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.
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0 m
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
calmupdated 11:46
Caniço / Garajau — solo, off the rocks
BORDERLINE
⛔ Banned here
caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · northerly wind picks up after midday
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.
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−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: 1391 spots across 205 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
window
Calm, windless early morning on the flattest summer days. Few people from land — most arrive here by boat from the dive centres.
tide
Tide secondary on a deep headland; at low water the waterline rocks are slick and studded with sea urchin.
shelter
Rocky lava cape — it is itself the eastern boundary of the Garajau Reserve. The west side is sheltered but already inside the reserve; the east (legal) side is open to S and SE swell.
conditions
Only in a small window: SW swell under ~0.8 m and light wind. The lava wall drops steeply to ~28 m — deep and with no beach exit. Documented dive site (avg 15 m, max 28 m), but a boat/advanced profile.
hazard
Boundary trap: west of the cape = reserve (no hunting), only the east side is legal — easy to misjudge underwater. The cape itself is a steep lava wall with no easy exit: as swell builds it pins/pounds you on the entry rocks. Deep water, possible current off the point.
access
Path/rocky scramble from Caniço de Baixo to the tip of the cape; entry off lava rock — not a beach. Awkward from land, usually entered by boat.
This is the reserve's east boundary itself — a marker, not a comfy entry; it's only legal to hunt east of the cape line. Land scout in flat conditions only. Scout from land first.
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
window
Early morning in summer, before the breeze and the bathers. Warm water (to ~24°C) July–October; flagged beach with lifeguards — hunt only away from the swimming zone.
tide
Tide not critical; near high water there's less exposed pebble and the entry/exit is easier.
shelter
Small south-facing basalt-pebble bay, sheltered to the west by Ponta da Oliveira, which cuts the dominant SW swell and west wind. Open to direct S/SE swell.
conditions
Best on SW/W swell under ~1 m, when the headland keeps the bay calm; a south wind or south swell makes the pebble entry surgy and stirred. Documented shore dive: rock wall 6–16 m, then sand.
hazard
The main one is the legal line: the beach sits RIGHT at the east edge of the Garajau Reserve (boundary at Ponta da Oliveira, 600 m west); hunting west of the headland is banned. Plus a busy beach — boats/SUP/swimmers and a surgy exit on round pebbles when there's swell.
access
Paved road down into Caniço de Baixo to the Reis Magos promenade; parking by the beach, entry straight off the pebbles or the concrete platform.
The one shore entry of this town OUTSIDE the reserve where spearfishing is legal — but the boundary is right there and it's a flagged beach: confirm the reserve limit and stay east of the headland, clear of swimmers. Scout from land first.
Access only by the paid cable car (or a steep trail); hours 10:00–20:00 in summer. Busy bathing beach.
tide
Tide secondary; not relevant for hunting.
shelter
Pebble beach under the Cristo Rei cliff, facing south; the cliffs shelter it from north wind, open to south swell. Clear, calm water — which is why it's the reference dive site.
conditions
Often diveable on small SW swell, but irrelevant for spearfishing — inside the reserve.
hazard
The MAIN danger here is legal: it's the core of the Garajau Reserve (no-take), spearfishing is expressly banned by law, with fines. Physically calm, but you cannot hunt.
access
Paid cable car from Ponta do Garajau (the Christ statue) drops ~200 m to the beach; or a steep walk down.
Madeira's reference dive site, but a no-take reserve — hunting banned. Included as a landmark and warning, not a spearfishing entry.
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.
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≈
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».
Praia dos Reis Magos, Caniço (Madeira-Web)YouTube live — Praia dos Reis Magos (Caniço de Baixo) by the dive club — beach-level surf. Embeddable under YouTube's terms (owner left embedding on). Read the water and surf before you go.camera: youtube ↗
In season now: Sea bass, White seabream, Gilthead bream, Salema, Octopus, Mullet
In season now
Robalo (sea bass)
<4 m · end of ebb → start of flood · dawn/dusk
Prime target. Shy of light — pick early/twilight windows.
