Here’s everything you need to know about tides in Carolina Beach: how they work and when they could affect your beach trip. Plus, some tips and tricks as to how you can wield this knowledge to your benefit for a more enjoyable swimming experience.

Here’s a Tidechart (below) of Wilmington Area Beaches which includes Carolina Beach, and Kure Beach.

Tide changes happen four times a day (“semi-diurnal,” meaning two highs and two low tides each day) and describe how far up on the beach the water goes (in terms of beachgoing). There are two high tides each day where water is high up on the beach, meaning less sand is visible. There are also two low tides each day where the water has receded from the beach exposing more sand. Tides occur because Earth has a gravitational pull that is stronger than the moon’s gravitational pull. The moon still has a pull though and that’s what creates tides: the water on Earth is attracted to the moon, causing a high tide, when the moon is on that side of the Earth.

Over the period of a day, the Earth completes one full rotation. This creates two high tides and two low tides as the moon stays in relatively the same position for that day. During a full moon, when the Earth, moon, and sun are aligned with the Earth in the middle, the attraction of Earth’s water toward both the sun and the moon causes more drastic tides. Another phenomenon is King Tides. These are especially large tides that happen biannually due to the moon being closest to Earth. The Earth, moon, and sun being in alignment. In NC, king tides usually happen between August-November. For a quick video representation on tides, check out this video. 

That was a lot of scientific explanation so what does this mean for your beach trip? Low tide is known for wider beaches, calmer waves, sand bars, and tidal pools. This makes it a wonderful and safe time to visit the beach with little ones. Especially kids who are visiting the ocean for the first time or may be scared of the water, low tide offers a calm space to swim and play. It is always a special day at the beach when the tide is super low and a large, warm tidal pool is created that can be splashed around in safely. Barnacles, sand fleas, clams, and other animals are more likely to be exposed during this time too.

Tides are normal are safe, always take precaution of current conditions as they may change.

Conversely, high tides are known for rougher larger waves, skinnier beaches, and deeper water. Swimming during changing high tides can be risky for someone who is not an experienced swimmer. Please be careful and study up on local beach warning flag conditions! Especially with kids playing in the waves during high tide, there is more of a risk of losing your balance in the water. Currents are known for being strongest when switching between tides. This is also when fishermen are more active because the water is moving so the first are more likely to be moving as well.

Spot dangerous rip currents with polarized sunglasses.

The exact time of low tide and high tide shifts slightly each day so we recommend that before you pack up all of the shovels, coolers, and beach chairs, check out a tide chart like this one. Even if knowing the tide report doesn’t change your mind about heading out onto the beach, it still provides you with more information about safety and what to expect when you get there. We hope this article enhances your beach faring this year! Enjoy!