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.
01
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.
02
Wind & gusts
Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
03
Tide phase
Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
04
Water temperature
Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
05
Currents & outflow
Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
06
Rain runoff & air clarity
Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
07
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.
point your camera
0 m
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
no dataupdated 20:54
Baiona — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · wave 2.0 m (occasionally up to ~4.0 m)
wave 2 mwind 10 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.
point your camera
−10 m
The water column
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
What it is
A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.
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: 3016 spots across 406 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
Springs run about three and a half metres in Vigo and at the tip you feel every bit of it: on the ebb weed-covered granite slabs come out of the water and the shoreline moves away. The comfortable window is slack at high water; on the outgoing tide the current wraps around the cape seawards and coming back costs.
shelter
The outer tip of the cape, the one with the lighthouse and the weather station, offers no lee at all: it faces the bad sector from 215° to 305°, worst of all the WNW at 285°. It only settles with an easterly or a light north-easterly, when the wind blows off the land and flattens the first hundred metres.
conditions
Over the granite of the cape you get roughly eight to twelve metres of clear water after a few days without ground swell. A metre and a half of NW swell is enough to lift sand and turn it milky, and with the summer nortada the upwelling brings cold green plankton water. Heavy rain muddies it from the ría.
hazard
The tip breaks in sets and the current that wraps around the lighthouse can push you offshore before you notice. You are in the mouth of the ría de Vigo: merchant ships and working boats pass here, keep 300 m from them, tow a buoy and stay within 25 m of it. Pollack (Pollachius pollachius) is closed from 1 January to 30 April.
access
You get here on the PO-552 between Baiona and A Guarda: park by the lighthouse and the old gun batteries and walk down the path to the rocks. The granite is slick with weed, so pick your entry between the long sets. Note: the map holds two points on this same cape; the other one is the neighbouring stretch on the north side.
Rocky cape very exposed to the SW; classic grouper-and-sea-bream ground, only in calm seas.
The same three-and-a-half-metre range plays out differently here: since the bottom steps up towards the bay, low water leaves pools and channels between the slabs, and the flood refills them with water from outside. The current is a good deal gentler than around the lighthouse point.
shelter
This stretch is on the northern face of the cape, already looking into Baiona bay, so Silleiro itself blocks the south and much of the south-west. It stays open to the west and north-west, which is what rules here: at 285° the swell refracts in anyway, though lower than out on the tip.
conditions
Being in the cape's lee, this side holds up on days when the tip is already off: with a westerly sea you still get five to seven metres tight against the rock. In exchange it feels the bay water more, so after long rains it clouds up sooner than the outer face.
hazard
Sheltered as it is, this is still Silleiro: big sets arrive with no warning and the water surges up and down the slabs. You are next to the anchorage and the approach channel into Baiona, so there is pleasure and fishing traffic every day: always a buoy, and 300 m off any boat that is working.
access
You drop down from the tracks off the Baiona–Silleiro road, a little before the lighthouse, across a gorse slope to flat slabs. The entry is kinder than out on the tip and so is the return. Remember the map carries two points on this cape: the other one is the outer tip by the lighthouse.
Exposed Atlantic cape south of Baiona; deep granite drop-off, strong swell and current.
Spring range runs to about three and a half metres, and in the channel between the islets and the mainland it turns into current: in mid-ebb it really pulls. Since you come in from a boat, the tide does not dictate your entry, but it does decide where to anchor and which side to drop on.
shelter
The Estelas sit a couple of kilometres off the coast in open water, with nothing shielding them from the W or the NW: the bad sector from 215° to 305° reaches them whole. The only lee is the rock of the islets themselves — with a westerly sea you work tight against their eastern face, in the channel towards land.
conditions
Being outside the direct influence of the rías, the water around the Estelas is usually cleaner than inshore: fifteen metres on a good September day is not unusual. What spoils it is W ground swell stirring the sandy channel, and the brown water flushed out of the ría after storms.
hazard
There is no way out on foot here: if the boat drifts off or the engine dies you are in open water. The Cíes lie under five kilometres to the north and are the Illas Atlánticas National Park, where spearfishing is banned outright — do not cross that line. Buoy compulsory, and nothing at night.
access
You leave from Baiona harbour or the Panxón slipway; about twenty minutes in a rib, and by kayak only when the sea is a mirror. Do not count on landing: the islets are protected and that permission has to be checked beforehand. You get in and out from the boat, always with someone aboard.
