Coiba Island 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 17:00 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/Panama local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Last spring tide on Wed 06 May (range 2.0m). Next spring tide on Tue 12 May (range 2.2m). Next neap on Sat 09 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.

Coiba Island is the largest island in Central America at 503 km² and one of the largest marine protected areas in the eastern Pacific. The island and its surrounding waters form the Coiba National Park (designated UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005), covering 430,825 ha of marine area across 38 islands and islets. The protected status came after nearly 85 years of use as a penal colony: Coiba hosted an isolation prison from 1919 to 2004, a use that kept the island largely inaccessible and inadvertently preserved its ecosystems. The forest on Coiba Island is the largest Pacific island rainforest north of the Galápagos — primary tropical forest covering 80% of the land area, unlogged and intact. The coral reef system encircling the island is the largest in the eastern Pacific north of the equator, covering approximately 1,700 ha of reef at depths from 2 m to 50+ m. The tidal regime is Pacific macrotidal, consistent with the Veraguas Province coast. Spring range reaches 4.5 to 5.5 m. The significant tidal flux through the island passages drives strong currents at channel constrictions; the tidal ebb from the shallower bay sections on the island's eastern side can run at 2 to 3 knots through the narrower passes. The park's extensive tidal flat areas expose markedly at spring lows: on the sheltered eastern and southern bays, the low-spring water line retreats 200 to 400 m from the high-tide mark on the gentle sand flats. The wildlife aggregations at Coiba are the primary reason for the long boat journey from Santa Catalina. Hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) school around the seamounts and current lines at 15 to 30 m; whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are sighted year-round with peak probability from July through October. Pacific manta rays (Mobula birostris) aggregate at cleaning stations on the deeper reef faces. Humpback whales are present from July through October for Southern Hemisphere breeding migrations; mother and calf pairs are regularly photographed in the shallow bay on the island's lee side. Bottlenose dolphins and spotted dolphins are present year-round. The reef fish diversity is exceptional — the park protects a node where the Humboldt Current, the Panama Bight, and the Costa Rica Coastal Current all intersect, creating an upwelling-influenced productive zone. Surgeonfish, parrotfish, and grouper are abundant; snappers school at the current lines. The park management model limits daily visitor numbers through a permit system administered by AMP. Day-trip access from Santa Catalina requires a park entrance permit and a certified guide for all activities; the fees are incorporated into operator packages. Independent arrival is permitted on a live-aboard vessel with a prior permit. The former prison infrastructure — guards' quarters, cell blocks, the main prison building — remains on the island's northern section and is accessible on guided walks from the ranger station. The ranger station at Granito de Oro (a small islet on the island's northern tip) is the main visitor entry point. Tide predictions at Coiba Island come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model; accuracy is typically ±45 min on timing and ±0.2–0.3 m on height. AMP (Autoridad Marítima de Panamá) publishes official Pacific-side tide tables for the Coiba area, which boat operators use for passage timing. The park's terrestrial biodiversity is also exceptional. Coiba Island has been isolated from the mainland long enough to develop several endemic subspecies: the Coiba spinetail (Cranioleuca dissita), a bird found nowhere else, and distinctive subspecies of howler monkey, white-tailed deer, and crested eagle subspecies. The isolation of the penal colony years prevented hunting and agricultural conversion; the primary forest that covers 80% of the island is the legacy of that enforced inaccessibility. Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (based in Panama) have documented the island's biodiversity systematically since the early 2000s; the species list for the marine park alone runs to several thousand entries. For visitors arriving on day trips from Santa Catalina, the visible above-water wildlife (scarlet macaws, frigatebirds, howler monkeys audible from the forest edge near the ranger station) adds a terrestrial dimension to the marine focus of most park visits.