Rawai Beach, Phuket 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 05:00 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 Asia/Bangkok local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Wed 06 May (range 1.4m). 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.

Rawai Beach is at the southern tip of Phuket — not a resort beach, not a tourist-primary strip. It is a working waterfront for the Chao Ley, the Moken Sea Gypsy community who have fished and harvested these waters for generations. The Chao Ley village sits at the south end of the beach; the community's livelihood is directly tied to the tidal state in ways that visitors rarely see. The Andaman Sea here runs a semidiurnal tide with the same diurnal inequality as the rest of Phuket's west-facing coast — mean range 2.0–3.0 m on spring tides. The tidal flat off Rawai is extensive and rocky. At low spring water the flat extends 200–300 m from the beach. This is the defining characteristic of Rawai: at low water, the beach ceases to function as a beach and becomes a wide, dry, exposed rocky platform. The traditional longtail boats that line the waterfront are left resting on the flat, tilted sideways in the sun, waiting. They cannot launch until the returning flood brings sufficient depth — typically 1.5–2.0 m of water at the beach edge. That relaunch window, when the tide climbs back to operating depth and the engines start again, is a specific moment that shapes the Chao Ley working day. Island transfers from Rawai operate on a tide-permitting basis for the same reason. Bon Island (Koh Bon), Coral Island (Koh Hae), and Koh Lone are visible from the beach, scattered a few kilometres offshore in the Andaman Sea. The longtail runs to these islands require navigating the shallow tidal flat — at low spring water, departure is not possible. Day-trip operators quote departure windows of typically 08:00–10:00 and 13:00–15:00, but those windows shift several minutes each day as the tidal schedule advances. Confirming the actual tidal state the morning of departure is not optional. Ya Nui Beach, 2 km south of Rawai along the coast road toward Promthep Cape, is a small, quiet cove that partially escapes the Rawai flat problem — the approach is a steeper sandy shore rather than the wide rocky platform, though it still shallows at very low water. Kayakers and paddleboarders based at Ya Nui use the mid-flood window for launching, which avoids both the exposed low-water rocks and the stronger current that runs on full spring ebb. Promthep Cape, 3 km south of Rawai, is Phuket's southernmost point. The lighthouse stands at roughly 50 m elevation with an unobstructed view across the Andaman horizon — on a clear evening the sunset geometry is close to perfect. The headland is also a useful vantage for reading sea state before island departures: whitecaps on the channel between the cape and Koh Bon indicate wind and chop that the longtail operators will weigh against the day's plan. For photographers, Rawai offers two distinct scenes separated by tide height. At low water — the wide flat, boats resting at odd angles, Chao Ley fishers working the exposed rock — the images are about labour and place and tradition. At high water, when the boats float and the Chao Ley village comes alive at the water's edge, the character of the beach changes to something more recognisably maritime. The 2–3 hour low-water window around spring low is the specific opportunity for the flat-and-tilted-boats composition. Anglers who target the rocky structure of the tidal flat work the first two hours of flood — the retreating shallow water concentrates fish over the submerged reef patches. Squid fishing is practised from the beach at night, with lanterns used to attract the prey; the squid come closer to shore as the tide floods and tend to move offshore on ebb. Local knowledge from the Chao Ley community is worth more than any published guideline for timing. For beach families, Rawai is not the right beach at low water — the flat is rocky and uncomfortable and swimming is impossible until the tide returns. At mid-to-high water on a calm day, the southern end near the village has enough depth and the water is generally clear. The Southwest Monsoon affects the Andaman-facing shore at Rawai similarly to Patong; rough conditions are possible May through October, with the bay at the southern tip somewhat sheltered from the dominant northwest swell. Tide data for Rawai Beach, Phuket comes from the Open-Meteo Marine API, a gridded model product. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes, height accuracy ±0.3 m — usable for trip planning, not for navigation.