Simple Tides / Guides / Cape May Tides

Cape May Tide Chart

Cape May stands where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic — a five-foot semidiurnal tide that times the surf bite, the hawk migration’s hunting grounds, and every inlet crossing at the Jersey Cape.

The pattern

Two highs and two lows daily with around five feet of range. The bay side runs slightly later and smaller than the oceanfront, and the Cape May Canal — the shortcut between bay and ocean — carries real current on the tide change.

Surf fishing and birding

The ocean beaches give up stripers, bluefish, and flounder on moving water, with the fall run the main event. Cape May is also one of North America’s great migration bottlenecks — hawks and songbirds funnel past the point each autumn, hunting the same bait the tides concentrate.

Boating the Cape

Cape May Inlet is the ocean gateway — cross with the tide, not against a hard ebb. Inside, the back bays and the Intracoastal are the small-boat playgrounds, and the canal saves the long way around. For the region, see our Mid-Atlantic tide guide.