Tides – select a POI or dive site and plan ahead

[EtienneR33]

Hi everyone,

I use a Suunto Nautic and dive mainly in the Arcachon Bay (France). The bay fills up at high tide and empties at low tide, which creates very strong currents across all dive sites. Slack water timing is therefore critical for dive safety.

The tide widget is a great idea, but in its current form it is hard to use for dive planning:

• the data depends on the phone’s location at the last sync, not on the site where I’m going to dive;
• the forecast is limited to 24 hours;
• it’s not possible to choose a location, even when POIs have already been created in the app;
• several forum users report discrepancies with local tide tables, and it’s unclear which source or reference port is used.

My suggestions:

1. Allow selecting a POI or dive site to display its tides;
2. Multi-day forecasts, stored offline for sites without network coverage;
3. Clearly display the data source and the reference port;
4. For France, integrate SHOM data, the official French hydrographic service, which publishes an accurate annual tide table. Other countries probably have equivalent official sources;
5. Then adjust based on the dive site’s geolocation. This is where the Nautic could add real value: in the Arcachon Bay, some dive sites are about 30 minutes offset from the tide at Arcachon harbour (SHOM data);
6. Ideally, integrate tides into dive planning in the app.

Are any of these improvements planned? Do other divers in strong tidal areas have the same need?

Thanks!

PS: I’d be happy to volunteer as a beta tester for this feature if needed.