spearo sea-state engine: consensus of up to 6 models + 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.
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
no dataupdated 20:58
Cullera — solo, off the rocks
BEST WINDOW
best weather window · solo, stay careful, run the checklist · calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal
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: 3016 spots across 406 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
The level is no player here either. But this is the rock closest to the Xúquer mouth: less than two kilometres, and with a southerly the muddy fresh water gets here within the hour. After a long Llevant the along-shore flow bends around Cap Blanc — on the point itself you feel it in your fins.
shelter
The south-west face of the mountain, a little over a kilometre from the lighthouse: this is where you move when a sea has got up from the east or north-east. The Cullera massif closes the place off from Gregal and Llevant almost completely. The south-east angle stays open — with Xaloc the wave comes in along the shore from the river mouth side.
conditions
This is the cape's plan B and it delivers: while the east face is down to a metre, here, in the same Llevant, you keep 4-6 metres. The working wind is easterly and north-easterly — exactly the one that shuts the lighthouse down. It only goes bad with Xaloc and southerlies, when the wave comes in sideways and lifts the sand between the stones.
hazard
Between the beach and the cape stand two short groynes, the Espigó del Portet and the Espigó de la Punta del Mig, and in the morning they are occupied by anglers whose lines land exactly where you are working. Boats from the harbour at the river mouth run along this shore. The stone at the waterline is sharp, urchins are everywhere, buoy no further than 25 m.
access
From town on the road that wraps round the mountain to Racó beach, free parking right against the sand. You go in between the groynes over sand and then over stones, so boots are needed. It is about eighty metres of swimming to the rock nose of Cap Blanc, 5-7 m there, and under the point itself the rock drops to ten.
Rocky ground at the south tip of the cape; entry over the rocks, exposed to the SE.
The level does not count. The north side has one peculiarity: the Xúquer plume barely reaches it, because the mountain blocks it off. What does arrive is the sand from Cullera's long town beach, driven right in here by the waves, and after any fresh Gregal it hangs in the water for a day or two. There is no current close inshore.
shelter
You will not find the name 'Els Penyalets' on any local map — what this really means is the north face of the cape, at Platja del Dosser, a kilometre and a half north-west of the lighthouse. It is the only side of the mountain closed to southern swell and Xaloc (SE). Gregal (NE), on the other hand, walks in unopposed and Llevant cuts across the whole front.
conditions
You come here when it blows from the south: over the mixed bottom of boulders and sand you then get 3-5 metres. With Gregal this is the first place in Cullera to switch off, because the shore is shallow and sandy and the murk lifts at once. Shooting is legal — Cullera has no special zones — but the town beach next door imposes the hundred-metre rule.
hazard
The main issue here is people: in summer this is a bathing zone, and Comunitat Valenciana rules forbid hunting within a hundred metres of swimmers. Second are jet skis and launches running fast along the beach; the buoy is hard to see, so stay next to it. The boulders under the sand are sharp, boots needed. A loaded gun ashore is banned.
access
From town along the promenade northward to where the buildings end; street parking is free. You get in straight off the sand, no rocks and no scramble — the easiest entry in Cullera. A hundred and fifty metres of swimming to the first boulders, 3-4 m of depth there, and sand all the way to the mountain beyond.
Rocky coves at the cape; mixed bottom, moderately exposed to the E-SE.
This is the one place in Cullera where current is real: the Xúquer pushes water out to sea, and after rain or an irrigation release the outflow is felt even twenty metres off the mole. The tidal level meanwhile is the same twenty centimetres as everywhere and plays no part at all.
shelter
The mole at the mouth of Cullera harbour sits right at the Xúquer outflow, on the lowest part of the shore, and the only shelter is the mole itself: with Gregal you tuck into its lee, with a southerly you go round the other side. There is no mountain at your back — the wind runs over the flat plain and builds a wave across the whole approach.
conditions
Honestly: clean water here is close to non-existent. You need three or four days without rain plus Ponent, and then you get 2-3 metres on the mole stones. After a Xúquer flood visibility falls to half a metre and a freshwater layer sits on top. But sea bass hold in exactly that murk through the winter, and people come here for the fish, not the visibility.
hazard
Cullera's port water is closed to fishing entirely — Decreto 41/2013 article 4.3: not inside the basin, not on the entrance channel, only outside the mole. On top of that: a metre of visibility plus boat traffic makes the buoy anything but a formality here. On the mole stones there are nets, hooks and cut line — do not grab them by hand.
access
Along the road on the right bank of the Xúquer to the harbour, park by the fishing quays. You walk about three hundred metres out along the mole and get in over the concrete blocks — they are wet and weeded, so do not try it without boots and gloves. On the outer face there is 4-5 m, sand bottom with piled stone.
Breakwater by the mouth of the Xúquer; semi-sheltered, good for beginners.
