What is the best time of day to snorkel in Dry Tortugas?

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 Dry Tortugas.

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.

Dry Tortugas Snorkel Report Today

USA · Updated Mon 12:52 (EDT) · Source: Snapshot

The skinny

Go in the best window Data updated Mon 12:52 (EDT)

Dry Tortugas has a usable snorkeling window around Mon 16:00. The main thing to watch is sea temperature.

Right now (forecast)

Good · 6.0/10

Mon 15:00 (EDT)

Later today

Good · 6.9/10

Mon 18:00 (EDT)

Next three days

Good · 6.9/10

Mon 18:00 (EDT)

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

Score: 6.9/10

Best time: Mon 16:00

Main risk: Sea Temperature

No useful morning window is showing yet.

Best afternoon signal: Mon 18:00 (Good). Peak afternoon wind is about 2.5 m/s.

Email me when it is good

Also see the best places to snorkel in Florida, ranked on our stored historical scores.

Sunrise

07:19

Sunset

19:28

Water

31.1°C

Max air

28.4°C

Sky

Clear

26% cloud

Good model window in the next 72 hours

Next good model window: Mon 16:00–19:00 (26% of the next 72h meets the model threshold)

3-day planner Best available Show data

3-day planner

Monday

✅ Good conditions

Main blocker: Sea temperature

Tuesday

✅ Good conditions

Main blocker: Sea temperature

Wednesday

✅ Good conditions

Main blocker: Sea temperature

Best available hours

The next good model window starts at Mon 16:00 and lasts until 19:00.

Why this verdict

Main blockers across the next 72 hours:

Sea temperature (68 hours)
Tide/current (48 hours)
Darkness (36 hours)

Jellyfish drift risk

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

Low · 34/100

Low drift risk now.

warm water supports seasonal jellyfish activity; 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: Tue 07:00

Tue 07:00, Tue 21:00, Wed 21:00

Nearby alternatives in USA

Looe Key

149 km away

✅ Good

Bahia Honda

161 km away

✅ Good

Key Largo

250 km away

✅ Good

Crystal River

476 km away

✅ Good

Advanced forecast data

Viewing historical data

Tue 15:00 – Fri 15:00 (EDT)

Previous day Yesterday Next day Live

Snorkel Score (selected 24h)

Best snorkel score is 0.74 around Tue 17:00; 12 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 0.12m to 0.3m).

Wind is at or below 5.4m/s in 24/24 sampled hours (range 1.02 to 4.65m/s).

Tides range from -0.4m to 0.21m; 1 of 24 hours are in or near peak slack windows.

72-hour historical overview

Tue 15:00 Good 🌟 Good

Tue 16:00 Excellent ✅ Excellent

Tue 17:00 Excellent ✅ Excellent

Tue 18:00 Excellent ✅ Excellent

Tue 19:00 Good 🌟 Good

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 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 09:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 10:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 11:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 12:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 13:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 14:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 15:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Wed 16:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 17:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 18:00 Good 🌟 Good

Wed 19:00 Good 🌟 Good

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 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 09:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 10:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 11:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 12:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 13:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 14:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 15:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 16:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 17:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 18:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 19:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Thu 20:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 21:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 22:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Thu 23:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 00:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 01:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 02:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 03:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 04:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 05:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 06:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 07:00 Poor ❌ Limited

Fri 08:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Fri 09:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Fri 10:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Fri 11:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Fri 12:00 Fair ⚠️ Fair

