The best daylight tide window left in 2026 at Charleston, Oregon lands Thursday, July 16: a −2.00 ft MLLW low at 8:22 AM, computed from NOAA station 9432780, workable from about 6:00 to 10:55 AM — the only remaining Exceptional day of the year here. Work it at Sunset Bay's protected cove or down Cape Arago's South Cove trail, which Oregon State Parks says leads to "superior tidepools." After this week, the calendar gives you one more dawn run in mid-August, then hands the deep water to winter dusk.
Charleston sits where Coos Bay meets the open Pacific, and the three state parks strung down Cape Arago Highway — Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, Cape Arago — hold two of Oregon's best tidepool grounds within about four miles of each other. The tide station at Charleston, NOAA 9432780, is the reference for all of it.
When is the lowest tide at Cape Arago in 2026?
Here are the eight deepest daylight lows remaining in 2026, ranked by depth, with the score that folds tide depth and daylight together. (Computed July 16, so the deep mornings earlier this week have already rotated out.)
| Rank | Date | Low (ft MLLW) | Time of low | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thu, Dec 24 | −2.05 | 6:30 PM | 59 |
| 2 | Thu, Jul 16 | −2.00 | 8:22 AM | 90 |
| 3 | Wed, Dec 23 | −1.90 | 5:42 PM | 65 |
| 4 | Tue, Nov 24 | −1.75 | 5:54 PM | 60 |
| 5 | Wed, Aug 12 | −1.72 | 6:35 AM | 81 |
| 6 | Tue, Aug 11 | −1.65 | 5:49 AM | 73 |
| 7 | Thu, Aug 13 | −1.53 | 7:16 AM | 81 |
| 8 | Tue, Oct 27 | −1.47 | 7:53 PM | 50 |
Computed 2026-07-16 from NOAA station 9432780 predictions, MLLW.
Read the time column and the year's shape appears. Every deep summer low is a morning; every deep low from late October on is an evening. The deepest of them all, −2.05 ft on Christmas Eve, is nearly useless: its window opens at 4:10 PM and holds only about 36 minutes of light before a roughly 4:46 PM sunset (derived from the window's daylight minutes), with the low itself arriving long after dark. That is why the year's deepest remaining tide scores 59 while July 16's slightly shallower one scores 90 — the score is measuring usable water, not just depth. The methodology page shows the formula.
So the practical headline: July 16 is the deepest water you can actually see in daylight for the rest of 2026.
The near-term windows: July 16–18, then August 11–14
| Date | Low (ft) | Time of low | Tide window | Arrive by | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Jul 16 | −2.00 | 8:22 AM | 6:00–10:55 AM | 7:22 AM | 90 |
| Fri, Jul 17 | −1.43 | 9:04 AM | 6:50–11:20 AM | 8:04 AM | 84 |
| Sat, Jul 18 | −0.66 | 9:45 AM | 7:50–11:40 AM | 8:45 AM | 73 |
| Fri, Jul 31 | −0.77 | 8:05 AM | 6:05–10:10 AM | 7:05 AM | 70 |
| Tue, Aug 11 | −1.65 | 5:49 AM | 3:30–8:20 AM | 4:49 AM | 73 |
| Wed, Aug 12 | −1.72 | 6:35 AM | 4:15–9:00 AM | 5:35 AM | 81 |
| Thu, Aug 13 | −1.53 | 7:16 AM | 5:05–9:35 AM | 6:16 AM | 81 |
| Fri, Aug 14 | −1.10 | 7:55 AM | 5:55–10:00 AM | 6:55 AM | 77 |
The eight best windows of the next 60 days, computed 2026-07-16 from NOAA station 9432780. Scores (0–100) weigh tide depth and daylight together.
The July run is the gentle tail of this month's new-moon cycle: an 8:22 AM low on Thursday, drifting past 9:00 AM Friday and 9:45 AM Saturday as the depth fades. Saturday the 18th is the only weekend day in the table — a modest −0.66 ft, but at a very civilized mid-morning hour, and plenty for a first visit to South Cove.
The August 11–14 run is the last real dawn series of the year, and it rewards the early alarm unevenly. Tuesday the 11th is deep (−1.65 ft) but its 5:49 AM low comes about half an hour before sunrise — around 6:18 AM, derived from the window's daylight minutes — so it scores only 73. Wednesday the 12th, three minutes of extra depth and a low just after sunrise, is the pick of the run. If you are wondering why every deep summer low on this coast is an early one, the dawn-lows guide unpacks the mechanics; the Oregon coast minus-tide calendar puts Charleston beside Garibaldi, Newport, and Port Orford month by month.