Islands off Baiona; excellent drop-offs, boat access, sensitive to W swell.
With three and a half metres of spring range, high water covers the boulders at the point and leaves a clean entry, while low water uncovers loose stone and limpets where your foot slips. Rounding the point you feel a push of current at mid-tide, most of all on the ebb.
shelter
The Monteferro peninsula gives you a choice: its southern face, the one looking at Praia América and Panxón, sits sheltered from the north and NW, while the Patos side takes the 215°–305° sector head on. With the worst heading, WNW at 285°, neither side works and you leave it for another day.
conditions
Over the granite boulders of Monteferro the water gives eight to ten metres after a few flat days. What kills it is the backwash off Patos dragging sand onto the drop-off, and the summer upwelling: with a strong nortada it drops to thirteen degrees and goes green with plankton in a day.
hazard
The Cíes lie just over five kilometres to the north-west and their whole setting is National Park with spearfishing banned: do not let the drop-off walk you in that direction. Patos almost always has surfers, and the point breaks hard; tow a buoy and never carry the gun loaded out of the water.
access
You leave the car on the road that circles Monteferro, on the Praia América side, and walk down the track through pines and eucalyptus to the boulders. Entry is over round, slippery blocks, so it works best at high water. With ground swell running, do not exit at the point: swim back to the beach.
Rocky ground on the Monteferro peninsula (Nigrán); rich grounds, semi-exposed to the W and SW.
Here the tide really runs the show. With three and a half metres of spring range, low water uncovers a huge sand flat in front of A Ladeira and you walk a long way before you find depth. The practical move is to go in on a well-advanced flood, which also brings cleaner water from outside.
shelter
This corner lies inside Baiona bay: Monte Boi with its Parador and the cape itself cut off nearly all the NW ground swell. What does get in is a straight SW, which pushes a chop through the entrance; with wind on 250° the shoreline ripples and the sand lifts straight away.
conditions
This is shallow ría water over sand and low rock, so visibility is modest: four to six metres on a good summer day. It is spoiled by the Miñor, which empties at A Ladeira and runs brown after every rain, and by the sand bed stirring as soon as the SW pushes any wave in.
hazard
Mind the legal side: Anexo VI of the 2009 Orden closes a number of inner-ría lines and that boundary is not drawn on our map, so check where the bay line falls before you get in. On top of that there are swimmers, moorings and harbour traffic here: stay well clear and tow a buoy.
access
You park behind the A Ladeira dune or along the Santa Marta promenade and walk in over sand, no scrambling at all: it is the easiest entry in the whole area. At low water you cross a good hundred metres of flat before you swim; the rocky edge at the western end holds the low reef worth working.
Sheltered part of the Baiona ría; sand and low rock, good for beginners.
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.
One morning glance — and you know.
point your camera
≈
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Live cameras, map & reference
Cameras · live
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».
✓Spearfishing licence mandatory; the AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY issues it (not the State) and it is valid in the exterior waters of the whole coast. Free-diving only — scuba is banned (, art. 3).
✓Spearfishing catch may not be sold or traded — it is non-commercial fishing ().
✓Night prohibited: spearfishing only in daylight (sunset to sunrise not allowed) — , art. 16.d.
✓Marker buoy MANDATORY: mark your position with a clearly visible buoy and stay within 25 m of it — , art. 15.
✓Never keep the speargun loaded out of the water — , art. 16.a.
