TIDE TABLE
HOW TO READ A TIDE TABLE
Step by step
Step 1
Understand what a tide is:
"Tide is the name given to the periodic vertical oscillations of sea level, resulting from the gravitational attraction exerted by the Moon on the Earth and, to a lesser extent, from the gravitational attraction exerted by the Sun on the Earth. (...) Tides are the longest waves in the ocean, they have periods of 12 and 24 hours and wavelengths that can reach the circumference of the equator.
The waters normally rise and fall once or twice a day, in tidal regimes that can be diurnal or semi-diurnal".
(Education Portal)
Step 2
Tide regime in Fernando de Noronha:
The tidal regime in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago follows a semi-diurnal regime. It means that the tide reaches four peaks during the day: one high, one low + one high, and one low.
The attractions that contain natural pools only work during the low tide window, two hours before and two hours after the peak. However, even with two low peaks in one day, it is only possible to have one opening time for the pools, as one of these peaks will be outside the Park's opening hours. A lot of information? Calm down, take a look at the tide table, and you will understand better.
Step 3
Get to know a tide table:
Below you can see the tide table for Fernando de Noronha Island for September to December of the year 2020:
Let's take a look at these numbers more closely.
How to read these numbers?
In the first column, in bold, you see the day of the week: 01 TUE | Tuesday, December 1st.
In the second column, you can see the times of the tide peaks: on Tuesday, the first peak is at 0517, which means 5:17 am. In the third column, you can see the amplitude of that tidal peak: at 5:17 am, the tidal amplitude will be 2.2 meters.
I.e., on December 1st, the high tide peaks are 2.2 and 2.4, and the low tide peaks are 0.4 and 0.3. The lower the low tide number, the drier the tide is, and the more tide pools are visible.
Step 4
Understand the hours of the attractions you want to visit:
The attractions that require prior appointment are attractions with natural pools and a limit of people per day. Their opening hours are limited to low tide hours.
The Atalaia pool, for example, works for two hours before and two hours after the peak of low tide. I.e., on Tuesday, December 1st (shown in the example above), the two low tide peaks are at 11:26 am and 11:45 pm. During the last hours, the Park will be closed; therefore, the pool will be open at 11:26 am, with visiting groups from 9:26 am to 1:26 pm.
Besides the attractions that require a prior appointment, some beaches in the Environmental Protection Area also offer natural pools for free visitation. Just pay attention to the low tide peaks and visit them.
It is recommended that you pay attention to the advice of people from the island and recognize your personal limits. All places are subject to natural weather.
Natural pool at Boldró Beach during low tide
Tip
Check the tide table for your region:
The Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center provides the tide tables for the Brazilian regions. You can consult each region covered and download the PDF file for the area of your interest.