Navigability index · Sfax
Indicative only: the same bulletin reads differently in a fishing boat, a cruising yacht or on a kite. It does not replace the official bulletin or your own judgement on site.
Small boat: waves, gusts and short chop all count.
Sailboat or motor cruiser: a gale sets the limit.
You need wind, but steady. Check it isn't blowing offshore: it would carry you out to sea.
Flat sea
Between each wave
115°
5 km/h - gusts 7 kt
119°
Temperate water
Mostly swell: long, regular waves from offshore, more comfortable than their height suggests.
Sea calm over Sfax (Sfax / Mahdia). Waves of 0.3 m, period 5 s, direction ESE. ESE wind at 2 kt (5 km/h), gusts to 7 kt. Excellent conditions for sailing. Water temperature: 22.5 °C.
48h evolution
| Day | Max waves | Max wind | Navigability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 13 NovToday | 0.4 mSSE | 5 ktE · gusts 13 kt9 km/h | 🟢 Excellent |
| Sat 14 Nov | 0.4 mE | 6 ktNNE · gusts 15 kt11 km/h | 🟢 Excellent |
| Sun 15 Nov | 0.3 mE | 4 ktNNE · gusts 10 kt7 km/h | 🟢 Excellent |
| Mon 16 Nov | 0.2 mESE | 5 ktWSW · gusts 12 kt8 km/h | 🟢 Excellent |
| Tue 17 Nov | 0.5 mS | 5 ktSSE · gusts 13 kt10 km/h | 🟢 Excellent |
| Wed 18 Nov | 0.5 mSW | 7 ktSW · gusts 15 kt13 km/h | 🟡 Fair |
| Thu 19 Nov | 0.3 mSSW | 9 ktWSW · gusts 17 kt16 km/h | 🟡 Fair |
Index computed over daytime, 6 am to 6 pm: a night-time gust no longer downgrades the whole day. Waves and wind shown: 24-hour maxima.
Full weather for Sfax
14-day and hourly forecasts, UV index and air quality
Tunisia's second city, Sfax is first and foremost a sea town: its port combines busy commercial traffic with one of the country's leading fishing harbours. Trawlers, sardine boats and coastal craft share the water with cargo ships and the ferry that links the city several times a day to the Kerkennah Islands, some twenty kilometres offshore.
Sfax's sailing area lies in the Gulf of Gabès, a singular sea within the Mediterranean: very shallow over a wide area, it experiences one of the largest tidal ranges in the entire Mediterranean, with wide flats uncovered at low tide. It is also home to charfia fishing, the traditional palm-frond fixed fisheries of Kerkennah inscribed on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list.
Sfax enjoys one of the calmest seas in Tunisia: the shallow Gulf of Gabès prevents large swells from building, and waves rarely exceed 1.5 metres. This page tracks wind speed in knots and km/h, direction, gusts and wave height continuously, refreshed every 30 minutes.
The wind regime is ruled by the thermal breeze in summer: an afternoon sea breeze, calm mornings and evenings - the window fishermen favour. In spring and autumn, easterly winds can raise a short chop over the shallows, more annoying than dangerous. The sirocco (chehili), a hot southerly wind, blows a few days a year and cuts visibility at sea with airborne sand and dust.
From April to October the sea is mostly smooth to slight: the high season for coastal fishing and for comfortable crossings to Kerkennah. The gulf's shallow waters warm quickly and stay above 25°C all summer.
In winter, trips remain frequent because the area is sheltered from the big northern swells, but easterly blows and morning haze call for extra care. Before heading out, check the navigability index at the top of the page and the 48-hour gust trend, and factor in the tide, which is noticeable over the gulf's shallows.
Frequently asked questions
Today's wave height at Sfax is shown in real time at the top of this page. Thanks to the shallow Gulf of Gabès it usually stays under 1 metre; only strong easterly winds push it to 1.5-2 metres.
In the morning, before the thermal breeze picks up, and broadly from April to October. The Gulf of Gabès is one of the calmest areas in the Mediterranean: even in winter, navigable days remain frequent between wind events.
Real-time wind speed, direction and gusts for Sfax appear in the current conditions above, in knots and km/h. The 48-hour chart helps anticipate the afternoon sea breeze and pick the right window for a trip or a Kerkennah crossing.
Check the navigability index at the top of the page: below 1.5 m of waves and 30 km/h of wind, conditions remain manageable for coastal sailing. In sustained easterlies, beware of the short chop over the shallows, and build the tide into your plan.
Other coastal zones
Find real-time marine conditions at Sfax, a coastal town in East Coast (Sfax / Mahdia, Gulf of Gabès (N)). Our service provides wave height, wind speed and direction, wave period, water temperature and navigability index, updated every 30 minutes.
Marine forecasts for Sfax include: hourly forecasts for 48h and 7-day forecasts with maximum wave height, dominant wind, maximum gusts and daily navigability index. Wind speed is shown in knots and km/h. Data from the Open-Meteo Marine NWP model.