Saly 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 23:00 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 Africa/Dakar local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Mon 18 May (range 1.5m). Last neap on Wed 13 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.

Saly sits on the Petite Côte, 80 km south of Dakar along the coastal highway, the longest-established beach resort on the Senegalese coast. The Petite Côte is a 150 km arc of sandy beach between the suburbs of Dakar and the mouth of the Sine Saloum delta, broken by fishing village headlands and backed by a coastal strip of baobab trees, Sahelian scrub, and the flat, sandy interior of western Senegal. Saly occupies the northern section of this coast, its hotel strip running parallel to a beach that faces southwest into the open Atlantic. The tidal regime at Saly is semidiurnal with a spring range of 1.5–2.0 m. The beach faces southwest, receiving the full Atlantic tidal cycle and the upwelling-influenced sea conditions of the Petite Côte. At spring low water, the beach widens by 40–60 m and the wave break shifts seaward, exposing flat wet sand that extends to the low-water mark. At spring high water, the upper beach narrows and waves reach the lower margins of the beach bars and thatched sunshade areas in front of the hotels during periods of elevated swell. Pirogue fishing is the central activity and the economic backbone of the Petite Côte communities that existed here before the resort development. The pirogues — wide-beamed, 8–12 m, hand-carved from African mahogany or fromager wood, painted in vivid geometric patterns specific to each fishing family or village — launch through the surf at dawn on the flooding tide. The technique for launching through the surf is a practised skill: the crew positions the bow at the angle of the incoming wave, the helmsman reads the interval between sets, and the crew pushes at the right moment in the lull between breaking waves. Return is handled in the reverse direction, timing the landing on the back of a breaking wave to ride the boat up the beach. These launches and landings happen every day at the Saly and Mbour fishing beaches to the south, and the coordination between tidal state, surf height, and wind direction is knowledge passed through fishing families over generations. The upwelling driven by the Canary Current along the Petite Côte makes this water consistently cold — 18–22°C — and productive. Yellowfin tuna, wahoo, barracuda, and snapper are caught year-round within a short offshore run. The artisanal fleet at Saly and Mbour supplies fish to markets throughout western Senegal and into the Dakar wholesale system. Watching the morning catch land at the Mbour fishing beach, 8 km south of Saly, is the most direct view of this system: the fleet returns between 08:00 and 11:00, the catch is sorted on the beach, and women buyers (the traditional intermediaries in the Senegambian fish trade) negotiate directly with the captains before the catch enters the market chain. For families, Saly's beach is the safest general swimming on the Petite Côte: the bay geometry provides moderate shelter from the Atlantic swell, and the hotel beach infrastructure includes lifeguard cover at the main resort hotels. The safest swimming window is mid-tide on an incoming tide, when the water is cleanest and the wave energy is lowest. The lower 1.0 m of tidal cycle (approaching spring low water) sometimes brings pronounced shorebreak on the steep upper-beach section; the flatter, more gradual gradient at lower tidal stages is safer for children. Anglers based in Saly have two practical options. Shore fishing from the rocky headlands north and south of the main hotel beach targets barracuda, trevally, and snapper on the ebb. Offshore, the Petite Côte shelf drops steeply within 20–30 km of shore, placing productive blue-water fishing within reach of half-day charters. Sport fishing boats operating from Saly's small marina target yellowfin tuna, wahoo, and dorado. The Cold upwelling water concentration on this coast means the fishing is consistently productive compared to tropical coasts at similar latitudes further east. Balobab trees — some over 1,000 years old, with trunk diameters exceeding 5 m — are the dominant non-marine feature of the Petite Côte landscape. Several ancient specimens stand on the coastal strip around Saly, visible from the beach road. The contrast of these massive, sculptural trees against the flat Atlantic horizon is the defining visual identity of this coast. All tide predictions for Saly come from the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.3 m above Chart Datum.