Where to go: Sunset Bay, then South Cove
The two tidepool grounds bracket Shore Acres along the same stretch of Cape Arago Highway, and Oregon State Parks' own comparison is a fine itinerary. Per the Sunset Bay page: "Sunset Bay's protected shoreline provides easy access to intertidal areas, while Cape Arago, located about 4 miles farther down the highway, features the South Cove trail, which leads to a sandy beach and superior tidepools where you can observe a variety of intertidal plants and animals (please enjoy them with your eyes only)."
Sunset Bay is the easy start: a sheltered cove with a day-use area, and a campground with yurts that makes a dawn low painless. It is the forgiving option with kids or on a first visit — protected water, short walk, facilities close by.
Cape Arago's South Cove is the payoff. From the viewpoint parking at Cape Arago, the South Cove trail drops to a sandy beach and the reef the parks call "superior tidepools" — shelves that a −2 ft tide peels back a long way. It is a real descent (and climb back out), so budget for it. Two practical notes from the park's current advisories: the Cape Arago restroom building is closed ("Facilities open in Sunset Bay day-use or Shore Acres State Park"), and drones are prohibited in the park.
Parking, all three parks: Oregon State Parks is explicit — "Within the boundaries of Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, and Cape Arago State Parks, a parking permit is required anywhere you park, including designated parking lots, pullouts, and roadside areas within park boundaries." Day permits are sold on site, annual permits online. Shore Acres, the middle park, is open 8 a.m. to dusk; its formal garden and cliff-edge overlooks make it the natural between-tides stop, and a segment of the Oregon Coast Trail links all three parks if you would rather walk than drive.
Simpson Reef: the loudest overlook in Oregon
Just past Shore Acres, the Simpson Reef Overlook faces Shell Island and its surrounding reef — part of Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and, per the Friends of Shore Acres, "one of the few places on the Oregon coast where visitors can literally see thousands of marine mammals." Five species of pinnipeds haul out here — harbor seals, northern elephant seals, California and Steller sea lions among them. Bring binoculars.
Two access rules keep it that way. The refuge rocks and islands are closed to public access at all times — this is an overlook, not a destination. And Cape Arago's North Cove trail, which looks onto the reef, closes every year from March 1 to June 30 to protect seal pups; it reopened July 1, so mid-July visitors get both coves for the first time since winter. The parks' July event calendars also list guided wildlife-viewing sessions at Simpson Reef — check the Sunset Bay or Shore Acres event listings if you want a spotting scope and a ranger.
What you'll find in the pools
Charleston's recent community observations read like a sea-slug field guide. Of the ten most-reported intertidal animals within a few kilometers of the station in the last two months, eight are sea slugs: the Horned Nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis) leads the list, followed by the Monterey Dorid (Doris montereyensis), Red Sponge Dorid (Rostanga pulchra), Branched Dendronotid (Dendronotus venustus), White-and-orange-tipped Nudibranch (Antiopella fusca), Black and White Dorid (Acanthodoris rhodoceras), Odhner's Dorid (Doris odhneri), and Hedgpeth's Sapsucker (Elysia hedgpethi), a sap-sucking slug from a different lineage than the nudibranchs. The two non-slugs are workhorse snails: the Black Tegula (Tegula funebralis) and the Striped Dogwinkle (Nucella ostrina). Finds this small and this soft are what the deepest lows are for — the lower the water, the more of the shore you get to search.
Species reflect recent iNaturalist observations near the station (CC BY-NC, © the individual observers); NOAA is the tide-prediction data source. What you actually see depends on the day.
How to work the window
Use the arrive-by column, not the low time: get on the rock about an hour before the low and follow the water out. The state parks' tidepooling guidance is short and worth quoting: "keep your eyes on the ocean and stay aware of changing tides, sneaker waves, and drift logs." On South Cove's shelves the returning tide can reach around behind you, so pick your exit line on the way out. And both parks repeat the same ethic — enjoy the animals with your eyes only.
One honesty note: station 9432780 sits at Charleston, inside the Coos Bay entrance rather than on the open shore. Its predictions are the standard reference for Sunset Bay and Cape Arago, but the exact minute of low water on an open-coast shelf a few miles away can differ a little — margin the arrive-by column already builds in. These are predictions, not observations; check conditions before you commit to a scramble.
After the morning season ends
From September on, Charleston's daylight windows thin fast, and the deep water moves to the far end of the day: −1.75 ft at 5:54 PM on November 24, −1.90 ft at 5:42 PM on December 23 — with roughly an hour to an hour and a half of usable light on the falling tide before sunset. Those dusk lows ride the same alignments as king tide season, when the winter's highest highs drain to the year's lowest lows a few hours later. Winter tidepooling here means working the last daylight hour of a falling evening tide; plan the pools around the morning runs while they last.
For the full year at a glance, the year heatmap shows how alone this July window stands, the trip picker finds multi-day runs automatically, and the August calendar for Charleston has every remaining window of that dawn run. One road, two coves, one very good Thursday — and then you set an August alarm.