Myrtle Beach, SC tide times

Myrtle Beach anchors the Grand Strand — 96 kilometres of nearly unbroken sand running from the North Carolina border to Georgetown County — and the tidal regime along this stretch is a classic semidiurnal Atlantic pattern. Mean spring range at Myrtle Beach runs around 1.5 metres, and the two daily cycles arrive with clockwork regularity, each pair shifting about 50 minutes later than the previous day as the tidal clock tracks the lunar cycle. The twice-daily exposure of the intertidal zone defines the beach experience here far more than most visitors realize.

At low water on a spring tide, the beach widens substantially — an additional 30 to 50 metres of firm wet sand exposed beyond the typical dry-sand zone. That exposed foreshore is firm enough to support beach cruiser bikes and the oversized tricycles that are rented along the oceanfront — low water mornings in summer draw a reliable crowd of cyclists working the compact sand. Shell collecting on the foreshore is best at low water after a night of NE swell, when the wave action has winnowed out shell debris from the sandy bottom. Sand dollars and whelk are the most commonly found.

Myrtle Beach State Park, at the south end of the developed Grand Strand, preserves a section of natural coastline including a nature centre, freshwater fishing pier on Myrtle Beach Creek, and ocean beach access that tends to be less crowded than the resort-strip beaches to the north. The park's boardwalk trail crosses a maritime forest of live oak, wax myrtle, and palmetto — the same vegetation type that once covered the Grand Strand dune line before resort development. The fishing pier at the state park extends into the ocean and is productive for bluefish, pompano, and Spanish mackerel in season.

Murrells Inlet, 15 kilometres south, is the Seafood Capital of South Carolina and the most productive inshore fishing and boating community on the Strand. The inlet's tidal creek system — several kilometres of navigable marshland waterway draining into the Atlantic — supports a redfish (red drum) and flounder fishery, with the best tidal windows during the first two hours of incoming tide when fish move into the shallower grass flats to feed. Kayak outfitters in Murrells Inlet run guided marsh tours that combine wildlife (loggerhead sea turtle nesting beaches are within 10 kilometres) with inshore fishing instruction.

Pompano and whiting run along the Strand surf line on the incoming tide throughout the warmer months, concentrated by the troughs and gutters behind the outer sandbars. The outer bar system at Myrtle Beach is visible as lines of breaking surf offshore at low water — this bar architecture drives the surf break patterns and creates the exit currents (rips) that lifeguards monitor.

Hurricane season (June to November) is the primary weather hazard. The Grand Strand is exposed to both direct landfalls and sideswipe storms, and storm surge from a major hurricane could inundate the low-lying built area significantly. NOAA's storm surge forecasts and SC Emergency Management Division advisories are the definitive references during named storm events.

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.