Kahului tide times

Kahului is Maui's main harbour and the island's commercial heart, but for water users it matters because of two things: Kanaha Beach Park to the east, and the Ma'alaea Bay access to the south. The tidal pattern is the same as Hilo — mixed semidiurnal, mean range around 0.6 metres — but the exposure is completely different. Kahului Bay faces north and catches the channel wind between Maui and Moloka'i, which makes it one of the windiest consistent kitesurfing and windsurfing venues in the world.

Kanaha Beach Park is where the wind riders set up. From November through April, the Kona wind reversal sometimes drops the trades and the bay goes flat, but from May through October the northeast trade wind blows 20 to 35 knots almost every afternoon with mechanical regularity. Kitesurfers launch from the beach; windsurfers rig at the dedicated windsurfer beach 200 metres west. Low tide leaves the inside section shallow, which means falls are less punishing — a factor not lost on beginners.

The tidal windows matter for both sports. Low water exposes reef and rocks near the launch zone; experienced riders know to avoid the inside section at low tide. The optimal window is mid-tide to high water when the inside section is deep enough for clean water starts. Tide prediction is printed on the bulletin boards at both beach parks.

Ma'alaea Bay, on the southwest side of the isthmus, is sheltered from the north wind and hosts one of the fastest breaking waves in the world — Freight Trains, a right-hand point break that runs along a reef shelf in 1 to 2 metres of water. The wave is highly sensitive to swell direction and tide level; it only works properly on a medium incoming tide with a west or northwest swell at 6 to 8 feet. When it fires, it's a 200-metre sprint that drains dry at low tide.

Kahului Harbour itself is industrial — container ships and petroleum tankers — but the channel entrance is watched by surfers for the occasional winter swell that wraps in from the north. The small break at the harbour entrance handles short-period north swell adequately; it's a local secret that works maybe 20 days per year.

Snorkelling access from Kahului is minimal — the bay is turbid from harbour traffic and river discharge. Most snorkellers transit to Kihei or West Maui by car. The harbour does offer good whale watching from the breakwater December through April, when humpbacks congregate in the Maui Nui basin and regularly breach in full view of the parking lot.

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. For authoritative US tide data, consult NOAA CO-OPS at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov.