Cabo de la Vela spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Cabo de la Vela · Colombia
2.5
wave 1.4 m head-on
visibility1m

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and visibility.

Sources: IPMA · NDBC · Copernicus — high confidence · data 12:34

Sources & confidence

Sources
IPMA · NDBC buoys · Copernicus Marine
Method
Model consensus, read per window
Freshness
Re-read every hour, per coast

Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine

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 — forced red; the window is closed after dark.

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.

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Android beta — QR code
point your camera
0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app
calmupdated 12:34
Cabo de la Vela — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · wave 1.4 m (occasionally up to ~2.9 m)
wave 1.4 m head-onwind 40, gusts 63 km/hvisibility ~1 m
today, best window 12:00–15:00
fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 24°C
confidence low · verdict for the selected day
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.

Wednesday · today2026-07-22
05:33–18:16 · first quarter
▼ 02:00▲ 06:00▼ 11:00▲ 18:00 · 0.3 m
Hours (06→20)
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide-0.01 m
Wave1.22 m
Wind34 km/h
Water24 °C
fish activity: moon underfoot 06:20 · high · moonrise 12:47 · moderate · moon overhead 18:40 · high
Conditions window12:00–15:00
don't go fish
Hs 1.44 mperiod 5.7 s head-onwind 40→63surge 0.5viz 1 m
1.44 mup to ~2.88 · 341° head-on
5.7 sswell moderate
40→63gusts 63 km/h
0.5weak surge
0.11m/s
1 mrecent swell
24°C5 mm + hood
▲18:00tide rising
Atmosphere39 kmovercast
moderatemoonrise
  • wave 1.4 m (occasionally up to ~2.9 m)
  • steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
  • murky water (~1 m) — fish hard to see
confidence lowday
Open the seafloor map with entry points

Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play

Android: the public release is in Google Play review — leave your email and we'll send beta access today.

Android beta — QR code
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: 1152 spots across 189 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.

See all spots
−20 m

The seabed

Relief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.

On the rock

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

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.

Entry points

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
Bahía del CaboCabo de la Vela
dangerous
swell on the quarter today
window
tide
shelter
hazard
access

Wind-sheltered bay by the village, sand and rock 0–8 m; the most diveable option when the trades blow hard. Coords approx.

Google Maps
Pilón de AzúcarCabo de la Vela
dangerous
swell on the quarter today
window
tide
shelter
hazard
access

Rocky point east of the cape, clearer upwelling water but exposed to chop; rock 0–10 m. Coords approx.

Google Maps

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.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play

Android: the public release is in Google Play review — leave your email and we'll send beta access today.

Android beta — QR code
point your camera
≈

Surfacing

Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.

Live cameras, map & reference
Open the seafloor map →
Reference

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now
  • lionfish
    Pterois volitans · 3–40 m · invasive — target
    ✅ The only clearly-legal speargun target (Res 0549/2022 Art.5 — invasive/exotic). Culling encouraged (Armada + CORALINA). Edible; venomous spines — careful.
  • snapper
    Lutjanus spp. · 3–30 m · ❓ consulta AUNAP
    ❓ The legality of spearing native species in Colombia is not confirmed in text (grey zone). Res 0549/2022 only authorises the speargun for invasives. Check AUNAP rules; in MPAs/Seaflower — banned.
  • king/Spanish mackerel
    Scomberomorus spp. · 1–25 m · ❓ consulta AUNAP
    ❓ The legality of spearing native species in Colombia is not confirmed in text (grey zone). Res 0549/2022 only authorises the speargun for invasives. Check AUNAP rules; in MPAs/Seaflower — banned.
  • jack / trevally
    Caranx spp. · 0–25 m · ❓ consulta AUNAP
    ❓ The legality of spearing native species in Colombia is not confirmed in text (grey zone). Res 0549/2022 only authorises the speargun for invasives. Check AUNAP rules; in MPAs/Seaflower — banned.
  • snook
    Centropomus undecimalis · 0–15 m · ❓ consulta AUNAP
    ❓ The legality of spearing native species in Colombia is not confirmed in text (grey zone). Res 0549/2022 only authorises the speargun for invasives. Check AUNAP rules; in MPAs/Seaflower — banned.
  • great barracuda
    Sphyraena barracuda · 0–25 m · ❓ consulta AUNAP
    ❓ Native species — grey zone (see AUNAP). Large individuals — ciguatera risk.
  • mahi-mahi
    Coryphaena hippurus · 0–30 m · ❓ consulta AUNAP
    ❓ The legality of spearing native species in Colombia is not confirmed in text (grey zone). Res 0549/2022 only authorises the speargun for invasives. Check AUNAP rules; in MPAs/Seaflower — banned.
  • Nassau grouper
    Epinephelus striatus · 3–35 m · ⚠️ release
    ⚠️ On Colombia's Red List (EN/CR). No formal ban, but please release it.
  • goliath grouper
    Epinephelus itajara · 1–30 m · ⚠️ release
    ⚠️ On Colombia's Red List (EN/CR). No formal ban, but please release it.
Law
  • ✓AUNAP sport-fishing permit (personal, non-commercial). KEY: the speargun is legal ONLY for exotic/introduced species → lionfish is the clearly legal target; for native species legality is a grey zone (consult AUNAP). Apnea, one band speargun, no night, no scuba.
  • ✓PNN Tayrona (next to Santa Marta) = no-take: fishing banned since 1959, and additionally closed in Feb 2026. Spearing there is prohibited.
  • ⛔ 🚫 Parrotfish (Scaridae) and surgeonfish — banned in San Andrés/Seaflower (CORALINA Res 369/2019). Don't shoot.
  • ⛔ 🚫 Sharks and rays — directed take banned (Res AUNAP 0744/2012, 190/2013, 01743/2017). Release.
  • ⛔ ⚠️ Goliath (E. itajara, CR) and Nassau grouper (E. striatus, EN) — Red List; release.
  • ⛔ Queen conch (Lobatus gigas) and spiny lobster (Panulirus) — closed season + size, by hand only, no speargun; conch export banned.
  • ⛔ 🚫 In (PNN Tayrona, Corales del Rosario, Malpelo, Gorgona, Utría, Old Providence) and across Seaflower, spearguns are BANNED for tourists.

