Cartagena spearfishing forecast — Spain

Cartagena · Spain

5.4

wave 0.8 m

visibility5m

Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.

Sources: IPMA · buoys · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 12:49

Sources & confidence

Sources: IPMA · NDBC & IH buoys · Copernicus Marine · Sentinel-2
Method: spearo sea-state engine: 6-model consensus + 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

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Where to get in
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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.

⛔ Banned here

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Cabo TiñosoCartagena

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: Summer light comes early: 06:33 on 15 June, 07:11 on 15 August — but from 09:30 the dive boats run out of La Azohía, the busiest dive zone in the region. Water goes from 14.4 °C in February to 25.6 °C in late August. Night is banned across Spain, sunset to sunrise, and here the gun is out in every month.
tide: The tide moves 10–20 cm and does not count: this coast has no tidal stream at all. What works is the water wrapping the point itself, where the wall drops past 50 m and two kilometres offshore the bottom falls below a thousand. After a few days of settled wind a clear flow runs by Cabo Falcón.
shelter: The cape is the southern spur of the Sierra de la Muela, 546 m, and it drops almost sheer. The western flank, towards Cala del Bolete and La Azohía, sits in the lee with Levante (E); the eastern one, facing El Portús, blocks Lebeche and Poniente (SW-W). Punta de la Azohía is the second screen.
conditions: The gun is off here in any weather: the whole water around the cape is reserve, and no wind changes that. For the picture: with N and NW the water goes glassy and you see 15–25 m; with the southern sector 110–230 the swell slams the wall. To shoot, drive to El Portús, 8 km east, outside the cells.

What's in season,
what the law says.

Minimum sizes by caladero (in the table below). Season depends on the species and place.

In season now

European seabass
Dicentrarchus labrax · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
gilthead seabream
Sparus aurata · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
white seabream
Diplodus sargus · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
two-banded seabream
Diplodus vulgaris · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
sharpsnout seabream
Diplodus puntazzo · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
salema / saupe
Sarpa salpa · Mediterranean · RD 560/1995 Anexo II
⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
bogue
Boops boops · Mediterranean · RD 560/1995 Anexo II

El PortúsCartagena

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: In summer the window is narrow: first light at 07:11 in mid-August, and from 10:00 the bathing zone is closed to you — which is when the campsite lets out kayaks and snorkel groups. Water reads 25.6 °C in late August, 14.4 °C in February. Best months are October and November, 21.6 and 19.0 °C, with the beach empty.
tide: The tide is 10–20 cm here, nothing to reckon with. Inside the cove the water is almost still, no current; past the entrance points of La Muela, though, it pulls along the shore once the wind has been settled for days. The other late-summer story is Cotylorhiza, the fried-egg jellyfish: harmless, but they fill the top layer and block the view.
shelter: The cove cuts deep and faces south to south-south-east, wedged between the Sierra de la Muela and the Cabezo de la Aguja. The range covers it from N and NW, and La Muela screens the Levante — Cartagena as a whole sits a resguardo de Levante. It is open to the south: Lebeche and southern swell walk in and stir the shingle.
conditions: Come with Levante or northerlies: the cove lies flat and shingle, unlike sand, barely clouds — in calm you see 15 m or more. With the 110–230 sector, worst around 135, the swell walks in and leaves you two or three metres. Cartagena's ordinance: from 1 June to 30 September you cannot shoot in the bathing zone between 10:00 and 21:00.
hazard: The ban starts to the west: past Cabo Tiñoso come the reserve cells, and right east of the cove sits cell A, 500 m around Isla de Las Palomas. Cartagena's ordinance, art. 7, closes the approach channels to the ports and to the Mar Menor; eight kilometres east lies the naval base. A buoy with the Alfa flag is compulsory, and you stay within 25 m of it.
access: From Cartagena it is 11–12 km on the RM-E22 and Calle Mayor, about seventeen minutes. Parking is unguarded, fifty to a hundred spaces that fill up in summer; ALSA line 4 runs there, plus the summer BUS PLAYA line 12. The main beach is public shingle; access to Cala Morena ran through the campsite, and a public right of way was declared in January 2026.

Rocky cove west of Cartagena, outside the Cabo Tiñoso reserve; rock drop-offs, sea bream and octopus, semi-sheltered, easy entry.

Google Maps

Spearfishing in Cartagena: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Cartagena is legality-first. The Cabo Tiñoso marine reserve is listed as closed to spearfishing, so Cabo Tiñoso and Cala Salitrona are boundary warnings, not open recommendations. El Portús is the clearest usable entry because it is outside the reserve boundary, semi-sheltered and easy. Isla de las Palomas sits under the Cabo Tiñoso reserve hard warning: treat it as a no-go unless a current boundary check proves otherwise. The legal split is Murcia plus Mediterranean sizes.

Best legal spearfishing spots near Cartagena

These shore-entry zones should only be used with settled sea, a visible buoy and confirmed local limits.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
El Portús	Rocky cove west of Cartagena, outside the Cabo Tiñoso reserve	Rock ledges and drop-offs	Careful beginner	Easy shore entry	Outside-reserve rocky cove, semi-sheltered, easy entry. Use in clean sea. Murcia licence required.
Cabo Tiñoso	Cape with deep drop-offs to the SW	Deep rocky ledges	Advanced	Shore entry with a clear exit route	Deep ledges, but reserve caution. Very south-exposed. Closed inside reserve boundaries.
Cala Salitrona	Rocky coves below Cabo Tiñoso	Shore rock in shallow water	Intermediate	Difficult rock entry	Rocky coves below Cabo Tiñoso. Tricky entry, south swell. Boundary check required.

Conditions and season essentials

The bad sector runs from E-SE to SW, with southeast worst. El Portús has rocky ledges, sargo and octopus, and is listed outside the Cabo Tiñoso reserve. Isla de las Palomas toward Isla Plana is rocky ground with moderate SE exposure. Cabo Tiñoso has deep ledges and fish, but the marine reserve ban means it cannot be framed as open water. Cala Salitrona has tricky entry and south swell exposure. Murcia processes the spearfishing licence separately through CARM. The caladero is Mediterranean: seabass 25 cm, gilthead 20 cm, sargo 23 cm, grouper 45 cm, octopus 1 kg.

FAQ

Is Cabo Tiñoso reserve open to spearfishing?

No. Spearfishing is banned throughout the marine reserve.

Which spot is listed outside the reserve?

El Portús.

What conditions are worst?

Southeast sea, within the E-SE to SW bad sector.

What licence applies?

A Murcia spearfishing licence processed separately through CARM.

What is the local caladero?

Mediterranean.

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

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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.