Today — sit it out — wave, wind and noticeable surge.
Sources & confidence
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine · How it works →
The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.
Our own model
Our own forecast engine — not a third-party widget. It weighs these water factors into one go-or-stay verdict for this coast; the 0–10 dial is that verdict, read out as a number.
Safety gates
It all folds into a single 0–10 score and one verdict: go or stay.
A forecast, not a guarantee — the sea has the last word.
Where to get in, where to hunt
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Acaraú, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
Every covered town has its own live forecast, cameras and entry points. Choose where you're diving.
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
The day is picked above, in the hero. Here are that day's windows, the hour-by-hour map and the trends. Tap a window to break down the conditions.
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
spearo.app folds wind, wave, swell period, visibility, tides, water temperature and risk into a single verdict — go to the spot or not. It computes 7 days ahead from open marine models (Open-Meteo, IPMA), with no sign-up and no accounts. Built for solo spearfishing off the rocks, where any mistake costs dearly.
Now live: 1391 spots across 205 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
See all spotsRelief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
The models set the window. Whether you go in is read only at the water: count the sets, watch the surge on the entry. If in doubt, you don't get in.
Scouted entries, coloured by today. The colour is the sea state at the spot, not a guarantee: the wash and a slippery entry you judge on site.
Open the seafloor mapA wreck charted as dangerous some 6 km off Acaraú, with 8–20 m claimed and nothing measured. Do not confuse it with the Petroleiro do Acaraú, far further offshore and with no public GPS. Boat only.
Google MapsShore entry at Arpoeiras, on the stretch of Acaraú beach where spearfishing has been filmed since 2012 — evidence spread over years. The 3–8 m band comes from the source and was not measured.
Google MapsCameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
SpainSOLO is the biggest risk: underwater you can black out from lack of oxygen silently and fatally, with no one around. Solo is never truly «safe». Below are the best weather windows; carry a buoy, tell someone your plan and exit time, and any doubt — don't go.
Rules change and vary by state. Before heading out, check on gov.br (recreational licence, MPA) and the state closed seasons/sizes; apnea only, goliath grouper is banned.
Acaraú has rock entry points such as Praia de Arpoeiras and Naufrágio ao largo de Acaraú. Spearfishing at Espraiado has been on record since 2012, and the Petroleiro do Acaraú — a charted dangerous wreck ~6 km out — is the target for the whole west coast community. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.
Dry and windy nearly year-round; the best water is February to May, when the trade wind eases, and in the morning lulls.
Warm, ~27–29 °C — rashguard. Sandstone reefs and wrecks; the trade wind and tides to 3.2 m keep visibility moderate.
Moderate: warm shallow reef, but a constant trade wind and big tides — plan by wind and water, not by the calendar.
Yes — in Acaraú you need the Licença de Pesca Amadora (gov.br portal; the category follows boat use, per the MPA: «desembarcada» R$ 20/yr when you enter from shore, «embarcada» R$ 60/yr with a boat — Portaria 616/2022 itself sets no categories; 65+/pensioners exempt). Breath-hold only (no scuba tank — art. 4º §3º), licence on you (art. 17); take home at most 15 kg + 1 fish and never filleted or headless (arts. 8º and 12); don't sell the catch (art. 6º). A marker buoy is mandatory in Santa Catarina (IN MMA 21/2005, art. 5º) — there is no federal buoy rule. Goliath grouper (mero) is full no-take, dusky grouper has a 1 Nov–28 Feb closed season, badejo-mira and peroá close on 25/10/2026 (Portaria GM/MMA 1.666/2026, art. 12) and taking lobster while diving is banned all year (Portaria SAP/MAPA 221/2021, art. 6º III). See the guide.
transparency ~7 m · satellite, yesterdaysatellite estimate · may differ right at the shore
Portugal
