Arbatax · Italy

8.2

wave 0.4 m

visibility5m

Dive today — wave, wind and visibility.

Sources: MeteoAlarm · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 03:48

Sources & confidence

Sources: MeteoAlarm · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2
Method: spearo sea-state engine: consensus of up to 6 models + satellite clarity (ZSD) + buoy-bias checks
Freshness: Re-read every hour, per coast

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.

How we score the water

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.

Swell & wave memory: Height, period and direction of the swell, plus the wake of recent storms — an old storm still stirs the water, and the engine remembers.
Wind & gusts: Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
Tide phase: Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
Water temperature: Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
Currents & outflow: Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
Rain runoff & air clarity: Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
Coast shape & exposure: How the coast faces the swell — a sheltered cove keeps the water clean; an exposed, head-on point takes a penalty.

Safety gates

Thunderstorm forecast — an instant red, no exceptions.
An official warning (MeteoAlarm / IPMA) — yellow, or red for the higher ranks.
Missing input data — a would-be green is capped to yellow rather than overstated.
Strong disagreement between forecast models — a green day is pulled back to yellow.
Night hours — where night spearfishing is banned by law the window is forced red; where it is legal (Australia outside NSW, New Zealand, South Africa) it is capped at yellow, never green.

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

Entry points with coordinates

Seabed relief — promising ground

This verdict — in your pocket. Open the app for the week's window.

Google Play — QR code — point your camera

0 m

Surface

Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.

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MeteoAlarm no dataupdated 03:48

Arbatax — solo, off the rocks

BEST WINDOW

best weather window · solo, stay careful, run the checklist · calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal

wave 0.4 mwind 10 km/hvisibility ~5 mwindow 06:00–18:00

today, best window 09:00–12:00

fish · Visibility 5 m · Water 23.5°C

confidence medium · verdict for the selected day

Before entering, check the camera and the surge

Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.

Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.

Selected day

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

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.

Sunday · today2026-10-25

06:42–17:27 · full moon

▼ 02:00▲ 08:00▼ 14:00▲ 20:00 · 0.3 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide-0.46 m

Wave0.30 m

Wind8 km/h

Water24 °C

fish activity: moonset 05:47 · moderate · moon underfoot 11:20 · high · moonrise 16:46 · moderate · moon overhead 23:50 · high

Conditions window06:00–09:00

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site fish

Hs 0.44 m · calmperiod 3.8 swind 8→21surge 0.1viz 6 m

0.44 mcalm · up to ~0.88 · 5° at an angle

3.8 sswell moderate

8→21gusts 21 km/h

0.1weak surge

0.11m/s

6 mrecent swell

23.5°C5 mm + hood

▲08:00tide turn near

Atmosphere36 kmovercast

moderatemoonset

calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal
forecast models disagree (on wave, wind) — lower confidence in this window
dawn/dusk

confidence lowtwilight

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Where to get in
off the rocks.

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 map

Cala di PedralongaArbatax

borderline

Ultra · subscribers

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Capo BellavistaArbatax

borderline

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: Every session has to be marked at the surface: without a marker you are not in order, quite apart from not being seen. Breathing apparatus is prohibited: you go down on breath-hold and nothing else. At Arbatax the season conditions the law more than it conditions the sea. A shore oriented at 208° loses the sun before sunset: take it into account for the last descent.
tide: Even at springs the band out to five metres stays 120 m wide: the level does not change the route. The tide chapter on this coast is marginal, though not entirely absent. With Libeccio strengthening the inshore current picks up before the swell does. At Arbatax the local currents depend more on the shape of the bottom than on the hour.
shelter: The open sea lies to the southwest: in Libeccio the swell works straight onto the entry, while from the northeast you stay in the lee of the land. On the point at Arbatax it is the flank that gives you the shelter, not the general lie of the coast. If the swell starts working inside the 120 m of coastal strip, the session is over. The strip between the shore and the 5 m contour, about 120 m here, is the first to churn and the last to clear.
conditions: A slope this steep keeps the dirty strip narrow: past 120 m the sight is nearly always better. The 10 m contour runs about 120 m from the shore and is the practical reference for this entry. At Arbatax it pays to come out feeling you stopped early. In Libeccio the suspension stays inshore; in Grecale it is gone in half a day.
hazard: The marker has to follow you even when you are working 120 m from the shore: 50 m from the vertical below it is the legal maximum. On a headland the risk is not the depth but the swell that comes round the corner without warning. A day given up is never a mistake. At Arbatax the conditions change faster than the forecast does.
access: You get in where you can get out, and on a point that rule counts double. The mark is right against the shore, 30 m from the coastline, and ten metres of water is about 120 m out. At Arbatax the return is planned on the afternoon swell, not on the morning one. If you do not fancy swimming the 120 m back from ten metres of water, do not go any further out.

