Big Bay tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 09:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Pacific/Efate local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Thu 21 May (range 1.0m). Last neap on Wed 20 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Big Bay is the large open bay on the northeast coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu's largest island. It faces northeast into the Coral Sea and is bounded on its eastern shore by the forests of the Santo interior — one of the largest intact tropical rainforest blocks in the Pacific islands. The bay is not a destination in the conventional sense; it has no resort infrastructure, and access is by rough track from Luganville or by small boat around the northern cape. That remoteness is also why it is worth the effort. Tides at Big Bay are mixed semidiurnal with a range of 1.0 to 1.5 metres. Two unequal highs and two unequal lows each day create a variable tidal rhythm. Open-Meteo Marine forecasts for this part of the Coral Sea are accurate to ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2 to 0.3 metres on height. For practical purposes, the tidal variation matters most for small boat landings on Big Bay's fringing reef — the inner reef flat at the river mouths on the bay's eastern shore exposes at low water and can trap shallow-draft vessels. The safest window for beach landings on the inner bay is one to two hours either side of high water. The bay is best known among divers for its proximity to the WWII history concentrated around Luganville, about 80 kilometres south. The SS President Coolidge — a 22,000-tonne American luxury liner converted to a troopship and sunk in October 1942 after striking two US defensive mines in the approach to Luganville — lies in 21 to 67 metres just off the shore at Luganville, not directly in Big Bay. It is the world's largest accessible WWII dive wreck by displacement and one of the most detailed: intact guns, cargo, vehicles, personal effects, and the famous figurine of The Lady in first-class salon, all penetrable by recreational divers with an open-water certification. Big Bay itself has its own wreck sites from WWII aircraft that went down in the northeast approaches to Santo; these are in shallower water (8 to 25 metres) and less visited. The northeast Santo coast approaching Big Bay carries an intact fringing reef that has been largely untouched by commercial fishing pressure — the remoteness that keeps tourists away also keeps trawlers away. Reef fish density is noticeably higher here than on the more accessible reefs around Luganville. Visibility peaks in June to August when trade wind conditions are established and coastal runoff is minimal after the dry season sets in. Dive sites inside Big Bay's northern section are accessible by small boat from the nearest village or from a liveaboard based in Luganville. The Matevulu Blue Hole and the Jordan River, inland from Big Bay's southern shore, are freshwater systems that connect indirectly to the coastal aquifer. The Blue Hole is a spring-fed freshwater pool with exceptional clarity — visibility of 30+ metres is normal — and makes for a compelling contrast with marine diving on the same day. The tidal zone here is negligible (freshwater spring, not tidal), but access tracks to both sites wash out during the wet season. For WWII history beyond the President Coolidge, the Million Dollar Point site south of Luganville — where the US military dumped millions of dollars of equipment into the sea at the end of the war rather than hand it to the British and French colonial administration — is a shallow snorkel or easy dive site. Bulldozers, jeeps, forklifts, and ammunition cases lie in 6 to 30 metres. It is not a protected wreck site in the formal sense, which means recreational divers can surface with small items — though local operators and guides strongly discourage removal. Luganville is the logistics base for all of this. Big Bay itself has no formal accommodation; the nearest options are the village guesthouses accessible from the northern track. Luganville has hotels, dive operators, car hire, and the island's main hospital. Air Vanuatu connects Santo Airport (IATA: SON) to Port Vila multiple times daily; flight time is 40 minutes.