Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.
Sources & confidence
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine
The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.
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.
Safety gates
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
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
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.
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
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 spotsRelief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
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.
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 mapWreck, 2–5 m — legal (outside reserves). Grouper, snapper. Family-Island rule: stay >200 yd from any shore.
Google MapsLeeward-west drop walls (Telephone Pole, Vicky's Reef area), 9–40 m+ — legal (>200 yd), grouper, snapper, pelagics; wall drops close to shore. Coords city-level.
Google MapsDrop-off wall, 12–40+ m — legal (outside reserves). Mutton snapper, grouper, snapper, pelagics. Family-Island rule: stay >200 yd from any shore.
Google MapsDrop-off wall, 12–40+ m — legal (outside reserves). Grouper, snapper, pelagics. Family-Island rule: stay >200 yd from any shore.
Google MapsDrop-off wall, 9–27 m — legal (outside reserves). Hogfish, grouper, snapper. Family-Island rule: stay >200 yd from any shore.
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.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Rules change. Before heading out, check with the Bahamas Department of Marine Resources and the Fisheries Resources Act; spearguns are banned — sling/pole spear only.
Cockburn Town on San Salvador is the clearest-water wall pick in this group. The island sits on a remote oceanic plateau, so the reef can drop hard into blue water only 100-200 m from the beach. That closeness is exactly why the law matters: on an Out Island, spearfishing must be more than 200 yd from shore. Once beyond that buffer and outside reserves, the west walls are built for careful sling work around ledges, reef cuts and current edges. Spearguns are illegal in The Bahamas, and scuba support is not allowed, so the plan is simple gear, strong boat handling and conservative drops.
The west coast gives a series of wall names rather than protected bays. Telephone Pole, Vicky's Reef and Snapshot all need the same legal filter: outside reserves and beyond the 200 yd shore strip. The Frascate wreck is shallow but still subject to the same distance rule. Conception Island National Park is a no-take reference offshore, not a place to harvest.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Salvador west walls | Leeward drop wall | 9-40+ m | Intermediate to advanced | Boat or carefully managed offshore swim | A clear-water wall for grouper, snapper and pelagics after the 200 yd buffer. The drop is close, so check position before loading. |
| Vicky's Reef | Wall and reef edge | 9-27 m | Intermediate | Boat from Cockburn Town | Hogfish, grouper and snapper use the ledges. It is a better choice than forcing the deeper wall when current is running. |
| Snapshot / Great Cut S wall | Open dropoff | 12-40+ m | Advanced | Boat, settled weather | A deeper wall for mutton snapper, grouper and passing fish. Keep a float line tidy and do not chase fish into depth you have not trained for. |
The wall sits unusually close to land and the visibility can exceed 25-30 m, so the place feels more open-ocean than bank lagoon. That also removes margin. A short swim can still be illegal if it is inside 200 yd from shore, and a clean-looking wall can still be unsafe in current. West-side leeward conditions are the normal choice; if wind wraps around the coast, save the hunt for another morning.
Confirm four points: more than 200 yd from shore, outside every marine park or national park, breath-hold only and no speargun. The only lawful hunting tools are Hawaiian slings and pole spears. Visiting spearos need a sport-fishing permit or a licensed charter. Do not sell the catch. If an island, cay or park boundary is uncertain, stay out of it until the position is clear.
Hogfish, snapper and black grouper are normal wall and reef targets. Nassau grouper needs extra care because the 1 Dec to 28 Feb closure protects spawning fish, and outside that season fish must meet landing rules. Wahoo and mahi may pass the wall, but blue-water ambition should not override the breath-hold-only rule. Crawfish and queen conch are handled without spearing, and sharks, turtles and coral stay untouched.
The visibility is friendly, but the walls and legal distance make it more suitable with a boat, buddy and real depth discipline.
No. The Bahamas bans spearguns nationwide. Use a Hawaiian sling or pole spear only.
Yes. The wall being close to shore does not change the Out-Island distance rule.
No. Conception Island National Park is no-take, so plan away from it.
Current, wraparound swell and poor boat positioning are the big shutdown signs, even when the water looks blue.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Cockburn Town, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
Every covered town has its own live forecast, cameras and entry points. Choose where you're diving.
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Sargassum: in seasonsargassum drifting in the regionsargassum season — NOAA/USF data