Porphyry cape with drop; dentex, amberjack. The east side works when the Mistral shuts the W.

Google Maps

Punta Niedda (Cea)Arbatax

borderline

Pro · subscribers

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Punta is Ceras / Cala MorescaArbatax

borderline

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: At Arbatax the bathing season changes the usable distances far more than the sea ever does. On a shore oriented at 26° the usable light ends before the legal hour, which stays the hour of the sun. The orders are online on the website of the Capitaneria responsible. The buoy lines marking off the beaches are a legal reference, not a suggestion.
tide: The regime is microtidal: the level at Arbatax moves less than half a metre even at springs. The level barely moves: the 10 m contour stays 160 m from the shore at any hour of the day. The way back against the current is tested at the start and not at the end. A surge pushed by Grecale can raise the level more than the tide itself.
shelter: The shore in front of the mark faces northeast, about 26°, so everything arriving from that sector gets in unobstructed. On a headland the shelter lasts exactly as long as the swell direction does: the moment it turns, the good side becomes the wrong one. At Arbatax whoever gets in first checks, whoever gets in out of habit is trusting yesterday. The 160 m that separate the shore from ten metres of water tell you how much sea it takes to ruin the day.
conditions: Here depth grows faster than distance: 240 m of swimming is worth twenty metres of water. The good day here is not made by the depth but by the water: if you can see, you can work in five metres. At Arbatax the good days are few and have to be taken when they come. By 160 m from the shore you already know whether it is worth going on.
hazard: At Arbatax, as along the whole Italian coast, the surface marker and the 50 m radius are not negotiable. In Grecale the point becomes the worst place on this coast to get out of the water. The safety rules hold on the easy days too. Work out the way back with the tiredness already factored in.
access: At Arbatax the point is reached on foot, and the long part of the day is the part out of the water. The first 130 m are the murkiest, and after them the bottom starts to read. In a hard Grecale the windward exit becomes unusable: check an alternative. Carry out what you carry in, and what you find as well.

Entries to the S; rock and clear water, open to Levante/Sirocco.

Google Maps

Rocce RosseArbatax

borderline

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: At Arbatax it is worth losing ten minutes to check the local order rather than arguing about it later. With ten metres of water 460 m from the shore, the band where you meet the local orders is all of it right here. With the 450 m that separate you from five metres of water, the return in daylight is planned from the start. Italian law is the same everywhere; it is the local command that applies it.
tide: The current you will find towards the south will nearly always be wind-driven and not tidal. If anything changes the level at Arbatax, it is pressure and wind, not the moon. Water pushing you towards the south, that is towards the open sea, is the signal to come out. In narrow channels the current accelerates even on the smallest range.
shelter: In Ostro the detached rocks break the swell but hand it back confused, and that crossed sea tires you more than a clean wave. With an exposure of 165° the awkward sector runs from southeast to southwest, and outside it the day is usually saved. When the swell gets in, the whole coastal strip, 450 m wide here, lifts and the clarity goes. With wind from the south building, the window shuts fast: plan the way back with margin.
conditions: With 200 m reached about 1700 m out, the limit of the day is set by your breath and not by the distance. The slope is regular: ten metres about 460 m out, twenty at 810 m. On doubtful days get in short and extend only if the water holds. Past 460 m from the shore it is the water that decides the day and not the willingness.
hazard: In Ostro the passage between the shoal and the coast becomes the most dangerous part of the route. On the shoreline at Arbatax the same national rules apply without discounts: breath-hold, daylight, marker in sight. The way back from 460 m out is longer than it looks once you are tired. A phone in a dry bag is worth more than any piece of kit.
access: The crossing out to the structure is the exposed part of the day. The mark sits about 0 m from the coastline: the useful water starts practically under the shore. Do not leave your gear where the swell can take it. At Arbatax the best place is the one you can leave without hurrying.

