Bahama tide table understanding

[skippy]

ok, we are virgins in taking our boat to the Bahamas. we are sitting in Marsh Harbour(waiting for watermaker part) getting ready to leave tomorrow. I am so confused on the tides amongst these spots 7- 10 miles apart. Looking for High tides I find they vary by 30 minutes to an hour or more from one location to the other.
april 17-
high tides
Marsh Harbour 8:31 am(tide-forcast.com)
Marsh Harbour-9:56 (Wind finder)
Peligan Harbour - 8:54am(Barometer Bob)
Peligan Harbour- 9:54am (Tides 4 fishing)
Peligan Harbour-9:56(WWW Tide and Current predicter)
Peligan Harbour 9:56(tides.info)

Help me understand
thanks!

[Empty Pockets]

A lot of the tide tables here don’t account for daylight savings time, so you need to add an hour. So, except for the one (8:31), they’re pretty close? If you need high tide, remember that even now with 3 ft tides, one hour either side of high is only 3”.

[pete33458]

I can't say for sure about those specific tides, but remember that

a) tides are a prediction, and essentially, other than well traveled and well charted areas, they are essentially suggestions;

b) in the Bahamas, the extensive banks affect the flow such that two ostensibly identical locations (e.g., Marsh Harbour) may be reference and subordinate stations that have non-identical tides. This seems like it must be the case for those two Marsh Harbour tides. Are there detailed lat/lon positions for those tides?

c) it would seem that at least the first two Pelican Harbor tides differ by exactly 60 minutes, which makes me think that one of them is not adjusted for daylight savings, and the other is. The other two PH tides differ from these first ones by only 2 minutes, which, in terms of tides, is not at all, since they are predictions...

d) 7-10 miles apart can easily differ by an hour, or more, especially in shallow water (like the Bahamas Banks).

e) island time, mon?

Overall, and you probably know this, if the exact timing of the tide is really that critical for you, you're pushing the envelope further than it should be pushed!

Pete

[Bean Counter]

Pelican Harbor tide station is the Atlantic ocean side of the Abacos. For Barometer Bob add an hour for Daylight saving time. Windfinder reports the nearest NOAA tide station to Marsh Harbour which is Pelican Harbour. As for tide-forecast.com not sure where their data comes from.

[skippy]

thanks- things are making more sense!!!