✓Keep at least 300 m from professional fishing vessels that are working — , art. 12.b.
✓The state act (, art. 16) bans, for spearfishing: a loaded gun out of the water; explosive/electric points and lamps (hand torches excepted); underwater scooters; night — from sunset to sunrise. Plus art. 12 b), d), e): 300 m from professional fishing vessels, light as an attractant, poisons/explosives. A ban in a PARTICULAR reserve, port or beach comes from that place's OWN instrument (the reserve's order, the autonomous community's rules, the port authority) — see the no-take zones on the map and your community's rules.
✓Min. sizes by ( + + EU 2019/1241): sea bass 42 cm (rec.) / 36 cm / 25 cm Mediterranean / 22 cm Canaries; gilthead bream 20 cm and white seabream 23 cm in the Mediterranean (EU 2019/1241); grouper 45 cm. See your zone's species card.
✓Only species in Annex I of may be taken; keeping, landing or transporting undersized specimens is prohibited.
✓The licence needs a medical fitness certificate for free-diving and civil-liability insurance (or a federative licence, which includes it). Mandatory in the Basque Country/Murcia/Asturias/Galicia; the federative licence covers it in Galicia/Balearics/Cantabria; the Canaries and Andalusia do NOT require it for the individual licence (a responsible health declaration). Minimum age generally 16 (14 in Andalusia).
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.
Local guide · Baiona
Spearfishing in Baiona: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Spearfishing in Baiona works only if you separate the ría from the open Atlantic points. Praia de Santa Marta/A Ladeira has sand and low rock inside the sheltered ría, the clearest starter option in the source. Cabo Silleiro, Illas Estelas and Monteferro are rocky, exposed or swell-sensitive, with boat access for Estelas. The source gives no local month window, so conditions matter more than calendar claims: low sea, light wind, Galicia PE405A licence, and no spearfishing in the Atlantic Islands National Park zones.
TL;DR
Baiona splits between sheltered ría water and exposed Atlantic rock: Santa Marta/A Ladeira is the starter ground.
Illas Estelas means boat access and is sensitive to W swell; Silleiro and Monteferro need a quiet sea.
For Galicia, use the Clase C licence through Xunta PE405A, minimum age 16 and medical certificate.
Where can you spearfish in Baiona?
Inside the ría, Santa Marta/A Ladeira gives sand and low rock. Toward the Atlantic, Cabo Silleiro and Monteferro become exposed rocky ground, while Illas Estelas is a boat-access island option that reacts badly to W swell.
Spot
Type
Depth
Level
Access
Notes
Cabo Silleiro
Atlantic rocky cape
Deep granite drop-off and rock
-
-
Very exposed to the SW and also described as an Atlantic cape south of Baiona with strong swell and current. Use only in calm seas.
Illas Estelas
Islands and drop-offs
Drop-offs off Baiona
-
Boat
Good drop-offs in the source, but sensitive to W swell. Treat it as a boat plan, not a shore entry.
Praia de Santa Marta / A Ladeira
Sheltered ría, sand and low rock
Shallow sand and low rock
Beginner ground
-
The source calls it sheltered ría ground and good for starting out.
Monteferro
Rocky peninsula ground
Rocky bottom
-
-
Rocky ground on the Monteferro peninsula in Nigrán, with rich bottom and partial exposure to W and SW.
✓There is no fixed national catch cap (, art. 5 delegates it to the communities); the standard is 5 kg/person/day, with 1 specimen allowed not to count (Canaries — Decreto 182/2004, art. 38.3; Murcia; Galicia; Basque Country). Protected species have per-piece quotas.
✓Only a harpoon is allowed — hand-held or mechanically propelled, with one or several points (, art. 14.1). Carrying spearfishing gear and underwater breathing equipment aboard AT THE SAME TIME is prohibited (art. 14.2) — an offence in itself, even if you dived on a breath hold.