The Mediterranean twenty centimetres mean nothing here. The real factor is the Xúquer plume: the mouth is three kilometres south and the murk usually runs south, but with settled Llevant the along-shore flow turns it north, right under the lighthouse. Then the water at the rock is dirty even in flat calm.
shelter
The Cullera massif runs out to sea as a cape and the lighthouse stands on its east face — exactly where Llevant (E) lands. On this side there is no shelter at all. But with Ponent and Llebeig (W and SW) the mountain at your back cuts the wind and the water under the rock stays smooth while a couple of kilometres north it is already rippling.
conditions
Come with a westerly or south-westerly: on the rock slabs under the lighthouse you see 6-8 metres, the best figure in all of Cullera. The 50-165 sector shuts the whole east face down, worst around 100 degrees: the wave stirs the shallows and leaves you a metre and a half. Then you simply move to the south side of the mountain.
hazard
The way down is over the cliff below the lighthouse road: the rock crumbles and climbing back loaded is hard work. To the north the Cova del Dragut sea cave opens in the rock — do not go inside on a breath-hold. Scuba is banned for spearfishing all over Spain. Boats round the cape close to the rock, so the buoy is mandatory.
access
From town you climb the winding road to the lighthouse and leave the car on the verge above the cliff — few spaces, and in summer they are taken by eight. A worn path drops over rock, about eighty metres of descent, boots and gloves required. No swim needed: 4-5 m right under the slabs, and beyond that the rock falls to 10-12.
Rocky ground below the lighthouse; rock drop-offs, sea bream, gilthead and octopus, exposed to the easterly (E).
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.
Sin prohibición estatal de captura (NO está en el Catálogo Español, RD 139/2011).
common octopus
Octopus vulgaris · Mediterranean · 1 kg
Talla por PESO: mín. 1 kg (RD 560/1995, todos los anexos). No coger hembras con huevos.
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.
✓The state act (, art. 16) bans, for spearfishing: a loaded gun out of the water; explosive/electric points and lamps (hand torches excepted); underwater scooters; night — from sunset to sunrise. Plus art. 12 b), d), e): 300 m from professional fishing vessels, light as an attractant, poisons/explosives. A ban in a PARTICULAR reserve, port or beach comes from that place's OWN instrument (the reserve's order, the autonomous community's rules, the port authority) — see the no-take zones on the map and your community's rules.
✓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).
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.
FAQ — spearfishing in Cullera
Where can I spearfish in Cullera?
Cullera has rock entry points such as Faro de Cullera (El Far), Els Penyalets (Cala del Dosser) and El Racó (Cap Blanc). Cullera's cape stands alone on a sandy coast, facing east. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.
When is the best season in Cullera?
Long season (May–October) and warm water; summer is the most reliable, mornings before the breeze. The tide is negligible — what matters is the wind, the thermocline and the nearby ports and sandy stretches that cut visibility.
How cold is the water in Cullera?
Warm for the Mediterranean: ~14–27 °C. A 3 mm suit in summer, 5 mm in the shoulder months. The thermocline chills the bottom here too.
Is Cullera good for a beginner?
Accessible: warm, often calm water, good for gaining experience. Watch the boat traffic near ports and the thermocline at depth; buoy always.
Do I need a licence in Cullera?
Yes — in Cullera you need a recreational sea-fishing licence (issued by the autonomous community); breath-hold only (no scuba), with a marker buoy and no night diving. See the guide.
✓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 — Decreto 182/2004, art. 38.3; Murcia; Galicia; Basque Country). Protected species have per-piece quotas.
✓Only a harpoon is allowed — hand-held or mechanically propelled, with one or several points (, art. 14.1). Carrying spearfishing gear and underwater breathing equipment aboard AT THE SAME TIME is prohibited (art. 14.2) — an offence in itself, even if you dived on a breath hold.
✓Spain is not one jurisdiction. The licence is issued by a coastal autonomous community, and you must comply with the rules of the administration on whose littoral you are in the water: «debiendo cumplir la normativa establecida por la administración en cuyo litoral se realice la actividad» (, art. 13). Interior waters — inside the straight baselines: bays, coves, rías, the whole coastal strip — are the community's competence; exterior waters are the State's. So the age, the days of the week, the distances and the are found in your community's act, not in the state one.
•Valencian Community: three separate licences (inland, maritime, spearfishing); applied for at the Generalitat Valenciana with Cl@ve; Law 5/2017. Confirm the exact procedure page at gva.es.
✓No-take zone: Cap de Sant Antoni marine reserve (Xàbia–Dénia) — spearfishing banned (see zones).
✓Valencian Community: spearfishing from age 16 and with proven physical fitness (Ley 5/2017, art. 12.1); only a mechanically propelled harpoon is allowed (art. 14.2); autonomous or semi-autonomous diving equipment is prohibited, and having spearguns and that equipment aboard at the same time is PRESUMED to be the illegal practice (art. 14.5). The catch may never be authorised for sale (art. 11.2). There is no «300 m around an artificial reef» radius in this law — that ban lives in each reef's own authorisation.
⛔ 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.
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