Rye, NH tide times

Rye sits on the rocky northern reach of New Hampshire's 29-kilometre ocean coast, a stretch of glacially sculpted ledge, cobble beaches, and small coves between Hampton Beach to the south and Portsmouth Harbor to the north. The tidal regime is semidiurnal — two high and two low tides per day — with a mean spring range around 2.7 metres MLLW, consistent with the Gulf of Maine pattern that dominates this coast. What makes Rye distinctive is the intertidal zone exposed by that range: low water here reveals a remarkable extent of ledge platform, tidal pool habitat, and rocky marine environment that is simply absent on the sandy Hampton Beach stretch a few kilometres south.

Odiorne Point State Park at the northern end of the Rye shoreline occupies the site of the first European settlement in New Hampshire — a 1623 outpost that preceded the founding of Portsmouth. The state park's 135 acres include rocky intertidal ledges, salt marsh, and the Seacoast Science Center, which operates as an educational facility focused on the Gulf of Maine marine environment. The tidal pools at Odiorne are among the best-documented and most accessible marine intertidal education sites in New England — they serve as a field site for the New England Aquarium's education programs and are used regularly by school groups from across the region.

At low water spring tides, the Odiorne ledge platform extends 60 to 80 metres beyond the mean high-tide line, exposing a layered succession of tidal zones. The high intertidal zone hosts periwinkles, barnacles, and rockweed. The mid-zone holds mussels, green and purple sea urchins, dog whelks, and the beginnings of the kelp fringe. The low intertidal and shallow subtidal pools shelter sea stars, hermit crabs, anemones, and small fish (sculpin, cunner) in clear, cold Gulf of Maine water. Water temperatures at Rye run 2 to 4°C in January-February and peak around 18 to 20°C in August — cold by Atlantic standards, reflecting the Gulf of Maine's direct connection to the Labrador Current.

The cobble and sand pocket beaches at Jenness Beach State Park, south of Odiorne, are the main swimming and surfing access point in the Rye town stretch. Jenness is a narrow beach at high tide — the 2.7-metre spring range strips the foreshore down to wet cobble at the upper beach face — but it widens significantly at low water. The surf break at Jenness picks up more north and northeast swell than Hampton Beach to the south, and the local surf community often prefers its less crowded conditions during autumn and winter swell windows.

Rye Harbor itself is a small dredged basin at the base of a protective jetty system, used by lobster boats, small charter vessels, and recreational craft. The harbor's approach is through a dredged channel in an otherwise rocky and shoal-strewn coast — depth in the channel is maintained to approximately 2.5 metres at MLLW, but the surrounding ledge shoals rapidly outside the markers. The tidal current in the harbor entrance is mild compared to Portsmouth Harbor's Piscataqua River system to the north, but the approach through the harbor mouth in any northeast swell requires attention.

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 a local NOAA gauge. For authoritative US tidal data, consult NOAA CO-OPS at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov; the nearest primary station is Portsmouth Harbor (station 8423898).