Cabo de SonabiaCastro Urdiales
borderlineexposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Cliff and rock to the east; very exposed, advanced.
Google MapsCastro Urdiales spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras
5.3
wave 0.8 m head-on
visibility3m
Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and surge pounding.
Sources: IPMA · NDBC · Copernicus — high confidence · data 14:43
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
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
calmupdated 14:43
Castro Urdiales — solo, off the rocks
caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · northerly wind picks up after midday
wave 0.8 m head-onwind 10 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~5 m
today, best window 18:00–21:00
fish · Visibility 5 m · Water 24.9°C
confidence medium · 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
06:52–21:46 · first quarter
▼ 05:00▲ 11:00▼ 17:00 · 1.8 m
Hours (06→20)
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide0.33 m
Wave0.82 m
Wind9 km/h
Water25 °C
fish activity: moonset 01:07 · moderate · moon underfoot 08:30 · high · moonrise 16:08 · moderate · moon overhead 20:50 · high
Conditions window12:00–15:00
caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site fish
Hs 0.90 mperiod 4.7 s head-onwind 15→21surge 2.5viz 3 m
0.90 mup to ~1.80 · 13° head-on
4.7 sswell moderate
15→21gusts 21 km/h
2.5pounding the rocks
0.25m/s
3 mrecent swell
24.6°C5 mm + hood
▼17:00tide falling
Atmosphere41 kmlandmarks visible
lowoff the lunar peaks
- wave 0.9 m + hitting the shore
- wind-wave — choppy surface
- ebb — weaker inshore
confidence mediumday
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 spotsThe 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
Cerdigo / IslaresCastro Urdiales
borderlineexposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky shore to the east; coves and drop-offs, rich grounds, exposed to the NW.
Google MapsPunta de Santa AnaCastro Urdiales
borderlineexposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky ground below the castle; grouper and conger in the cracks (10-20 m), exposed to the N.
Google MapsRoquedo de Ostende / BrazomarCastro Urdiales
borderlineexposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky ends of the town beaches; semi-sheltered, good for beginners.
Google MapsSOLO 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.
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».
Reference
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
- gilthead seabream
- salema / saupe⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
- bogue
- black seabream
- grey mullet
- red porgy
- striped red mullet
- common octopusTalla por PESO: mín. 1 kg (RD 560/1995, todos los anexos). No coger hembras con huevos.
- European conger
- pollackTalla operativa 42 cm; máx. 2 ejemplares/día (medida recreativa anual de la UE, Reg. 2025/202). ⚠️ Atlantic: recreational CLOSED 1 Jan–30 Apr (catch-and-release).
Law
- ✓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.
- ✓Spearfishing banned in marine reserves/protected zones (without a special permit), in ports and at busy beaches/bathing areas. The exact distance to bathing zones is set by the autonomous community.
- ✓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).
- ✓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 art. 38.3; Murcia; Galicia; Basque Country). Protected species have per-piece quotas.
- ✓Cantabria: the spearfishing licence is issued by the Gobierno de Cantabria — the 2nd-class licence enables spearfishing (sede.cantabria.es).
- ✓Cantabria recognises issued by the State or other communities: in its waters they «have full validity» (Ley 1/2021, art. 27.7).
- ⛔ 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.
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.
Spearfishing in Castro Urdiales: spots, seasons and rules
Spearfishing in Castro Urdiales is shore-entry rock hunting on an exposed Cantabrian coast. The practical split is simple: Ostende / Brazomar is the cautious beginner option, Punta de Santa Ana has cracks below the castle, Cerdigo / Islares gives coves and drop-offs to the east, and Cabo de Sonabia is advanced cliff-and-rock ground. The coast faces north, with the bad sector from northwest through northeast, so do not treat a calm-looking town beach as proof that the points are safe. In Cantabria, the 2nd-class licence enables spearfishing, and the Cantabrian-Northwest size table applies.
TL;DR
- Castro Urdiales is a north-facing Cantabrian rock coast, with the worst sea from northwest to north.
- Ostende / Brazomar is the softest entry because it sits on semi-sheltered rocky beach edges.
- The legal setting is Cantabria, and the species sizes are Cantabrian-Northwest: sea bass is 42 cm.
Best legal spearfishing spots near Castro Urdiales
These shore-entry zones should only be used with settled sea, a visible buoy and confirmed local limits.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ostende / Brazomar rocks | Rocky beach edges | Shore rock in shallow water | Careful beginner | From the beach edge, away from bathers | Semi-sheltered and the easiest learning choice when bathing areas are not busy. |
| Punta de Santa Ana | Rocky ground below the castle | Mid-depth cracks | Intermediate | Shore entry with a clear exit route | Grouper and conger are noted in the cracks, but the point is exposed to the north. |
| Cerdigo / Islares | Rocky shore to the east | Rock ledges and drop-offs | Intermediate | From the cove, away from bathing areas | Rich ground, exposed to northwest swell, so use it only with a settled sea. |
| Cabo de Sonabia | Cliff and rocky shore | Shore rock in shallow water | Advanced | Demanding cliff and rock access | Very exposed and not a training spot. |
What are the licence, conditions and species essentials?
Cantabria issues the spearfishing licence, and its 2nd-class licence enables the activity. Cantabria also recognises valid recreational sea-fishing licences from the State or other autonomous communities. National rules still apply: freediving only, daylight only, no sale of catch, no loaded speargun out of the water, and a visible buoy within 25 m. The caladero is Cantabrian-Northwest: sea bass is 42 cm, gilthead 19 cm, black seabream 23 cm, conger 58 cm, and octopus has a 1 kg minimum. Atlantic pollack has a recreational closure from January 1 to April 30.
FAQ
Is Castro Urdiales good for beginners?
Only the Ostende / Brazomar rocky beach edges fit that role, and only in settled sea.
Which swell direction is bad?
Northwest to northeast is the bad sector, with north-northwest the worst axis.
Do I need a licence?
Yes. In Cantabria, the 2nd-class licence enables spearfishing.
What is the sea bass size here?
In the Cantabrian-Northwest caladero, sea bass is 42 cm.
Are there protected species?
Seahorses are protected, and undersized catch must not be kept.
Sources
Nearby towns
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