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Tide times for Fuerteventura

These are the official tide predictions for Fuerteventura, published by the Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina (IHM) — the Spanish navy’s hydrographic service — in its Anuario de Mareas. The IHM covers two ports on the island: Puerto del Rosario on the east coast and Morro Jable in the south. Times are official local (Canary Islands) time, and heights are given in metres above each port’s own chart datum, so read them as high- and low-water times rather than as absolute sea level.

These are predictions for two ports, not for every beach — the tide shifts a little along the coast, so treat the nearer port as your guide. Use them as a planning aid for a day on the sand: read the sea for yourself, follow any flags or local advice, and for anything on the water check the conditions on the day.

What this page shows

This is a live look at the wind, the air temperature and the sea around Fuerteventura, for four points on the island’s coast. It is refreshed every three hours from modelled forecasts, so treat it as a planning aid rather than a guarantee.

The island is windy and its coasts are not alike. Fuerteventura sits in the path of the north-easterly trade winds, and the same day can be breezy and lively on one shore and calm on another. The figures below are there to show you that difference, not to send you to a particular spot.

Tides are handled differently from the wind and wave figures. The tide times below are official predictions for two named Fuerteventura ports, taken from the IHM’s Anuario de Mareas; the wind, weather and wave figures are modelled forecasts from Open-Meteo. The two should be read side by side but not confused: one tells you when the water is high or low, the other how windy or rough it is likely to be.

How to read the figures

Wind speed and direction are for the wind as it blows at the surface — the bearing tells you where the wind is coming from, so a north-easterly is a wind off the sea from the north-east. Gusts can be far stronger than the average, which is why they are listed separately: it is the gust that surprises you on an exposed shore.

Wave height is the significant wave height of the combined sea and swell, in metres, with the wave period in seconds. A longer period usually means more organised swell arriving from further away; a short period means choppy, locally wind-driven sea.

Sea-surface temperature is the modelled water temperature just below the surface, and it is the figure to check before deciding how much wetsuit to wear — the surf season guide has the month-by-month picture. Swell is listed separately from the total wave height: it is the organised, longer-travelled component, while the wind-sea is the shorter, choppier part built by the local wind.

Why the coasts differ

North and west face the open Atlantic and take the most swell; the west coast around El Cotillo is the island’s most exposed, which is why it reads so differently from the sheltered side. For how that split plays out across the seasons — which coast is wettest and which is calmest — see our when to visit guide. The east coast lies in the lee of the island and is usually calmer, which is what makes the stretches around Caleta de Fuste and Costa Calma easier for families. The south catches its own swell and wind.

That is the whole point of listing four coasts rather than one island figure: the difference between them on the same day is often larger than the difference between one day and the next. Use the coast that matches your plan, and see the beaches guide and the wind and kite guide for which stretch suits which conditions.

What this is not

This is not a lifeguard service and it is not a surf report. It publishes no surf-break locations, access routes or pins — that is a deliberate part of how this guide works. Modelled forecast data can be wrong, and conditions on a beach can differ from the nearest grid point.

Before you swim or paddle, read the sea for yourself, follow any flags or local advice, and check an official source. Our surf safety guide covers reading the ocean and the basic precautions in more detail.