Ketchikan, AK tide times

Ketchikan occupies a narrow shelf on the western shore of Revillagigedo Island, with the Tongass Narrows — the Inside Passage shipping lane — running directly in front of the downtown waterfront. The narrows separate Ketchikan from Gravina Island to the west; the Ketchikan International Airport sits on Gravina, reached by a 10-minute ferry across the narrows. Tides here are semidiurnal with diurnal inequality. The mean range at Ketchikan (NOAA Station 9450460) runs approximately 4.6 m MLLW, and a large spring tide can reach a range of 5.8 m. The predicted higher high water on a typical day is around 5.3 m MLLW; the lower low drops to 0.1–0.2 m MLLW. Tidal timing at Ketchikan leads Juneau by roughly 35 minutes.

Tongass Narrows is a working waterway: cruise ships, floatplanes on the downtown float, fishing trawlers, and the Gravina Island ferry all share the channel. The narrows run approximately 1.5 km wide opposite downtown but narrow to under 800 m near the north and south ends. Tidal current in the narrows peaks at roughly 1–2 knots on spring tides, running northward on the flood and southward on the ebb. This matters for the kayakers who launch from Bar Harbor boat launch (2 km north of downtown): paddling south to Creek Street on the flood is an easy 20-minute glide; returning against the ebb adds significant effort. Low tide exposes a rocky intertidal bench along the downtown waterfront — up to 50 m of barnacle-and-mussel flat — that disappears entirely at high water, a fact easy to miss when looking at the waterfront boardwalk restaurants built on pilings.

Ketchikan Creek enters the narrows at the foot of Creek Street, the historic red-light-district-turned-boardwalk built on pilings over the creek. The creek hosts the southernmost salmon runs in Southeast Alaska: king salmon begin holding in the tidal section of the creek in mid-June, followed by pink salmon in July–August and coho in September–October. Salmon stack up in the lower creek during the last two hours of an incoming tide, when the tidal head backs water upstream and concentrates fish in the holding pool below Creek Street Falls. The falls — a 2.5 m cascade visible from the boardwalk — acts as a natural barrier for non-jumping species, making the lower tidal section the primary viewing and sportfishing zone. Viewing platforms along the boardwalk put observers 3–4 m above the creek at high water; at low tide the viewing angle drops and the fish are holding in less than 1.5 m of water, often visible in the clear current.

Anglers targeting king and coho salmon in Tongass Narrows work the tide edges near the creek mouth and the Knudson Cove area (12 km north), where tidal eddies form behind submerged reefs on the ebb. Saltwater fly fishing for coho is productive from a drift boat or kayak on the last two hours of the ebb, drifting cut-plug herring or flies along the narrows shoreline at 1–2 m depth. Wildlife photographers working the creek for bears at salmon — black bears are regular visitors to the lower creek in August through October — find the best light on morning minus tides, when the flat is exposed and bears forage along the intertidal zone at dawn.

TideTurtle tide predictions for Ketchikan are generated from Open-Meteo Marine, a free gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2–0.3 m on height compared to observed tides. NOAA CO-OPS is the authoritative source for Ketchikan tide data; the primary gauge is Ketchikan, AK (Station 9450460) at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov. For navigation in Tongass Narrows, ferry scheduling, or commercial fishing operations, use NOAA CO-OPS data.