California daylight low tides

The best daylight low tides at every Great Tides place, in one place. These are the top-10 low tides between sunrise and sunset at each place over October 19, 2026 to January 16, 2027, ranked by predicted height — the dates worth planning a tidepooling or coastal-walking trip around.

A daylight low is not the same as the lowest low: the very lowest tides of a season often fall after dark. The weekend page narrows this list to Saturdays and Sundays only, and the minus-tides page lists every low at or below 0.0 ft in date order, daylight or not — this page is the full ranked daylight shortlist for every place. Each place is ranked only against its own tides; predicted heights are local to each station and are not directly interchangeable between places. New to tidepooling? Read what tidepooling is and how to do it well first.

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Best daylight low tide at each place

Times are local station time; heights are relative to each place's own MLLW datum, so rows are ranked within each place, not against each other.

Daylight low tides at Crescent City

The ten lowest predicted low tides between sunrise and sunset at Crescent City (CRESCENT CITY station 9419750) in the window, lowest first. The rest of this place's rankings, including its weekend daylight lows and its next-14-days table, are on its place page.

Daylight low tides at Half Moon Bay

The ten lowest predicted low tides between sunrise and sunset at Half Moon Bay (Pillar Point Harbor station 9414131) in the window, lowest first. The rest of this place's rankings, including its weekend daylight lows and its next-14-days table, are on its place page.

Daylight low tides at Santa Cruz

The ten lowest predicted low tides between sunrise and sunset at Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay station 9413745) in the window, lowest first. The rest of this place's rankings, including its weekend daylight lows and its next-14-days table, are on its place page.

Daylight low tides at Port San Luis & Avila Beach

The ten lowest predicted low tides between sunrise and sunset at Port San Luis & Avila Beach (PORT SAN LUIS station 9412110) in the window, lowest first. The rest of this place's rankings, including its weekend daylight lows and its next-14-days table, are on its place page.

Daylight low tides at La Jolla

The ten lowest predicted low tides between sunrise and sunset at La Jolla (La Jolla (Scripps Institution Wharf) station 9410230) in the window, lowest first. The rest of this place's rankings, including its weekend daylight lows and its next-14-days table, are on its place page.

Questions

What counts as a daylight low tide?

A predicted low tide whose time falls between that day's sunrise and sunset at that place. Sunrise and sunset are calculated for each place's coordinates with a standard solar-position calculation, the same definition used in the daylight rankings on every place page.

Why plan around daylight lows instead of the lowest lows?

The intertidal zone is only exposed while the tide is out, and it is only practical to explore it in daylight. The lowest low tide of a season often falls after dark, so the daylight rankings above are usually the more useful list for a visit, even though a few after-dark lows are lower.

What height is good for tidepooling?

A daylight low of 1.5 ft (0.46 m) or lower generally exposes much more of the intertidal zone than an ordinary low, and at or below 0.0 ft the exposure is at its best. Those thresholds drive the Good and Excellent tidepooling labels shown next to the tides above.

Are these the actual water levels I will see?

No. These are astronomical predictions from NOAA CO-OPS. Wind, storms and air pressure push real water levels above or below the prediction, sometimes by a foot or more. Check the local forecast and conditions before you go, and do not use these predictions for navigation.

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