Fri 13:00 Good 🌟 Good

Fri 14:00 Good 🌟 Good

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
Tue 15:00	0.14 · good	2.82 · good	32.00 · out of range	Good
Tue 16:00	0.16 · good	1.02 · good	32.00 · out of range	Excellent
Tue 17:00	0.14 · good	1.22 · good	32.00 · out of range	Excellent
Tue 18:00	0.14 · good	1.78 · good	32.00 · out of range	Excellent
Tue 19:00	0.14 · good	2.28 · good	32.00 · out of range	Good
Tue 20:00	0.14 · good	2.77 · good	31.90 · out of range	Poor
Tue 21:00	0.14 · good	2.41 · good	31.90 · out of range	Poor
Tue 22:00	0.14 · good	3.47 · good	31.90 · out of range	Poor
Tue 23:00	0.14 · good	2.44 · good	31.80 · out of range	Poor
Wed 00:00	0.14 · good	3.49 · good	31.80 · out of range	Poor
Wed 01:00	0.14 · good	3.14 · good	31.70 · out of range	Poor
Wed 02:00	0.14 · good	3.54 · good	31.70 · out of range	Poor
Wed 03:00	0.14 · good	3.75 · good	31.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 04:00	0.12 · good	4.11 · good	31.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 05:00	0.12 · good	3.92 · good	31.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 06:00	0.12 · good	3.53 · good	31.50 · out of range	Poor
Wed 07:00	0.24 · good	4.26 · good	31.50 · out of range	Poor
Wed 08:00	0.24 · good	4.32 · good	31.50 · out of range	Good
Wed 09:00	0.24 · good	4.32 · good	31.50 · out of range	Good
Wed 10:00	0.26 · good	4.42 · good	31.60 · out of range	Good
Wed 11:00	0.26 · good	4.65 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Wed 12:00	0.28 · good	4.37 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Wed 13:00	0.28 · good	4.31 · good	31.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 14:00	0.30 · good	4.40 · good	31.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 15:00	0.30 · good	4.52 · good	31.70 · out of range	Fair
Wed 16:00	0.24 · good	2.24 · good	31.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 17:00	0.24 · good	2.15 · good	31.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 18:00	0.26 · good	2.06 · good	31.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 19:00	0.30 · good	2.28 · good	31.70 · out of range	Good
Wed 20:00	0.32 · good	2.70 · good	31.70 · out of range	Poor
Wed 21:00	0.34 · good	3.47 · good	31.70 · out of range	Poor
Wed 22:00	0.34 · good	3.96 · good	31.60 · out of range	Poor
Wed 23:00	0.36 · good	4.48 · good	31.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 00:00	0.36 · good	4.70 · good	31.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 01:00	0.38 · high	4.68 · good	31.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 02:00	0.38 · high	4.74 · good	31.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 03:00	0.42 · high	5.00 · good	31.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 04:00	0.44 · high	4.81 · good	31.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 05:00	0.48 · high	4.61 · good	31.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 06:00	0.50 · high	4.40 · good	31.40 · out of range	Poor
Thu 07:00	0.60 · high	3.77 · good	31.20 · out of range	Poor
Thu 08:00	0.60 · high	3.90 · good	31.20 · out of range	Fair
Thu 09:00	0.58 · high	4.01 · good	31.30 · out of range	Fair
Thu 10:00	0.54 · high	4.03 · good	31.30 · out of range	Fair
Thu 11:00	0.52 · high	4.57 · good	31.40 · out of range	Fair
Thu 12:00	0.50 · high	4.95 · good	31.50 · out of range	Fair
Thu 13:00	0.48 · high	4.13 · good	31.50 · out of range	Fair
Thu 14:00	0.46 · high	4.08 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Thu 15:00	0.44 · high	4.22 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Thu 16:00	0.38 · high	3.56 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Thu 17:00	0.36 · good	3.29 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Thu 18:00	0.36 · good	3.81 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Thu 19:00	0.34 · good	4.11 · good	31.60 · out of range	Fair
Thu 20:00	0.34 · good	3.91 · good	31.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 21:00	0.36 · good	4.63 · good	31.60 · out of range	Poor
Thu 22:00	0.36 · good	4.72 · good	31.50 · out of range	Poor
Thu 23:00	0.38 · high	4.93 · good	31.50 · out of range	Poor
Fri 00:00	0.40 · high	5.53 · high	31.40 · out of range	Poor
Fri 01:00	0.40 · high	6.15 · high	31.40 · out of range	Poor
Fri 02:00	0.42 · high	6.36 · high	31.40 · out of range	Poor
Fri 03:00	0.44 · high	6.71 · high	31.30 · out of range	Poor
Fri 04:00	0.44 · high	6.50 · high	31.30 · out of range	Poor
Fri 05:00	0.46 · high	6.28 · high	31.30 · out of range	Poor
Fri 06:00	0.44 · high	5.69 · high	31.30 · out of range	Poor
Fri 07:00	0.36 · good	4.08 · good	31.20 · out of range	Poor
Fri 08:00	0.38 · high	4.12 · good	31.20 · out of range	Fair
Fri 09:00	0.38 · high	4.30 · good	31.30 · out of range	Fair
Fri 10:00	0.36 · good	4.67 · good	31.30 · out of range	Fair
Fri 11:00	0.36 · good	5.06 · good	31.40 · out of range	Fair
Fri 12:00	0.34 · good	4.24 · good	31.50 · out of range	Fair
Fri 13:00	0.34 · good	4.03 · good	31.60 · out of range	Good
Fri 14:00	0.32 · good	4.03 · good	31.60 · out of range	Good