What is the best time of day to snorkel in Cathedral Cove?

Snorkel in daylight, if possible in the morning before the wind picks up. Currents are often weaker near high slack tide. SnorkelForecast scores each daylight hour for Cathedral Cove.

What is the best tide for snorkeling?

High slack tide, within about an hour of the high-tide peak, often has weaker currents. Strong low tides and tidal flow near channels or headlands reduce the score.

Cathedral Cove Snorkel Report Today

New Zealand · Updated Sun 18:24 (NZDT) · Source: Snapshot

The skinny

Marginal Data updated Sun 18:24 (NZDT)

Cathedral Cove looks marginal today. The least-bad daylight window is around Sun 19:00, but waves is limiting the forecast.

Right now (forecast)

Poor · 0.8/10

Sun 18:00 (NZDT)

Later today

Poor · 2.1/10

Sun 19:00 (NZDT)

Next three days

Good · 5.9/10

Wed 17:00 (NZDT)

Model estimates using Open-Meteo; not observations or safety guarantees. Check official advisories and conditions at the beach.

Score: 2.1/10

Best time: Sun 19:00

Main risk: Waves

No useful morning window is showing yet.

Best afternoon signal: Sun 19:00 (Poor). Peak afternoon wind is about 7.4 m/s.

Email me when it is good

Sunrise

06:59

Sunset

19:17

Water

15.5°C

Max air

12.6°C

Sky

Cloudy

100% cloud

Good model window in the next 72 hours

Next good model window: Tue 19:00 (7% of the next 72h meets the model threshold)

3-day planner Best available Show data

3-day planner

Sunday

❌ Poor conditions

Main blocker: Waves

Monday

⚠️ Fair conditions

Main blocker: Waves

Tuesday

✅ Good conditions

Main blocker: Sea temperature

Best available hours

The next good model window starts at Tue 19:00.

Why this verdict

Main blockers across the next 72 hours:

Sea temperature (71 hours)
Darkness (51 hours)
Waves (42 hours)

Jellyfish drift risk

Drift estimate from wind, swell, current and warm water.

Low · 12/100

Low peak drift risk around Mon 10:00.

surface drift/current is noticeable; local shoreline exposure is not mapped yet.

Sightings override the model: if you see small purple jellyfish with long trailing tentacles, treat them as sting-capable and give them space.

Upcoming high tides

Next early morning high tide: Mon 08:00

Sun 20:00, Mon 08:00, Mon 20:00, Tue 09:00, Tue 21:00, Wed 10:00

Nearby alternatives in New Zealand

Goat Island

108 km away

❌ Poor

Poor Knights Islands

179 km away

✅ Good

Bay of Islands

235 km away

✅ Good

Abel Tasman

511 km away

✅ Good

Advanced forecast data

Viewing historical data

Mon 18:00 – Thu 18:00 (NZDT)

Previous day Yesterday Next day Live

Snorkel Score (selected 24h)

Best snorkel score is 0.62 around Mon 18:00; 7 of 24 hours are good, fair, or excellent.

Score trend, higher is better. Excellent ≥ 0.72, good 0.55–0.72, fair 0.35–0.55.

Conditions (24h trends)

Tap a chart to load just that series.

24/24 sampled hours stay at or below 0.36m (range 0.22m to 0.26m).

Wind is at or below 5.4m/s in 24/24 sampled hours (range 0.81 to 3.26m/s).

Tides range from -0.76m to 0.97m; 2 of 24 hours are in or near peak slack windows.

72-hour historical overview

Mon 18:00 Good 🌟 Good

Mon 19:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Mon 20:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Mon 21:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Mon 22:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Mon 23:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 00:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 01:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 02:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 03:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 04:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 05:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 06:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 07:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 08:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 09:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 10:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 11:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 12:00 Good 🌟 Good

Tue 13:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Tue 14:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Tue 15:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Tue 16:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Tue 17:00 Good 🌟 Good

Tue 18:00 Good 🌟 Good

Tue 19:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 20:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 21:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 22:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Tue 23:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 00:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 01:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 02:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 03:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 04:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 05:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 06:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 07:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 08:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 09:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 10:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 11:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 12:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 13:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 14:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 15:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 16:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 17:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 18:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 19:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 20:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 21:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 22:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Wed 23:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 00:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 01:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 02:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 03:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 04:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 05:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 06:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 07:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 08:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 09:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 10:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 11:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 12:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 13:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 14:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 15:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 16:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 17:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Scoring methodology (for technical users)

We score each hour from 0 to 1 using daylight and these weighted components:

Wave height (35%): best below 0.36m, then decreases as it rises.
Wind speed (25%): best below 5.4m/s, lower is better.
Sea surface temperature (15%): best within 20.6°C to 30.4°C.
Tide and currents (15%): best around slack/high-tide windows.
Daylight (10%): visibility is better in daylight, so night hours score lower.

