Water Conditions

Select Water Conditions References for Students, Captains, and Sailors of the Chesapeake

The links provided on this page are external to The Gratitude Sailing Institute website. All content on these external pages is copyrighted by their respective owners, and may change without notice.

From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Some pages must be resized when viewing on a smartphone.

• NOAA Tides and Currents

  Local tides and current conditions from stations around the Delmarva peninsula.

• NOAA Tide Predictions for Tolchester Beach, MD

  This is the closest tidal reporting station for Middle River. Predicted high and low tides can be obtained by changing the data perameters, and clicking Plot Daily.

• NOAA Tide Predictions for Annapolis, MD

  Predicted tides for Annapolis. Additional data about current and anticipated weather and water conditions is available.

• NOAA Coastal Inundation Dashboard

  Useful information for local flooding conditions due to heavy rains or tropical storm/hurricane activity.

• Coastal Marine Forecasts

  Forecasts for the Baltimore/Washington zone. Middle River is zone ANZ531; Annapolis is zone ANZ532.

• NOAA Current Predictions

  Water current rate and height predictions. Miller Island, in the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of Middle River, is the closest tidal station to Gratitude Sailing's home port. Note that water current speed predictions are measured at varying depths, and may not reflect speeds at the surface.

NOAA Charts: NOAA is ending their paper chart production in January 2025. Replacing the standardized charts is the ENC (Electronic Navigational Chart) system.

• Chart 12280: Chesapeake Bay

  This is the last edition of the Chesapeake Bay paper chart that NOAA produced, which will be cancelled on 10/02/24.

• Office of Coast Survey ENC Viewer

  Welcome to NOAA's electronic charts. Users can view the most up-to-date ENC data online by zooming in to the appropriate area. This is for reference only, and should not be relied upon as a navigational aid. Important note: this page contains highly detailed information, and takes a long time to load.

• Office of Coast Survey Custom Chart

  For those who want to create their own custom chart areas, NOAA offers this site. Nautical charts can be submitted to an authorized on-demand printing company to be printed to scale (for a fee). Downloaded .pdfs printed on home computers should not be used as navigational aids, as depth and obstacle marks may not appear in their correct position. More information is available through NOAA.

Your Captain will have an assortment of authorized paper charts covering your anticipated sailing area on board the vessel. For reference only, here are some customized charts for the waters Gratitude Sailing frequents the most. They are best viewed on devices with larger screens:

• Middle River to Pooles Island
• Pooles Island
• Middle River to Worton Creek and Tolchester
• Middle River to Rock Hall
• Rock Hall
• Rock Hall to Kent Narrows
• Kent Narrows
• Love Point to Annapolis
• Annapolis