yabs Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 This always gets flamed but in the rainy season or South west monsoon from may to October both samui and Phangan both seem to suffer from very low tides that never seem to get very high at high tide most of the beaches on Koh Phaghan west coast seem almost unswimmable at this time and chaweng and lamai are very low as well,. For instance the water at chaweng inside the rocky reef never seems to get more than a few cms deep even though in the other monsoon it gets quiet deep here. Anyone know the reason for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbk Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 suffer? Its normal seasonal tides. 6 months out of the year the wind in Asia runs clockwise, the other 6 months counterclockwise. When the season changes the tides become lower. Starting about March and running through till September. Also, in case you didn't know, Koh Pha-Ngan means island of the sand bars. The reef is quite far out and the sand bars between here and the reef protect the island from off shore winds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 The gulf of Thailand has only 1 tide a day similar to other gulfs such as Gulf of Carpentaria and Gulf of Mexico. This means in 24hrs the tide will rise and fall only once instead of twice. As SBK says the tides in summer are much higher than the tides in winter. December and January they can be as high as 3m two days after full moon and as low as 1.3m, the neap tides around half moon vary 2.3 - 2.6. July and August the vary 2.3 - 0.8 Full moon and on half moon 2.0 - 1.1 Interestingly for some months the highs are all at night or all during the day (as there is only one of each a day), this means for some parts of the year (July, August) you only see in daylight the low tides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yabs Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 wow thanks i posted this on the TT and i was told i was talking b*llocks. So for snorkelling and swimming you need to go from september to may? interesting as i went on a smorkelling trip in june pnly to find all the coral was exposed they must have known this so this was obviously just another tourist samui rip off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John 1 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Yabs, Don't you get bored bashing Samui for any reason? There are ripoffs anywhere it the fool's like you that fall for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yabs Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 b ut why would the wind and water direction affect tide heights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yabs Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 sorry i should have known that the tides were lower at that time of year silly me basically it was impossible to snorkel at this time on the beaches they took me too they know this , i didn;t therefore it was a ripoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 sorry i should have known that the tides were lower at that time of yearsilly me basically it was impossible to snorkel at this time on the beaches they took me too they know this , i didn;t therefore it was a ripoff Snorkling around samui is poor year round, the waters around samui are shallow and the island is close to mainland rivers which means the water has estural effluent which basically effects the clarity. KPG is better than Samui, particulary the North Side, Koh Tao is very good as it is further out and surrounded by deeper water. South of Samui around Koh Tan can be ok certain times of year, but at other times it too suffers from clarity problems. The marine park apart from the farthest N. islands also does not have good snorkling water, lots of marine life, but you can't see it. Personally I would never bother with Snorkling around Samui. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceCow Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Very interisting! So did I get this right: July; the high tide is only in night time and during day there is the low tide? So how are the low tides+high tides in Tao + Koh Phangang in July? Same as Samui (hight tide in night + low tide in day time)? Is the Tao/KPG any good for snorkeling in July, or is the water too far away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yabs Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 womble the snorkelling trip was on koh phanaghan agreed the waters here are not very clear went to koh tao a few years ago and whilst it was clearer than samui I didn't think it was as clear as on the west side of thailand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosquitoman Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 For everyones info here is the link for the tide tables for Samui. but these tables work perfectly well for Koh Pha Ngan, and are probably 25 minutes different for Koh Tao http://www.navy.mi.th/hydro/tide07/sm07.xls Tides are controlled by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon on the earth and have nothing at all to do with wind direction or monsoon season, hence we are able to make very accurate predictions as to future tide heights. Future wind directions and wind speeds are not accurately predictable but the earth and the moons orbit is. The tides in the Gulf of Thailand are Diurnal - we have a single high tide and a single low tide per tidal day. We actually have two tides per day one being very minor sometimes with as little as 5cm of movement which to all effests and purposes means we have only one tide per day. M.M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceCow Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 For everyones info here is the link for the tide tables for Samui. but these tables work perfectly well for Koh Pha Ngan, and are probably 25 minutes different for Koh Taohttp://www.navy.mi.th/hydro/tide07/sm07.xls Tides are controlled by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon on the earth and have nothing at all to do with wind direction or monsoon season, hence we are able to make very accurate predictions as to future tide heights. Future wind directions and wind speeds are not accurately predictable but the earth and the moons orbit is. The tides in the Gulf of Thailand are Diurnal - we have a single high tide and a single low tide per tidal day. We actually have two tides per day one being very minor sometimes with as little as 5cm of movement which to all effests and purposes means we have only one tide per day. M.M. Thank you Mosquitoman for the tide timetabel Did I understand it correctly: The HT (M.) means Tide Height in meters? So lets say July Tuesday 10 it looks like: time HT(M.) 1010 1.01 1915 2.06 10.10 am the tide is 1.01 meters and 19.15 it is 2.06 meters? So the low tide is in 10.10 and high tide is in 19.15? But what does this actually mean? Does the water/beachfront in Chaweng/Chaweng Noi look ugly? How about beaches in tao + nang Yuan island? