[Paddlewise] Reading currents

Since I've no experience and no one to paddle with, I've been very
conservative about how and where I kayak.  Today I paddled across a short
channel in the Johor Straits from mainland Singapore to a tiny uninhabited
island called Pulau Seletar (scarcely a sand bank).  The total crossing time
is no more than five minutes.

The interesting thing was that I could see the waves/ripples moving
southeast through the channel, however when I paddled through it,
perpindicularly, the boat actually was drawn northwest unless I compensated.
I scratched my head about this one.  The effect was actually amplified when
I paddled back on the second half of the trip.  A Sumatra (summer afternoon
storm) kicked up, winds picked up, seas got a bit higher, yet the pull was
as strong or stronger.  I ended up paddling only using my northwest-side
paddle just in order to stay on straight course to my target.

So my hypothesis is that the current was moving from southeast to northwest
through this small channel.  The wind happened to be blowing the opposite
way, which generate a bit of chop, and apparent wave flow, but the
overriding dynamic was the current or tidal flow through this channel.  

I suppose maybe this sounds like a "duh... no shit..." sort of thing, but
this is my first experience through currents and I want to make sure I
understand what was going on. I looked at the Hydrophic Department charts
Singapore publishes of the area and they don't indicate any currents on the
chart, but perhaps they're marginal enough here for most vessels to neither
notice nor care.  From my readings of Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation
(David Burch) it seems that relation between current flow and the tidal
pattern are not as obvious as you'd think.

Any good advice on seeing/reading tides and currents beside from just
knowing the tidal schedule?  In my case, I have a relevant tide station very
near my paddling area:
http://www.mobilegeographics.com:81/locations/5729.html

I was there in the early/mid afternoon, which based on this chart for today
(one day later) it seems that is one of the steepest changes on the tidal
chart, so I presume I was experiencing strong tidal flow.

Regards
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