Guides

How to pick a kid-friendly tide window, what to pack, and the best 2026 weekend low tides for families in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Winter swell strips sand and restocks the wrack line. The 2026-27 daylight minus-tide windows at La Push and Port Orford, plus NWS sneaker-wave rules.

Only one of Seattle's eight deepest daylight lows of 2026 lands on a weekend. Full July–December calendars for Seattle and Port Townsend, plus the math.

Every good daylight low tide at Pillar Point reef in 2026, from NOAA station 9414131: the July dawn run, December king lows, parking, and the species list.

Every daylight minus tide on the Oregon coast, July–December 2026, computed from NOAA predictions for Garibaldi, Newport, Charleston, and Port Orford.

La Jolla's best 2026 tide pool dates from NOAA station 9410230 — early-morning July minus tides, big December afternoons, spot notes, and recent species logs.

The 2026-27 king tide season's lowest daylight tides, coast by coast: Newport -1.91 ft, La Jolla -1.89 ft, Bar Harbor -1.89 ft, Seattle just -0.65 ft.

The 2026 daylight minus-tide season region by region: how low is low enough, when to arrive, and why the deepest windows land on weekday mornings.

Every top golden-hour low-tide overlap for La Push, Garibaldi, Monterey, and La Jolla in 2026, with sun bearings and scores from NOAA predictions.

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve's best 2026 low tides, computed from NOAA station 9414131, and which of them actually fit inside the reserve's posted hours.

Semidiurnal tides on an 11 ft range make Maine tide pooling run on a different clock than SoCal. Computed 2026 lows, daylight shares, and timing.

Cabrillo's gate opens at 9 AM and the tidepools close at 4:30 PM, erasing July's minus tides. The usable 2026 dates are Oct 25, Nov 25, and Dec 22–24.

Winter storms expose Oregon's agate gravel. Computed 2026-27 daylight minus windows at Port Orford and Newport, plus the state's one-gallon rule.

The 2026 daylight minus tides at Bar Harbor (NOAA 8413320), plus the National Park Service crossing rule for the Bar Island land bridge.

Earth's tilt decides which of the West Coast's two unequal daily lows goes deep, and in summer it lands at dawn. The 2026 hour histogram shows the math.

A minus tide is any low tide below 0.0 ft MLLW. What the datum means, why minus tides cluster around new and full moons, and how many land in daylight.

What tide-table heights above MLLW mean, why the two daily lows differ, and how one Newport, OR table row becomes a five-hour beach window.

The '−0.5 ft or lower' rule for tide pools is a Southern California number. We test it against 2026 NOAA data at Seattle, La Jolla, and Bar Harbor.

Haystack Rock's 2026 tidepool windows from NOAA Garibaldi station 9437540: four mornings below −2.0 ft on July 13–16, plus Marine Garden rules.

Winter swell strips the sand; a daylight minus tide reaches the gravel it hides. Computed winter sea glass windows at Port Orford, OR (NOAA 9431647).