Sargo (white seabream)
1–5 m · flood (rides the surf onto the reef) · dawn
Dominant reef target. Visibility matters more than time of day.
Dourada (gilthead bream)
1–4 m · flood over sand/weed · dawn
Very skittish — static ambush.
Salema
0–2 m · — · daytime
Easiest target at 0–6 m. ⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
Polvo (octopus)
1–6 m · high water · twilight
Peaks in autumn. Spot the den by the pile of shells. Don't take egg-bearing females. Min. weight 750 g (DGRM).
Tainha (mullet)
0–2 m · — · —
Extremely wary; murky water HINDERS it. Opportunistic, in calm coves.
Santola (spider crab)
1–10 m · low water (reef shelf exposed) · calm morning (≤force 2)
Carapace ≥12 cm. Peaks Jul–Aug. CLOSED 15.02–15.06. Limit 2 kg/day.
Law
🦀 spider crab open (season 16.06–14.02)
✓⚠️ Madeira and the Azores run their OWN rules: in the Autonomous Regions the licence, the fees, the permitted gear and the limits are set by the region's own government, not by (DL 246/2000, art. 20.º n.º 1). The mainland figures — the licence fee, the daily cap, the spider-crab closed season, the mainland minimum-size table — do NOT apply here.
✓Breath-hold only: spearfishing may be practised in apnea alone. Scuba, rebreather and hookah are banned; the speargun may not be powered by a detonating charge or by compressed gas (DL 246/2000, art. 9.º n.º 3 — o antigo art. 6.º foi revogado).
✓The catch may NOT be sold: displaying for sale, offering or selling recreational catch is prohibited — it is for the fisher, the household, or donation to charitable, scientific or museum institutions (DL 246/2000, art. 7.º).
✓A loaded speargun out of the water is an offence (DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 2 f). Same article: no fishing closer than the legally set distance from concessioned beaches during the bathing season (n.º 2 d), nor in places closed for health or marine-traffic reasons (n.º 2 e). The exact metres come from the regulation and the capitania — check before you go.
✓Madeira: recreational fishing runs on the region's own instrument — . Spearfishing must be marked at the surface by signalling equipment no more than 30 m from the diver (art. 4.º n.º 2 — not art. 8.º, which is the closed-areas article), and it is banned between sunset and sunrise (art. 8.º n.º 3). Art. 4.º n.º 1 expressly allows gear for cold protection, buoyancy, safety and carrying the catch.
✓Where recreational fishing is closed in Madeira (, art. 8.º n.º 1): in marked shipyard and aquaculture areas; within 100 m of any signposted outfall; over the water of bathing concessions and within 300 m of places commonly used for bathing; and in any other area marked by the port or maritime authority. This is where the «300 m» figure comes from — it is MADEIRAN, and the mainland rule is a different one. ⚠️ This list is NOT closed: its al. d) delegates to areas the port or maritime authority delimits and marks, and its n.º 2 imports everything closed to PROFESSIONAL fishing. Both categories are populated: the Regulamento de Exploração dos Portos da Madeira, art. 17.º n.º 1 al. b), bans «o exercício da pesca profissional e desportiva seja qual for o engenho ou arte empregue» inside every port and terminal, art. 24.º closes the Socorridos and Caniçal fuel terminals, and Edital n.º 8/2026 of the Funchal port captaincy marks a seasonal circuit off Marina da Quinta do Lorde. A place NOT named in the list is not thereby open.
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. At Cabo Raso/Arriba a 0.5 m rise in swell makes a boulder exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer here.
Headland rip: at Cabo Raso there is 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.