Rules change. Before heading out, get the AUNAP sport-fishing permit; with a speargun the lionfish is the only clearly legal target — for natives consult AUNAP. PNN Tayrona is no-take.

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 · Cabo de la Vela

Spearfishing in Cabo de la Vela: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in Cabo de la Vela is a local-conditions call, not a generic Caribbean or Pacific plan. Cabo de la Vela is Wayúu desert and the «completely blue» water of the La Guajira. Use dawn, low swell and a clean exit as the first filter, then check the legal layer. Permits run through AUNAP: the sport licence is for non-commercial catch, and lionfish is the single unambiguous speargun target. Tayrona, Rosario, Seaflower and other listed MPAs are treated as closed if zoning cannot be confirmed.

TL;DR

  • Cabo de la Vela: Wayuu desert, blue upwelling water and hard trade winds.
  • Northeast swell exposes this coast, so start at dawn; La Guajira upwelling can brighten the water while it cools it.
  • With AUNAP's sport permit you fish for sport, not sale, and only lionfish is a clean speargun target here.

Practical spearfishing areas around Cabo de la Vela

Small sea, buddy and legal check first. Both the sheltered bay and Pilon de Azucar only fish well when a northeast sea lies down at dawn. Protected or breeding-fauna water changes the plan.

SpotTypeDepthLevelAccessNotes
Bahía del Cabomixed bottom0-8mAccessible with a buddyshore entry, only in small seasWind-sheltered bay by the village, sand and rock 0-8 m. Leave if foam builds.
Pilón de Azúcarmixed bottom0-10mAccessible with a buddyshore entry, only in small seasRocky point east of the cape, clearer upwelling water but. Leave if foam builds.

What conditions matter most in Cabo de la Vela?

The worst sea is from NE; the coast is exposed, so dawn matters; upwelling can clear and cool the water at the same time. December to March clears the water but also raises chop, so sheltered bays decide. Foamy exit or rising wind means scout only. AUNAP is the authority: the sport permit covers non-commercial fishing, but lionfish is the only clearly legal speargun target. Tayrona, Rosario, Seaflower and any park sector are treated closed without explicit authorization. La Guajira upwelling can bring colder, clearer water from December to March, but the near-constant trades build chop before the bottom feels settled. Bahia del Cabo is the more sheltered village option, with sand and rock in 0-8 m; Pilon de Azucar gives clearer 0-10 m rock with more exposure. In remote Alta Guajira, a Wayuu guide, water, fuel and return margin are part of the dive plan. Lionfish is the clearly authorised spear target; native species need AUNAP confirmation first.

FAQ

Does Cabo de la Vela require an AUNAP check?

Yes. Start with the AUNAP sport permit for non-commercial fishing.

Can native fish be speared in Colombia?

Lionfish is the clear target; native reef fish need AUNAP confirmation.

What protected areas affect Cabo de la Vela?

Tayrona, Rosario, Seaflower and other listed MPAs are treated as closed if zoning cannot be confirmed.

Can you spearfish at night in Colombia?

Do not treat night hunting as allowed; keep the session daytime and breath-hold.

What conditions make Cabo de la Vela worth trying?

A northeast sea leaves this coast exposed, so go at dawn; the La Guajira upwelling can hand you clearer, colder water.

Sources

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