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Step 1
Get a tide chart for your local area. Because the moon's gravity causes tide fluctuations, tide charts apply to specific geographic regions. You can obtain charts on the Internet, at a local marine store or from the town harbormaster. If you plan to read the chart on a boat, get a waterproof tide chart or laminate a tide chart yourself.
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Step 2
Look for the current month on the tide chart. Then find the correct date. Often information is arranged in columns.
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Step 3
Follow the row for the correct date across the chart. Some charts contain times for each extreme of the tide during the day. On most days, you can read two low tide times and two high tide times (H stands for high tide and L for low). Other charts only have the time of high tides, in which case you must add six hours to the high tide times to get the low tide times.
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Step 4
Read the tide chart's notations for the stages of the moon. Tides reach their highest points during full or new moons and their lowest at quarter moons.