Detailed hourly data table

Time	Wave (m)	Wind (m/s)	Sea temp (°C)	Status
Mon 18:00	0.22 · good	2.83 · good	15.60 · out of range	Good
Mon 19:00	0.24 · good	2.62 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Mon 20:00	0.24 · good	2.60 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Mon 21:00	0.26 · good	2.28 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Mon 22:00	0.26 · good	1.92 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Mon 23:00	0.22 · good	1.81 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Tue 00:00	0.22 · good	1.52 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 01:00	0.22 · good	1.57 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 02:00	0.22 · good	1.63 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 03:00	0.22 · good	1.70 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 04:00	0.22 · good	1.61 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 05:00	0.22 · good	1.48 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 06:00	0.22 · good	1.66 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 07:00	0.22 · good	2.08 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 08:00	0.24 · good	1.46 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Tue 09:00	0.24 · good	0.81 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Tue 10:00	0.24 · good	0.82 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Tue 11:00	0.24 · good	2.20 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Tue 12:00	0.24 · good	3.11 · good	15.60 · out of range	Good
Tue 13:00	0.24 · good	3.26 · good	15.60 · out of range	Fair
Tue 14:00	0.26 · good	2.97 · good	15.70 · out of range	Fair
Tue 15:00	0.26 · good	2.80 · good	15.70 · out of range	Fair
Tue 16:00	0.26 · good	2.44 · good	15.60 · out of range	Fair
Tue 17:00	0.26 · good	1.90 · good	15.60 · out of range	Good
Tue 18:00	0.26 · good	0.67 · good	15.60 · out of range	Good
Tue 19:00	0.26 · good	0.18 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Tue 20:00	0.26 · good	0.58 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Tue 21:00	0.26 · good	1.01 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Tue 22:00	0.26 · good	1.22 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Tue 23:00	0.26 · good	1.58 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 00:00	0.26 · good	1.57 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Wed 01:00	0.26 · good	2.07 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Wed 02:00	0.26 · good	2.33 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Wed 03:00	0.26 · good	2.15 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Wed 04:00	0.26 · good	1.60 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Wed 05:00	0.26 · good	1.47 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Wed 06:00	0.26 · good	0.89 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Wed 07:00	0.26 · good	1.32 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Wed 08:00	0.24 · good	0.97 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Wed 09:00	0.24 · good	1.32 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Wed 10:00	0.24 · good	1.86 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 11:00	0.24 · good	1.76 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 12:00	0.24 · good	1.91 · good	15.70 · out of range	Fair
Wed 13:00	0.24 · good	1.92 · good	15.70 · out of range	Fair
Wed 14:00	0.24 · good	2.61 · good	15.70 · out of range	Fair
Wed 15:00	0.24 · good	3.76 · good	15.70 · out of range	Fair
Wed 16:00	0.24 · good	3.80 · good	15.70 · out of range	Fair
Wed 17:00	0.26 · good	3.57 · good	15.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 18:00	0.26 · good	2.40 · good	15.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 19:00	0.26 · good	1.42 · good	15.70 · out of range	Poor
Wed 20:00	0.26 · good	1.17 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 21:00	0.26 · good	1.15 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 22:00	0.26 · good	0.94 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 23:00	0.28 · good	0.57 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 00:00	0.28 · good	0.60 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 01:00	0.30 · good	0.46 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 02:00	0.32 · good	0.51 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 03:00	0.28 · good	0.67 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 04:00	0.30 · good	0.58 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 05:00	0.30 · good	0.40 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 06:00	0.32 · good	0.50 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 07:00	0.38 · high	0.65 · good	15.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 08:00	0.42 · high	0.90 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 09:00	0.48 · high	3.64 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 10:00	0.56 · high	4.43 · good	15.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 11:00	0.66 · high	5.10 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 12:00	0.74 · high	5.90 · high	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 13:00	0.78 · high	6.23 · high	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 14:00	0.84 · high	6.06 · high	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 15:00	0.88 · high	5.95 · high	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 16:00	0.92 · high	5.05 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 17:00	0.94 · high	4.46 · good	15.60 · out of range	Poor