Helen's Bay

Co. Down · faces NE · well sheltered ·

Directions

year-round swimmingsandy covetrain station

Offshore wind: smooth water near the shore, calm sea.

Scores are estimates from forecasts, not a safety rating. Before you go in

Tides (model): High 01:00 · Low 07:00 · High 13:00 · Low 20:00

Sunrise 07:51 · Sunset 16:22 · UV 0 (low)

Water quality

ExcellentLatest official DAERA rating (2026 season)

DAERA rates each bathing season after it ends, using the last four years of samples: the 2027 rating is usually published in autumn 2027.

DAERA advises avoiding bathing during and for up to 48 hours after heavy rainfall. Weekly test results (June to mid-September) are on the DAERA dashboard.

Source: DAERA bathing water data (Helen's Bay), Open Government Licence v3.0. Water is tested from June to mid-September. DAERA bathing water dashboard

Hour by hour · Overall · Today

Wind in

Time	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Score	dark	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.9	5.4	5.8	5.9	5.6	5.3	4.9	dark	dark	dark	dark	dark
Wind mph	11	10	10	10	12	13	17	15	13	12	9	10	13	13	14	16
Direction	SW	SW	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
Waves at beach m	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Swell offshore m · s	0.2 3s	0.2 3s	0.2 3s	0.3 3s	0.3 3s	0.3 3s	0.3 3s	0.4 3s	0.4 3s	0.4 3s	0.5 3s	0.5 3s	0.5 3s	0.5 4s	0.6 4s	0.6 4s
Tide
Water °C	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2
Air °C	6	6	7	8	9	10	10	11	11	10	9	10	10	10	10	10
Rain chance %	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	14	24
Rain mm	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	0.2
Cloud %	2	5	100	100	95	80	36	100	100	100	100	99	93	100	100	100

Highlighted columns: the best 3-hour window; grey columns are before sunrise or after sunset. Tides come from a global model and can be off by up to an hour: check local tide tables before swimming.