What sites are people using for tide info? I know what you are thinking, "What is a 3 time finisher asking this noob question for?" Well I have a bad habit of getting tide info wrong, or so it seems. Last year as Mistermoon and I approached Indian Key I was anitcipating a flood. What we encountered was a full force ebb. I have an app on my phone with FL tide stations, the gps has it's own info, and obviously the web has too much info. Specifically I am looking for data as close to the Nightmare as possible. Just curious to cross reference and see if I can find what my issue is.
tide info sources
(7 posts) (6 voices)-
MicroTom
Key MasterI use the Navionics app and watch the Lostman River tide chart. It's accurate but doesn't factor in weather which can change the water flow significantly.
I have been successful taking the wilderness waterway by leaving CP2 at least 18 hours before I plan to arrive at Broad River camp site and when it's optimal to enter Lopez River with an incoming tide. That may or may not work for you depending on when you arrive at CP2 and how much sleep you need to get but if it does you can paddle the Wilderness Waterway with a single stop.
Once you are coming down the Broad River you can evaluate the tide and get a good idea what the tide is doing and how much time you have until it's optimal to enter the Nightmare. For me that has always been the start of an incoming tide.
Another good idea is to book a 2nd permit in Whitewater bay or Joe River so you have a permit for night two should you get behind schedule.
Posted 5 years ago # -
ZTH,
Are you talking about tides (depth of water) or tidal currents (flow of water)? Your language "full force ebb" sounds like you are talking tidal currents.
I haven't found much difference in the tide predictions among the apps I have used. I like realTide and Aye Tides on my iphone.
My appologies if this is old news but it might help someone out there; a lot of people get into trouble by making the faulty assumption that slack water occurs at the same time as high or low tide, and the tidal current will flow between the high and low tides. This rule of thumb is wrong for most locations. There's some info on the relationships between tides and tidal currents at https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/faq4.html .
Water is like a train starting to move -- it takes a long time to get to speed, and then it takes a long time for it to stop. What this means is that for Indian Key, for example, it may take 1 - 1.5 hours after low tide, before the current starts to flood, and the current may continue for more than an hour after high tide. The wind may amplify the tidal current or nullify it, depending on direction and strength. Unfortunately there's not many locations along the EC route that have published tidal current information (as opposed to tide information -- high or low water), so often you have to depend on local knowledge and make a best guess -- or just react to what is happening. Each waterway is unique so the same "rule-of-thumb" doesn't work everywhere. That said, for most of the EC route, if I don't have local knowledge, I'll plan that the currents will change an hour or so after low/high tide.
I have looked in a lot of coastal pilots for a better "rule-of-thumb" for EC locations but haven't found much.
I haven't done the "Nightmare" so will defer to others on that stretch of water.
Greg
Posted 5 years ago # -
Bermudaboy
MemberZTH: last year SDR & I got to Indian Key, took a snack break on NE beach, used our high EC (not that tribe one) education with a strong JCP foundation reinforced by a barefoot WF daily indoctrination most afternoons, instead of chemistry labs and future as a doctor, and argued back and forth on whether a nearby partially submerged branch on a rock, would make a sound & a splash if it lost its balance and fell into the water, and pondered Archamedesically whether the tide was coming in or out if the branch appeared taller or shorter???
Somewhere between the second cinamon apple hammer bar and a handful of trailmix with more m&ms than trail or mix, and far too exhausted to push the buttons on our gps to simply view nearest tide table, the tip of the branch slipped under the surface and we knew at that exact moment that our Boca Ciega Bay tuition had been worth it.... and we took the fast sled in... almost felt like the current was Reggae Music Pied-Pipering us into Slater Woods on a Friday evening (cept it was Monday morning...).
Posted 5 years ago # -
Bosun
MemberI have been using, and really like the app Windy for wind direction and wind and swell predictions It does have the tides displayed, but not as clearly as I would like. I also have Tides and TideTrac on my iPhone and have marked several of our areas as favorites so I can get answers at a glance . I just downloaded AyeTides as well. I like the fact that AyeTides does not require a cell connection for the tide data. I know it is several apps, but is nice to have options when making the go-no-go or routing decisions
I am looking at Navonics as a backup to the GPS but am waiting until closer to the race because they have a 14 day free trial (is that wrong?)
al
Posted 5 years ago # -
ZeroTheHero
MemberKayakVagaBond I am asking about tide, the current refference was just to show that I was off, probably by quite a bit. Our plan is to get a TI through the Nightmare and we will need a high tide to do it. I am looking at tide data from the two stations closest to the Nightmare. The app is called "Gulf of Mexico Tides". The two stations I am looking at are Lostman's River Entrance and Shark River Entrance. There seems to be about a 20 minute difference between them. The data I have says high tides on Tuesday the 7th should be about 11:00 am and 9:10 pm. Wednesday looks like around 11:30 am and 10:20 pm. Thursday, 12:00pm and 11:15 pm. I say around because I am taking the middle(ish) of the two stations. Now of course these tide stations are out at the entrance to these rivers, so there is going to be a difference. Ideal situation, we would be arriving around the begining of a flood tide to give us max amount of time to transit. Of course when you get there is when you get there nad we will have to flexible and possibly patient.
Posted 5 years ago #
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