Manzanilla Beach 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 00:00 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/Port of Spain local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Last spring tide on Mon 18 May (range 1.4m). Next neap on Fri 22 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.

Manzanilla Beach is one of the longest unbroken Atlantic beaches in the Caribbean — a 36-kilometre straight of sand running north to south along the eastern coast of Trinidad, backed by a continuous curtain of coconut palms and, behind those, the Nariva Swamp. The beach faces east into the open Atlantic; swell from the northeast and east arrives unobstructed across the full Atlantic fetch, and the wave energy at Manzanilla is consistent year-round, with larger surf in August and September during the southern hemisphere swell season. Water is not flat here. The tidal regime is semidiurnal; the Atlantic tidal range at Manzanilla is approximately 0.6 to 0.9 metres at springs — slightly higher than the Caribbean-facing coasts of the island. The beach is wild in character: there are no resorts, no beach bars, and no commercial facilities on the beach itself other than a handful of seafood vendors at the Manzanilla-Mayaro road junction at the north end. The government maintains picnic facilities and a car park at the beach entrance; on public holidays, particularly Carnival Monday and Tuesday and Easter weekend, Trinidadians from across the island arrive for cook-up barbecues, music, and collective beach time at a scale that transforms the usually quiet beach into one of the most animated gatherings in the Caribbean. The rest of the year the beach is empty. The leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the largest living chelonian, nests on the Atlantic beaches of eastern Trinidad from March through August. Manzanilla receives nesting leatherbacks, though the main nesting aggregation in Trinidad is at Grande Rivière on the north coast, which is managed as an ecotourism destination. The Manzanilla nesting is less heavily managed; turtles come ashore at night to lay and return to the sea before dawn. Approaching nesting turtles without a guide or outside of authorised patrol hours is illegal and disturbs the nesting process. Nariva Swamp begins at the back of the coconut palm belt immediately behind the beach road. The swamp is RAMSAR-listed, Trinidad's largest freshwater wetland, and the last significant habitat in Trinidad for the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus). Manatees forage in the swamp's water lettuce and aquatic vegetation; they are not reliably visible from the road but are seen by boat operators in the swamp interior. Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height — model-derived, not from a local gauge. The Institute of Marine Affairs and the Trinidad and Tobago Hydrographic Survey Office are the domestic reference authorities for this coast.