Gulfport, MS tide times

Gulfport is the commercial port anchor of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, ten kilometres west of Biloxi along US Highway 90 and facing the same Mississippi Sound that defines the coastal character of the region. The tidal regime is diurnal — one high and one low per day — with a mean range around 0.4 metres MLLW, fractionally smaller than Biloxi's already-small range due to subtle differences in the geometry of the barrier island passes feeding water into the Sound at this longitude. The tidal exchange is slow and gentle; currents in Gulfport Harbor rarely exceed 0.3 knots from the tide alone.

Gulfport's identity is built on logistics. The Port of Gulfport operates as a full container terminal handling trade from Central America and the Caribbean, and the port infrastructure — cranes, container yards, rail connections — dominates the waterfront east of downtown. Jones Park and the marina are carved out of the western edge of the port zone, giving recreational boaters a working harbour feel. The marina serves the charter fleet targeting offshore reef fish (red snapper, king mackerel, cobia) in the Gulf, as well as the vessels running the Ship Island ferry.

Ship Island, approximately 18 kilometres south of Gulfport in the Gulf of Mexico beyond the Sound's barrier chain, is the primary destination for the Ship Island Excursions ferry that departs from Jones Park Marina daily in season. The island holds Fort Massachusetts, a pre-Civil War masonry fort, and one of the Gulf Coast's finest sugar-white sand beaches. The ferry dock at Ship Island sits in shallow water, and at the island end, boarding and disembarkation are affected by the diurnal tide cycle — the small range means a 0.3 to 0.4 metre difference between high and low, enough to require a short gangway adjustment but not enough to strand the ferry. The Sound crossing takes approximately 50 minutes; passengers on the top deck get a clear view of the barrier island chain and the boundary where the protected Sound water meets the Gulf blue.

For shore anglers, the Gulfport waterfront offers the Highway 90 fishing pier approach and the jetties flanking the port entrance — structure that holds sheepshead, red drum, and speckled trout in the Sound. The small tidal range means the current at the jetties is gentle except during strong wind events, and fishing is more a function of water clarity and temperature than tidal timing. In summer the Sound can stratify thermally, pushing fish to deeper water or the cooler Gulf side of the barrier islands.

Gulfport's post-Katrina rebuild was extensive. The storm surge here reached 7 to 8 metres above MLLW, slightly less than Biloxi's maximum, and the waterfront structures seaward of the highway were largely destroyed. The rebuilt port infrastructure meets elevated storm standards; the residential reconstruction in the blocks behind the beach pushed inland and upward. NOAA's Gulfport tide gauge (station 8741533) resumed operation after post-Katrina rehabilitation and provides the authoritative continuous water level record for the harbour.

Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a global gridded 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 the NOAA Gulfport gauge. At Gulfport's mean tidal range of roughly 0.4 metres, the model uncertainty is a substantial fraction of the total signal. For authoritative tidal data, use NOAA CO-OPS at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov, Gulfport station 8741533.