Red reef of Arbatax; sea bream, octopus, town entry.

Google Maps

San GemilianoArbatax

borderline

Pro · subscribers

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Su SirboniArbatax

borderline

Pro · subscribers

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

SOLO 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.

Look at the water
right now.

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».

connecting to the stream…

● LIVE↗

Bari Sardo — Ogliastra (near Arbatax)YouTube live — Bari Sardo, Ogliastra coast (near Arbatax). Embeddable under YouTube's terms (owner left embedding on, oEmbed 200). Read the water and surf before you go.camera: youtube ↗

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

European seabass
<4 m · — · dawn/dusk
min. 25 cm · legal target
Gilthead seabream
1–4 m · over sand/weed · dawn
min. 20 cm · legal target
White seabream
1–5 m · in the surf on the reef · dawn
min. 23 cm · legal target
Two-banded seabream
1–8 m · — · dawn
min. 18 cm · legal target
Sharpsnout seabream
2–10 m · — · dawn
min. 18 cm · legal target
Annular seabream
0–5 m · — · daytime
min. 12 cm · legal target
Common dentex
min. 15 cm · Sardinia 30 cm · legal target
Red porgy
min. 18 cm · legal target
Common pandora
min. 18 cm · Sardinia 20 cm · legal target
Axillary seabream
min. 15 cm · Sardinia 18 cm · legal target
Blackspot seabream
min. 33 cm · legal target
Striped seabream
0–5 m · — · dawn
min. 20 cm · legal target
Black seabream
2–6 m · — · —
min. 15 cm · legal target
Bogue
min. 15 cm · legal target
Salema
0–2 m · — · daytime
min. 15 cm · legal target
Dusky grouper
5–40 m · — · daytime
min. 45 cm · RESTRICTED · max 1 grouper/day; BANNED in Sardegna & MPAs
Wreckfish
min. 45 cm · RESTRICTED · max 1 grouper/day; BANNED in Sardegna & MPAs
Brown meagre
2–15 m · — · twilight
min. 20 cm · RESTRICTED · protected in several MPAs · (verify against the norm in force)
Greater amberjack
min. 15 cm · Sardinia 60 cm · legal target · (verify against the norm in force)
Leerfish
min. 15 cm · Sardinia 60 cm · legal target
Grey mullet
0–2 m · — · —
min. 20 cm · Sardinia 25 cm · legal target
Red scorpionfish
3–20 m · — · daytime
min. 15 cm · legal target
Moray eel
1–15 m · — · twilight
min. 25 cm · Sardinia 60 cm · legal target
European conger
2–25 m · — · night
min. 25 cm · Sardinia 50 cm · legal target
Wrasse
min. 15 cm · legal target
Red mullet
min. 11 cm · legal target
Atlantic bonito
min. 25 cm · legal target
Common octopus
1–6 m · — · twilight
min. 450 g · legal target
Cuttlefish
legal target · (verify against the norm in force)