Nortada (Jun–Sep): wind builds from midday — be out of the water by ~11:00; 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 · Caniço / Garajau
Spearfishing in Caniço / Garajau: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-20 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Caniço and Garajau sit on Madeira's sheltered south coast, leeward of the dominant north winds, with the clear blue water and quick volcanic drop-offs the island is known for. The catch is that the famous part — the Garajau stretch under the Cristo Rei statue — is a no-take marine reserve where all fishing is banned. So spearfishing here is a fringe game: you hunt east of the Ponta da Oliveira cape, outside the reserve line, off Reis Magos beach or the deep rock at the point. National DGRM rules apply, apnea only. Deep water close to shore means this is no place to dive alone.
TL;DR
Caniço and Garajau are Madeira's flagship dive coast — leeward, calm and famously clear — but the heart of it is the Reserva Natural Parcial do Garajau, a no-take reserve where all fishing is banned. Spearfishing here means working the fringe, outside the reserve line.
The reserve covers the Garajau stretch of the south coast, and its east edge is the Ponta da Oliveira cape — you can only hunt east of that cape. Get the line wrong underwater and you are in a no-take zone.
Reis Magos beach is the one shore entry outside the reserve — a flagged, busy bathing beach, so you hunt east and keep well clear of swimmers. It wants a small SW or west swell; a south swell or south wind stirs the pebble entry.
National DGRM rules apply, with Madeira's own specifics worth confirming: licence from 16, apnea only, daylight only, Alfa buoy within 30 m; grouper and mero are fully protected — the reserve's tame meros are exactly the fish you leave alone.
Best spearfishing spots in Caniço and Garajau
Two of these are legal entries and the third is a hard no. Praia dos Reis Magos is the only shore entry outside the reserve, a busy flagged beach where you stay east of the headland. Ponta da Oliveira is the reserve's east boundary itself — deep, exposed lava with a boat or advanced profile, legal only on its east face. Praia do Garajau is the reserve's reference dive site under the Cristo Rei statue: spectacular, and completely off-limits to a speargun.
✓Porto Santo, the marine protected-area network: spearfishing there is ALLOWED, but on an authorisation from the managing body and under — at most 4 in a group and 8 in the area at once (art. 14.º). The exception is the Ilhéu de Cima area, where all fishing is banned. On an ordinary recreational dive in the network, carrying any fishing gear or speargun is expressly forbidden, a defence knife apart (art. 8.º).
✓Night is prohibited here too: spearfishing between sunset and sunrise is an offence under the decree-law itself (DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 1 d), which is in force in the Autonomous Regions as well.
Rules change, and in the Autonomous Regions they are their OWN. Before heading out, check with the regional fisheries administration (Madeira / Azores), not with the mainland DGRM tables.
Rock wall 6–16 m off the pebbles, then sand
Intermediate — busy, medium solo risk
Paved road down into Caniço de Baixo to the Reis Magos promenade; parking by the beach, entry straight off the pebbles or the concrete platform.
The one entry outside the reserve where hunting is legal, but the boundary is right there at Ponta da Oliveira, 600 m west — stay east of the headland and confirm the line. It is a flagged, lifeguarded bathing beach, so keep well clear of swimmers, boats and SUPs, and mind a surgy pebble exit when there is swell. Best on a SW or west swell under about 1 m at high water, when the headland holds the bay calm; a south swell or south wind stirs it up. Scout from land first.
Ponta da Oliveira
Lava headland — the reserve's east boundary (Caniço de Baixo)
Steep lava wall, about 15 m average down to 28 m
Advanced — high solo risk, land-scout only
Path and rocky scramble from Caniço de Baixo to the tip of the cape; entry off lava rock, not a beach. Awkward from land — most people arrive by boat from the dive centres.
This cape is the reserve's east line: west of it is no-take, only the east face is legal, and that is an easy thing to misjudge underwater. It only opens on a small SW swell under about 0.8 m with light wind, and even then it is a deep, steep wall with no beach bail-out — a wave will pin you on the entry rocks and there can be current off the point. Read it from land in flat conditions and don't dive it solo.
