels, and white-faced herons feed. The estuary walking track runs from the Ahuriri village near the boat harbour around the northern estuary margin; the birdlife is richest in the two hours either side of low water. The Napier Port (Port of Napier) handles the export of Hawke's Bay's wine and horticultural produce — the Hawke's Bay region produces roughly a third of New Zealand's wine output. The port breakwaters create sheltered water at the north end of the beach that is used for flatwater paddling. Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2–0.3 m on height — model-derived, not from a local gauge. For authoritative New Zealand tide data, consult Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) at linz.govt.nz.