Pisco, Peru 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/Lima local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Last spring tide on Tue 19 May (range 1.0m). Next neap on Mon 25 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.

Pisco sits at the northern end of Paracas Bay, sheltered by the Paracas Peninsula to the south and open to the Pacific to the west across the bay mouth. The port handles commercial fishing and bulk cargo, and serves as one of the departure points for boat tours to the Ballestas Islands 20 km to the southwest — a protected archipelago holding Peru's most accessible colony of Humboldt penguins, Peruvian boobies in enormous numbers, and one of the largest South American sea lion haul-outs on the coast. The tidal pattern is mixed semidiurnal Pacific, influenced by the Humboldt Current: spring range 1.5–2.5 m. Open-Meteo Marine provides forecast data — timing accuracy ±45 minutes, height accuracy ±0.2–0.3 m. At the bay's northern end, the tidal signal is relatively undistorted from the open-coast Pacific pattern, though the bay geometry provides some shelter from wind-driven setup. The Ballestas Islands boat tour departs from the Pisco or Paracas dock (14 km south) in the early morning. The 2-hour circuit around the islands passes within metres of the guano-covered rocks where Humboldt penguins stand in the surf zone alongside Peruvian boobies, red-legged cormorants, and the ever-present Inca terns. South American sea lions pile onto the lower ledges. Boats must maintain a set distance from the rocks but the viewing is close enough for a 200 mm lens to fill the frame. For anglers, the Pisco Bay system is productive for corvina and flounder on the sandy bottom at the northern end of the bay, and for bonito and sierra mackerel on the open edges where the current concentrates bait. The pier at the Pisco port is the main shore-fishing access point. Low water on a spring tide exposes sandy flats immediately south of the port that local families wade for shellfish. The 2007 earthquake (magnitude 8.0) significantly damaged the city centre of Pisco and the historic San Clemente de Mancera church — reconstruction is ongoing but the colonial core is fragmentary. The newer rebuilt areas and the waterfront malecón are functional. Pisco is primarily a logistics and gateway town for the Paracas Reserve and Ballestas Islands rather than a destination in itself, but it's a useful base with more accommodation options than Paracas town. Pisco's name attaches to the grape brandy produced in the Ica Valley immediately inland — the pisco-producing region runs from the valleys east of the port south to Nazca. The regional airport at Pisco (Capitán FAP Renán Elías Olivera) handles domestic flights and some Nazca Lines overflight tours.