Stromness tide times

Stromness is Orkney's second town and one of the most distinctive harbour settlements in Scotland. Built along a single narrow flagstone street that winds for a kilometre behind the waterfront, the town rises steeply into the Orkney Mainland hills behind it. Every house on the main street has a stone pier or jetty projecting into the harbour — a practical legacy from when the street was as much a marine highway as a pedestrian one. The spring tidal range at Stromness is 3.5 metres above Chart Datum, but the town faces south into Scapa Flow, and Hoy Sound — the passage between the Mainland and the island of Hoy immediately to the south — runs at 3 to 4 knots on spring tides.

Scapa Flow is the natural anchorage that lies between Stromness, Kirkwall, and the islands of Hoy, South Ronaldsay, and Burray. It covers roughly 300 square kilometres of sheltered water and served as the British Grand Fleet's main base in both World Wars. In June 1919, the German High Seas Fleet — 74 warships interned at Scapa Flow after the Armistice — was scuttled on the orders of Admiral Ludwig von Reuter. Seven warships remain on the seabed today and together they constitute one of the world's premier wreck diving destinations. Dive charter boats operate from Stromness harbour, with the wrecks of the battleships König, Kronprinz Wilhelm, and Markgraf accessible to experienced divers, alongside the lighter cruiser wrecks which are shallower.

The Hoy Sound approach from the west is one of Orkney's most significant tidal passages. The stream floods north through the Sound, then reverses on the ebb, driving 3 to 4 knots through a channel roughly 3 kilometres wide between the Hoy cliffs and the Stromness shore. The pilot cutter at Stromness manages shipping traffic; visiting yachts time their passage to avoid the stream or use it to accelerate through. The race off Black Craig point to the north of Stromness is significant in westerly swell combined with opposing tidal flow.

The ferry to Scrabster on the Scottish mainland runs from Stromness and takes 90 minutes. This NorthLink Ferries service crosses the Pentland Firth, one of the most hydrologically demanding stretches of water around Britain — the ferry is well found and powerful, but the crossing is rough when wind and tide run against each other. The Pentland Firth tidal stream runs at up to 16 knots in the narrowest section; the ferry uses the eastern passage where the flow is more manageable.

Fishing from Stromness is mostly from boats. Coalfish and pollock school around the kelp beds on the south side of Hoy Sound; cod and haddock are taken in deeper water west of the town. Shore fishing from the breakwater and the town piers produces pollock, coalfish, mackerel, and wrasse from summer onward. The sandy bay at Warbeth, 1.5 kilometres west of the ferry terminal along the shore road, offers flatfish — plaice and flounder — in the shallows on the incoming tide.

The Stromness Museum on Alfred Street covers the natural history and maritime history of Orkney with a focus on local connection. The Hudson's Bay Company recruited Orcadian men extensively through the 18th and 19th centuries for its fur-trading posts in Canada — the town had a direct relationship with the Canadian Arctic, and many Stromness families have Canadian relatives descended from men who never returned. The annual Stromness Shopping Week festival in July is the town's main community gathering, filling the flagstone street with stalls and events.

Tidal predictions here use the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model (±45 minutes on timing, ±0.3 m on height). Not for navigation.