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Broad reef flat off Aldinga — Encounter MP SANCTUARY / Aquatic Reserve, NO-TAKE. Leafy seadragons; look only.
Google MapsToday — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding.
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
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.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Adelaide (Glenelg), 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.
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 mapBroad reef flat off Aldinga — Encounter MP SANCTUARY / Aquatic Reserve, NO-TAKE. Leafy seadragons; look only.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appRocky reef under the Marino cliffs; 2–6 m, snapper, sweep, squid. Enter off the rocks, sheltered on E wind.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appReef dive-trail alongside the jetty; 2–8 m, snapper, sweep, calamari. Info — the reef is a protected dive trail, spearfishing restricted; huntable outside the reserve.
Google MapsSOLO 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.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Check the cam BEFORE you leave. Foam, brown/green murk, or waves washing the entry rocks = No-go. At night/in fog the cam is useless — treat it as «unknown», NOT «green».
Spearfishing in Adelaide works when the Gulf is flat, not when a westerly pushes chop onto the ledges. The useful shore window is small swell, light east wind and clear exits on the west-facing reef. Hallett Cove / Marino Rocks is the practical open entry in this group. Port Noarlunga can work only outside protected reef and jetty dive-trail restrictions. Aldinga Reef sits inside a sanctuary zone, so keep it as a snorkel or look-only area, not as a hunting backup.
The useful entries are close to suburbia, but legal lines matter more than distance from the car. Keep the gun outside sanctuary or aquatic reserve water, and abandon the dive when a boundary is unclear.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallett Cove / Marino Rocks | Rocky reef below Marino cliffs | 2-6 m | Intermediate shore entry | Rock access only when the exit ledges are dry and obvious | Snapper, sweep and squid are listed. It is sheltered by easterly wind, but Gulf chop makes the limestone awkward. |
| Port Noarlunga reef edges | Reef and jetty area with protected dive-trail limits | 2-8 m | Boundary-check dive | Use only legal water outside the protected reef and jetty zone | The terrain is attractive, but the protected trail changes the plan. If you cannot confirm the line, do not hunt there. |
Rules change and vary BY STATE. Before heading out, check with your state's fisheries (NSW DPI, Fisheries QLD, VFA, DPIRD WA, PIRSA, NRE Tas, NT Fisheries) and the marine-park zoning map.
The coast faces west and the bad sector runs from south-west through north-west. A light easterly can flatten the surface and hold colour over the limestone. Westerly sea does the opposite. There is no river plume marker in the area, so the final visibility call still comes from the beach.
Aldinga Reef is the hard stop because it is tied to the Encounter Marine Park sanctuary entry. Port Noarlunga also carries protected dive-trail language. Treat both cautiously: maps first, gun second. If PIRSA or SA Marine Parks mapping does not give a clear legal answer, choose another reef.
These reefs can hold snapper, sweep, squid and calamari. Australian species rules also include yellowtail kingfish and trevally where state size and bag limits allow. Rock lobster is different. The legal PIRSA rules state lobster may not be speared, even where lobster fishing is otherwise open.
Australia is state based. For Adelaide, PIRSA is the first legal check, followed by the SA Marine Parks zoning map. Do not assume Queensland or WA licence settings apply. No inland spearing and no-take sanctuary water are the baseline filters.
Check PIRSA before diving because South Australian rules are state specific.
Treat Aldinga Reef as no-take. It is flagged with the Encounter Marine Park Aldinga Reef Sanctuary Zone.
Only outside protected reef and dive-trail restrictions. If the boundary is uncertain, do not hunt there.
A light easterly is the useful wind because the coast faces west.
No. Australian state-by-state rules say rock lobster may not be taken by spear.