As is typical around the new moon, tides will be higher than usual starting tomorrow and lasting until around Wednesday of next week on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica, detailed a report by Omar G. Lizano Rodríguez, coordinator of the Oceanographic Information Module (MIO, its initials in Spanish) at the University of  Costa Rica’s Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Limnology.

The scientist predicts for the Pacific that wave heights in deep sea waters will rise above 3m (or 10 feet) starting tomorrow, Friday, reaching a maximum of 3.18m at 3:37 p.m. Sunday.

In the Caribbean, tides began to rise starting Wednesday and will reach their maximum heights on Sunday when swells of 0.42m are predicted for 01:15 a.m.

Waves are predicted to be on average between 1.5 and 2.0m high this weekend throughout Costa Rica’s Pacific, dropping slightly to 1-1.5m after Sunday.

And, in the Caribbean there will be waves of up to 1.5 – 2m until at least next Thursday.

The forecasts are for deep waters (30-40Km off the coast). These swells usually increase the waves that reach the coastlines depending on the characteristics of the sea bottom in each place, explained Lizano.

Residents should be alert in regions prone to sea coast erosion, mainly around high tides that along the Pacific will be in the afternoons, 2 – 5 p.m., and at dawn 2 – 5 a.m.

Along the Caribbean, high tides will be at dawn from 12 to 2 a.m.

Ocean-goers are cautioned that such swells can increase the presence of riptides.