Lyme Regis 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 Europe/London local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Last spring tide on Mon 04 May (range 3.0m / 9.9ft). Next spring tide on Tue 05 May (range 3.0m / 9.9ft). Next neap on Sun 10 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.

Lyme Regis is a small town on the western edge of Dorset, almost at the Devon border, and is the town most associated with fossil hunting on the Jurassic Coast. The fossil-bearing Blue Lias limestone and shale cliffs either side of the town produce ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, and ammonite specimens after every significant storm and high tide. The most productive time to search is within hours of a falling tide after a gale, when freshly eroded material has settled on the beach. Mean spring tidal range at Lyme Regis is around 3.8 metres; neaps drop to about 2.4 m. The Cobb — Lyme's famous curving stone harbour wall, featuring in Jane Austen's Persuasion and John Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman — protects the main beach from westerly swells. The outer Cobb wall is a walking destination in itself; the steps at the seaward end (Granny's Teeth) were the filming location for the opening of the 1981 film. The Cobb is also a fishing pier and an angling spot — mackerel, wrasse, and bass are taken in season from the outer wall. The beach at Lyme is a mix of shingle and sand, with sand becoming more prominent at low water where the beach widens in front of the town. Fossil hunters systematically work the foreshore from the Cobb east to Black Ven and Charmouth — the stretch of crumbling Blue Lias cliff that has yielded the most significant finds. Walking these cliffs is not permitted — the cliff material is actively unstable and falls without warning. Stay on the beach and work the foreshore below the high-tide mark. Surf at Lyme is inconsistent and generally small — the town faces southwest and catches some swell from Atlantic storms, but the local coastline geometry doesn't concentrate swell. The main water sports activities are paddleboarding in settled summer conditions, coastal kayaking toward Charmouth and along the chalk/limestone cliffs, and open-water swimming from the beach inside the Cobb. Scuba diving is possible from the outer Cobb and from small-boat charters to the reefs 2 to 5 kilometres offshore. The Lyme Bay Reefs are a Marine Protected Area with good counts of reef fish, pink sea fans, and, occasionally, spiny lobster. Diving on the MPA reefs requires observing restrictions on taking any species. Tide predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model, cross-referenced with UK Environment Agency gauge data. For the most accurate local predictions, consult the UK National Tide Gauge Network via CEFAS or the UKHO's EasyTide service.