Praia do Garajau
No-take reserve core, under Cristo Rei (Garajau)
—
Protected — no hunting
Paid cable car down from the Cristo Rei statue, or a steep walk; open 10:00 to 20:00 in summer.
Madeira's reference dive site, and a hard stop for spearfishing: this is the heart of the Reserva Natural Parcial do Garajau, a no-take zone where all fishing is banned by law, with fines. The water is calm and clear and the dusky groupers are famously tame — which is exactly why it is protected. Listed here as a landmark and a warning, not an entry.
When can you spearfish in Caniço and Garajau?
The south coast is the calm, leeward side of Madeira, so it fishes far more of the year than the exposed north — the island shields it from the dominant north winds. What you watch is swell direction: the fringe entries want a small SW or west swell and go bad on a south or southeast swell, which runs straight into this coast. At Reis Magos, aim for a SW or west swell under about 1 m at high water, early morning before the sea breeze and the bathers; a south wind turns the pebble entry surgy. Ponta da Oliveira needs it flatter still, under about 0.8 m and light wind, on the calmest summer mornings. The water is warm, up to about 24°C from July to October, and very clear — subtropical blue, with the drop-off close to shore.
Where is the Garajau reserve line, and can you hunt inside it?
No — inside the reserve nothing is fair game. The Reserva Natural Parcial do Garajau is a no-take marine reserve on the south coast: all fishing is banned and it is enforced with fines. Its east edge is the Ponta da Oliveira cape, with the well-known Praia do Garajau dive site, under the Cristo Rei statue, sitting in its core. To hunt legally you stay east of the Ponta da Oliveira line, and Reis Magos beach falls on the right side of it. The trap is doing this underwater, where the boundary is invisible, so line it up from land before you get in.
What fish and rules apply in Caniço and Garajau?
Outside the reserve it fishes as island blue-water ground — sargo and other reef fish over the volcanic rock, with the odd pelagic passing through on the deeper drops. The sizes below are the national DGRM figures for mainland Portugal, and Madeira can set its own regional specifics, so treat them as the baseline to confirm. White seabream is 17 cm, sea bass 36 cm, gilthead 19 cm, black seabream 23 cm, and octopus 750 g; meagre (corvina) is 42 cm and closed nationwide through June. Grouper and mero are fully protected — and here that counts twice, because the reserve's tame dusky groupers are its whole reason for being. You need a spearfishing licence from age 16, it is apnea only, daylight only, and the Alfa flag buoy stays within 30 m of you.
FAQ
Where can you spearfish in Caniço and Garajau?
Only outside the Garajau reserve, which means east of the Ponta da Oliveira cape. Reis Magos beach in Caniço de Baixo is the practical shore entry; the point itself is a deep, advanced entry for calm days only. Praia do Garajau, the famous dive site, is inside the no-take reserve and off-limits.
Can you spearfish in the Garajau marine reserve?
No. The Reserva Natural Parcial do Garajau is a no-take zone — all fishing is banned by law, with fines. It is a dive landmark, not a hunting spot. You hunt east of its Ponta da Oliveira boundary.
Is it safe to dive Caniço and Garajau alone?
The south coast is sheltered and often calm, but the water gets deep close to shore, especially at Ponta da Oliveira, which drops to about 28 m off an exposed lava wall. That is serious solo ground. Reis Magos is easier, but it is a busy, flagged beach with boat traffic.
When is visibility best here?
This coast is exceptionally clear year-round, and summer into early autumn on a small SW swell is the calmest stretch. Warm water runs to about 24°C from July to October. A south swell or south wind is what stirs the entries up.
Do I need a licence to spearfish in Madeira?
Yes — a Portuguese spearfishing licence from age 16, apnea only, daylight only, with an Alfa buoy within 30 m. Grouper and mero are protected, and Madeira may set its own regional details worth confirming.
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