Grand Turk 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 19:00 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/Grand Turk local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Sun 17 May (range 1.0m). Next neap on Fri 15 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.

Grand Turk is the administrative capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands, a narrow 11-kilometre-long island sitting on the eastern edge of the Turks Bank, 100 km east of Providenciales across the deep Turks Island Passage. Cockburn Town, the capital, is a compact colonial settlement of salt-era wooden houses painted in faded pastels along Duke Street — one of the more intact 18th-century streetscapes in the Caribbean. The island served as the US space program's first recovery point: John Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule splashed down 40 miles east of Grand Turk in February 1962, and the island hosted NASA tracking operations through the Mercury and Gemini programs. The tidal regime at Grand Turk is mixed semidiurnal with a spring range of approximately 0.4–0.6 m above Chart Datum. The island's position on the eastern face of the Turks Bank, directly exposed to the Atlantic across the Turks Island Passage, means weather effects from the northeast — northerly trade surges, cold-front passage — can push water levels 0.1–0.3 m above or below the astronomical prediction. Mean high water springs at Grand Turk sits around 0.4–0.5 m above Chart Datum; mean low water springs drops to approximately 0.0 m, exposing the upper reef crest and rock platforms fringing the island's eastern shore. The defining coastal feature of Grand Turk is the western wall. The reef drops from 9 m at the reef top to more than 2,100 m depth within 300 m of the western shoreline — one of the Caribbean's most accessible wall dives because it begins so close to shore. The reef crest on the west side runs parallel to the island and is protected from the dominant easterly trade swell; west-coast diving is calmer and more accessible than diving the exposed eastern face. At high spring water the reef crest on the west side sits 1.0–1.5 m below the surface; at low spring water it shallows to 0.5–1.0 m. Dive operators time entry and exit to tidal state when crossing the shallow reef flat to reach the wall — a 0.5 m difference in water depth over the flat matters for hull clearance on a dive skiff. The current along the western wall runs predominantly northward on the flood, southward on the ebb, typically 0.3–0.6 knots. On spring tides the flow picks up to 0.8–1.0 knots in sections where the wall topography focuses the current. Drift diving with the north-running flood is the standard approach: enter at the south end of the wall, drift north past the main spur-and-groove formations, and ascend to the skiff which tracks the divers from above. The current carries divers past the wall's best coral formations — black coral trees at 20–25 m, dense gorgonian fans at 15–20 m, occasional pelagic fish in open water off the wall face — at a pace set by the tidal phase rather than the diver's kick. For anglers, the Turks Island Passage immediately east of Grand Turk is a deep-water channel with strong tidal exchange. Wahoo, mahi-mahi, and blue marlin run the passage edges. Pelagic fishing off the eastern shore requires a seaworthy vessel — the passage is exposed to Atlantic swell and northeast trade wind chop. Bottom fishing inside the reef on the west coast produces snapper, grouper, and triggerfish on the ebb, when current over the reef concentrates bait on the structure. Families and beach visitors use the strip of sand at Pillory Beach on the west coast, immediately north of the cruise ship pier. The beach is narrow — 15–20 m at high water, expanding to 30–35 m at low spring water as the reef flat shallows. The cruise ship pier (Grand Turk Cruise Center, operated by Carnival Corporation) accommodates ships on the west coast; up to two large ships can berth simultaneously, delivering several thousand passengers to the island for day visits. The pier infrastructure extends into water that is navigable for small craft at all tidal stages. Swimmers should be aware of tender traffic and water-taxi movement between ship and pier during cruise calls. Photographers on Grand Turk find two distinct visual environments: the colonial architecture of Duke Street and Cockburn Town (best in early morning light before the cruise passengers arrive), and the water itself — the wall from the water surface looking down, the horseback-riding-on-the-beach operation that uses the flat west-coast shoreline at low water, and the sunset light on the salt ponds in the island's interior. The ponds retain their salt-raking infrastructure as historic monuments. All tide predictions for Grand Turk come from the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.3 m above Chart Datum.