Santa Catalina 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.

Next spring tide on Thu 07 May (range 2.1m). 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.

Santa Catalina is a small fishing village on the Pacific coast of Veraguas, accessed by a 2 hour road from the provincial capital Santiago. The road from Santiago is paved throughout; the final descent to the coast passes through dry tropical forest on steep hillsides before opening to the village and the Pacific. The village itself is straightforward — a handful of streets, fishing boats on the beach, a cluster of guesthouses and small restaurants that have grown around the surf and dive visitor economy over the past two decades. The beach at Playa Santa Catalina is best known for its right-hand point break at the north end of the bay. The break works on northwest Pacific swell that arrives from the North Pacific storm tracks; the point deflects the swell into a right-hand wall that peels along the rock shelf for 50 to 100 m depending on swell size and tide. The tidal state matters significantly here. The macrotidal Pacific range at Santa Catalina reaches 4.5 to 5.5 m on spring tides — one of the largest ranges on the Central American coast. At low spring tide, the rocky tidal shelf in front of the point exposes for 100 to 150 m from the shoreline; the water over the shelf is ankle to knee deep and the bottom is bare rock and cobble. At high tide, the shelf is covered and the breaking wave moves closer to the beach and loses much of its shape. The optimum window for the point is on the incoming tide, approximately 2 hours either side of mid-tide when the shelf is covered with 0.5 to 1 m of water over the rocks and the wave shape is at its best. The 5 m tidal range means that window comes and goes on a predictable 6-hour cycle; checking the tide table before paddling out is standard practice at Santa Catalina, not an afterthought. The south-facing beach section (Playa El Estero, a short walk from the main village) has a more beach-break character and works on south and southwest swell from the South Pacific; the tide effect is the same — low tide exposes the rock bottom and makes it unpleasant, mid-incoming is the preferred window. Santa Catalina is the primary embarkation point for day trips and dive live-aboards to Coiba National Park, 30 km offshore. Boat operators run day trips departing early morning (typical departure 06:30–07:00); the return voyage works with the afternoon sea breeze. The Coiba passage is open Pacific ocean — 1.5 hours each way on a fast panga — and requires calm-to-moderate conditions. The dive sites around Coiba hold hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, manta rays, and Pacific species not found on the Caribbean side of Panama. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) aggregate around the Coiba park from July through October for breeding season; the passage between Santa Catalina and the island is a reliable sighting area. Shore fishing from the beach and the tidal flat at low water targets roosterfish, jack, and snook; the exposed rock shelf at low spring presents a wide wadeable area where casting into the current surge zone is practical. Tide predictions at Santa Catalina 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 and is the authoritative reference for this coast. The village of Santa Catalina has grown from a subsistence fishing community into a functional surf and dive hub over roughly 25 years, without acquiring the infrastructure of a major resort. Accommodation ranges from budget hammock guesthouses to mid-range surf camps with package deals; the restaurant options are limited but reliable. The frontier character of the town — one main road, fishing boats on the beach, howler monkeys audible from the forest behind at dawn — is a feature rather than a deficit for the visitors it attracts. The village's location on the Pacific side of the Veraguas coast, on a peninsula with the Montijo Gulf behind it, means the road access from Santiago passes through a landscape very different from Panama City: dry tropical forest, cattle ranches, and small agricultural towns. The contrast with the Canal Zone and the capital is immediate and complete.