✓Spain is not one jurisdiction. The licence is issued by a coastal autonomous community, and you must comply with the rules of the administration on whose littoral you are in the water: «debiendo cumplir la normativa establecida por la administración en cuyo litoral se realice la actividad» (, art. 13). Interior waters — inside the straight baselines: bays, coves, rías, the whole coastal strip — are the community's competence; exterior waters are the State's. So the age, the days of the week, the distances and the are found in your community's act, not in the state one.
✓Galicia: «Clase C» licence (submarina), procedure PE405A on the Xunta portal; minimum age 16, medical certificate required. Galicia recognises spearfishing licences from other communities and the EU. sede.xunta.gal (PE405A).
✓No-take zone: Atlantic Islands National Park (Cíes, Ons, Sálvora, Cortegada) — spearfishing banned (see zones on the map).
✓Galicia is the only community that closes weekdays: spearfishing is allowed only on Saturdays, Sundays and state or regional holidays, and from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday and from 1 May to 30 September, every day (Orden 17.09.2009, art. 13.2). Daylight only, orto to ocaso (art. 13.3). The cap is 5 kg per licence per day, and 2 octopus per fisher per day (art. 12.3). The zones closed to spearfishing are listed in (art. 11.2). The licence needs an official medical fitness certificate, insurance and an arms licence or a federation card (art. 3.b).
⛔ Seahorses (Hippocampus) — protected (RPE).
Rules change and are REGIONAL. Before heading out, check with the competent autonomous community (licence) and the min-size table in force.
Can you spearfish around the Estelas islands?
The source includes Illas Estelas as islands off Baiona with boat access and drop-offs. It also flags W swell sensitivity, so this is not a place to force when the Atlantic is moving. The Galicia block names the Atlantic Islands National Park, Cíes, Ons, Sálvora and Cortegada, as a no-take zone for spearfishing.
What fish can you spearfish in Baiona?
The spot descriptions mention grouper, sea bream and sea bass ground. The Cantabrian-NW species list includes European seabass, gilthead seabream, salema, bogue, black seabream, grey mullet, red porgy, striped red mullet, common octopus, conger and pollack. Source legal sizes include seabass at 42 cm, gilthead bream at 19 cm and octopus at 1 kg.
When is the best time to spearfish in Baiona?
The source gives no Baiona month-by-month season. It does give Atlantic tide regime, upwelling coast and a bad W to NW sea sector. If the outside coast is taking swell, Santa Marta/A Ladeira is the more sheltered listed option. The bay webcam helps before leaving, but it is not an underwater visibility reading.
Do I need a license to spearfish in Galicia?
Yes. The Galicia item says Clase C spearfishing licence, PE405A on the Xunta portal, minimum age 16 and a required medical certificate. It also says Galicia recognises spearfishing licences from other Spanish autonomous communities and the EU. National rules still apply: freediving only, no scuba, daylight only, a visible buoy within 25 m, no loaded speargun out of the water, and no sale of the catch.
FAQ
Where can you spearfish in Baiona?
The source-listed starter option is Praia de Santa Marta/A Ladeira inside the ría. Cabo Silleiro, Illas Estelas and Monteferro are more exposed Atlantic choices. Estelas is boat access.
What fish can you spearfish in Baiona?
The local spot text names grouper, sea bream and sea bass. The Cantabrian-NW list also includes gilthead bream, salema, black seabream, grey mullet, red porgy, red mullet, octopus, conger and pollack.
Do I need a license to spearfish in Galicia?
Yes. Galicia uses the Clase C spearfishing licence through Xunta PE405A, with minimum age 16 and a medical certificate. The licence rule is regional.
Is scuba spearfishing allowed in Spain?
No. The national item says spearfishing is freediving only and scuba is banned under RD 347/2011. That applies in Baiona as part of Spain's national framework.
Is night spearfishing allowed in Spain?
No. The national source says spearfishing is daylight only, with sunset to sunrise not allowed. It also bans keeping the speargun loaded out of the water.
Spain