Law

✓NO paid licence, but a free MASAF REGISTRATION is mandatory (recreational sea-fishing declaration, online via SIAN/SPID, annual) — it is not a «licence».
✓Free-diving only: scuba/rebreather/hookah BANNED (art. 128-bis DPR 1639/68). The 16+ rule comes from a different act — D.Lgs 4/2012, art. 6 c. 5; handing a speargun to an under-16 is an offence (art. 13-octies c. 3 b, as replaced by L. 75/2026).
✓Night prohibited: spearfishing only from dawn to sunset (art. 129e DPR 1639/68).
✓Distances (art. 129 DPR 1639/68): ≥500 m from beaches with bathers; ≥100 m from fixed gear/set nets and from vessels anchored outside ports.
✓Buoy MANDATORY (art. 130 DPR 1639/68): float with a red flag bearing a white diagonal stripe, visible ≥300 m; the diver stays within 50 m of the buoy/support boat.
✓The speargun may not be kept armed out of the water (art. 131 DPR 1639/68) — load only when submerged.
✓The spearfisher may NOT gather corals, crustaceans or molluscs — the second paragraph of the same article (art. 128-bis DPR 1639/68; the same rule in D.M. 249/1987, art. 2). BUT cephalopods are EXCLUDED: octopus, cuttlefish and squid may be taken — the exception is kept in terms by the official guidance (circolare 6227201 of 23.07.1987). Mussels — up to 3 kg per person per day, but only with the Capo del Compartimento Marittimo's authorisation. The 5 kg daily cap counts EVERYTHING taken that day (D.Lgs 4/2012, art. 13-octies c. 4, as replaced by L. 75/2026).
✓You MAY carry a speargun and a breathing apparatus on the same boat — but at most ONE cylinder of up to 10 L per vessel, and using it to fish is prohibited (art. 128-ter DPR 1639/68). While you are down, at least one person must stay aboard ready to intervene, and there must be a rope long enough to recover the diver.
✓Sale of recreational catch is PROHIBITED (EU control regime, Reg. CE 1224/2009).
✓The 5 kg/person daily cap IS in force and carries a fine: €500–3 000 up to 10 kg, €2 000–12 000 up to 50 kg, €12 000–50 000 above (D.Lgs 4/2012, art. 13-octies c. 4, as replaced by Law 21 Apr 2026 no. 75). Exception: a single fish heavier than 5 kg. Recovery-plan species and bluefin tuna: +1/3 (c. 5).
✓Sardegna (autonomous): STRICTER minimum sizes (parenthetical in the species table: dentex 30, mullet 25, moray 60, conger 50, amberjack/leerfish 60 cm etc.) + FULL grouper (cernia) ban.

Safety protocol

Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
Headland rip: prominent points often have a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; the chop builds — get out.
UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.

FAQ — spearfishing in Arbatax

Where can I spearfish in Arbatax?

Arbatax has rock entry points such as Capo Bellavista, Rocce Rosse and Punta is Ceras / Cala Moresca. Red porphyry and limestone of Ogliastra: a drop at Capo Bellavista, a monolith wall at Pedralonga, porphyry boulders at Cea with about 13 m 300 m out. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.

When is the best season in Arbatax?

A long season, clear water almost all year. When the mistral (NW) shuts the west coast, you switch to the east side (Arbatax, Orosei); the south opens with a northerly. The peak is between late spring and autumn.

How cold is the water in Arbatax?

Warm and crystal: ~14–26 °C. A 3 mm suit in summer, 5 mm in the shoulder months. Among the best visibility in the Mediterranean, over granite and cliffs.

Is Arbatax good for a beginner?

Intermediate and up: granite and cliffs dropping into depth, crystal water. The mistral can make the west coast unworkable — switch to the east side. Know the many MPAs' boundaries. Buoy always.

Do I need a licence in Arbatax?

No — in Arbatax there is no paid licence; a free MASAF declaration is mandatory (the recreational sea-fishing communication, online via SIAN/SPID, renewed each year), which is not a «licence». Breath-hold only (no scuba), with a marker buoy and no selling the catch. See the guide.

Full guide: spearfishing in Italy →

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in Italy

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Nearby towns

Sardinia

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Help us make it better

The water column

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The seabed

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

Surfacing

Look at the water
right now.

What's in season,
what the law says.

FAQ — spearfishing in Arbatax

Lazio

Sicily

Campania

Liguria

Arbatax spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for Arbatax by email

Spots in Italy

🇮🇹Italy

Nearby towns

Sardinia

Tuscany

Help us make it better

A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.The call is on the rock.

Where to get in off the rocks.

Look at the water right now.

What's in season, what the law says.

FAQ — spearfishing in Arbatax

Lazio

Sicily

Campania

Liguria

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

Look at the water
right now.

What's in season,
what the law says.