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamuiJens Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 womblethe snorkelling trip was on koh phanaghan agreed the waters here are not very clear went to koh tao a few years ago and whilst it was clearer than samui I didn't think it was as clear as on the west side of thailand Well then yabs, sounds as you found your paradice. Know if I were you I would fight for keeping it from getting ruined. Good look young man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mid Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 Tides are controlled by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon on the earth andhave nothing at all to do with wind direction or monsoon sorry , but this is false , you should be very careful with absolutes ............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbk Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 Tides are controlled by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon on the earth andhave nothing at all to do with wind direction or monsoon sorry , but this is false , you should be very careful with absolutes ............. From the NZ meteorological website: Meteorological EffectsMeteorological conditions which differ from the average will cause corresponding differences between the predicted and actual tide. Variations in tidal heights are mainly caused by strong or prolonged winds and by unusually high or low barometric pressure. Differences between predicted and actual times of high and low water are caused mainly by wind. The two effects are discussed separately below. Barometric Pressure Tide predictions are compiled for average barometric pressure. A difference from the average of 1 millibar can cause a difference in height of 1 centimetre. A low barometer will tend to raise the sea level and a high barometer will tend to depress it. The water level does not, however, adjust itself immediately to a change of pressure and it responds moreover to the average change in pressure over a considerable area. For practical purposes the average barometric pressure over the area covered by the New Zealand Tide Tables may be assumed to be 1014 hectapascals. Changes due to barometric pressure seldom exceed 30 centimetres but, when the mean sea level is raised or lowered by strong winds or by storm surges, this change will be greatly enhanced. Effect of Wind The effect of wind on sea level, and therefore on tidal heights and times, is very variable and depends on the topography of the area in question. In general it can be said that the wind will raise the sea level in the direction towards which it is blowing. A strong wind blowing straight onshore will pile up the water and cause high waters to be higher than predicted, while winds blowing off the land will have the reverse effect. Storm Surges Winds blowing along a coast tend to set up long waves which travel along it, raising sea level where the crest of the wave appears and lowering it in the trough. These waves are known as storm surges. Negative Storm Surges In a manner somewhat similar to the storm surges described above, the level of the sea can also be lower than the predicted level. This effect, known as a negative storm surge, is of great importance to very large vessels which may be navigating with small underkeel clearances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mid Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 well done sbk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Below is a graphic representation of Samui/Pha-Ngan's 2007 tide prediction data from the Royal Thai Navy's Hydrographic Dept. Blue: day's high Red: day's low Green: day's median avg Dark green: month's median avg Yellow: full/new Moon day signals For the KPG Bantai/Bankai areas, deduct about 0.8m for actual tide heights there. Interesting to note that tidal range is greatest on high tide periods. And with few exceptions, high tides tend to coincide with full/new Moon periods. jose '-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koheesti Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 This always gets flamed but in the rainy season or South west monsoon from may to Octoberboth samui and Phangan both seem to suffer from very low tides that never seem to get very high at high tide most of the beaches on Koh Phaghan west coast seem almost unswimmable at this time and chaweng and lamai are very low as well,. I live in Bangrak just 50m from the beach and the tides have been high lately. Submerging one of the docks just last week. I was in Lamai on Friday and people were telling me they have never seen it so high. The beach was not only well underwater but the waves and currents were dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 This year's local tides don't seem particularity higher than last year's to me. Last December we had sea waves crashing into our garden at Bantai beach. jose '-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbk Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Difference was that the waves were not big, Jose. Last year we had quite big waves at the same time as the very high tides. This year, nice and calm. Whew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2007nomad Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Hi, Could you recommend me please a fair bikerenter (who don't want my passport) in Koh Phangan (chaloklum)? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John 1 Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Nomad, do you want to rent the bike when the tide is in or out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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