Cuesta Inlet is a gorgeous, shallow, back-bay spot, so you'll want to keep an eye on the tide chart. At low tide, the mudflats stretch out everywhere, and you'll need a high tide to launch a kayak, paddleboard, or small boat without hassle. Cuesta Inlet is a fabulous waterway to paddle or sail, but get the depth wrong, and it can trap you fast.

During low tides (especially negative tides below 1.0 ft), the water recedes completely from the upper channels of the inlet, exposing thick, deep mud.

As a warning of how quickly conditions deteriorate, a pod of wild dolphins recently swam up Cuesta Inlet and became fatally stranded in the mudflats as the tide receded.

Paddling Advice: If you are planning a trip to the inlet, please plan to launch and return within 2 hours on either side of high tide. Avoid the area entirely when the tide drops below 2.5–3.0 feet unless you want to pull your watercraft through heavy mud.

Please note: To calculate the tide height in the Back Bay of Morro Bay (such as Cuesta Inlet or Baywood), you must apply a +45-minute time delay to the standard Morro Bay tide charts. Because it takes time for the volume of ocean water to travel from the harbor entrance through the narrow channels down into the southern end of the estuary, the water level lags significantly behind the coast.

Examples of local Tide charts tide-forecast.com for Morro Bay:
https://www.tide-forecast.com/tide/Morro-Bay-California/tide-times

FYI- We have currently identified and cataloged every boat on the Inlet. We encourage you to launch from the Inlet; please don't add additional watercraft to the Inlet until the boat cleanup is complete, which we expect sometime next year.