Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding.
Sources & confidence
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.
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.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Esperance, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
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: 3016 spots across 406 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 mapGranite reef in the famous white bay; 3–10 m, dhufish, crayfish, harlequin. Clear water, sheltered corners — high shark-risk.
Google MapsReef points between the beaches; 3–8 m, dhufish, crayfish, King George whiting. Enter off the granite, watch for sharks.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appGranite reef and white-sand gutters; 3–10 m, dhufish, harlequin, crayfish. Gin-clear water — but high shark-risk.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appSOLO 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 as of now — 25.10.2026 12:37 (Australia/Perth)
Spearfishing at Esperance is granite-bay diving in some of the clearest water in Australia, and the plan is built around wind direction and shark risk rather than depth. Twilight Beach and Blue Haven hold reef and white-sand gutters, the points between Fourth Beach and Salmon Beach are the middle option, and Cape Le Grand gives Lucky Bay, Thistle Cove and Hellfire Bay when the town beaches are exposed. The catch list is not the obvious one: land-based spearfishing for West Australian dhufish is not permitted, so salmon, herring, whiting, skippy and the pelagics carry the day. Check DPIRD before you dive.
The coast is a run of granite headlands separating white-sand bays, so there is usually a bay facing away from the wind. Treat swim distance as the real limit on a coast filed at high shark risk.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twilight Beach / Blue Haven | Granite reef and white-sand gutters | 3-10 m | Intermediate shore dive | Walk-in off the granite | Harlequin and crayfish are the reported reef life, and the water is about as clear as Australia gets. The shark risk recorded here is high. |
| Fourth Beach / Salmon Beach | Reef points between the beaches | 3-8 m | Accessible intermediate | Enter off the granite | King George whiting and crayfish are listed here. The points are the ground, not the open sand between them. |
| Cape Le Grand — Lucky Bay |
Rules change and vary BY STATE. Before heading out, check with your state's fisheries (NSW DPI, Fisheries QLD, VFA, DPIRD WA, PIRSA, NRE Tas, NT Fisheries) and the marine-park zoning map.
| Granite reef in a sheltered white bay |
| 3-10 m |
| Accessible, clear water |
| Beach and rock entry inside the national park |
| The fallback when the town beaches are exposed. WA allows spearfishing in ocean waters except in some marine protected areas, so confirm the status of the water you enter. |
| Thistle Cove | Bay out of the swell, sand broken by weed and rock | 2-10 m | Easy when the swell is down | Shore entry, the mark about 70 m off the shoreline | A short, contained dive with an obvious exit. White sharks are recorded fauna here and the risk logged for Esperance is high. |
The coast faces south and the bad sector runs from about 130 to 250 degrees, with the hazard wind sector between 190 and 250 and the worst direction near 200. That is a wide arc, but the granite geography answers it: the bays face slightly different ways, so a wind that ruins Twilight Beach can leave Rossiter Bay or a Cape Le Grand corner workable. There is no visibility baseline recorded for the city and no camera on this coast, so the decision is made at the car park.
Treat it as the first planning input, not the last. White sharks belong to the fauna of this coast and the risk level recorded for Esperance is high, which is the highest entry any of these south-coast marks carries. The practical response is to dive with a partner; short swims and bays with a clear granite exit follow from the same logic. White sharks are also a protected species in Western Australia and are never a target.
The south coast list is nearshore fish plus pelagics. Western Australian salmon is 300 mm with a bag of 4, and the autumn run along the south-west and south coast is the reliable shore-dive event of the year. Australian herring has no size limit and a bag of 20, King George whiting is 280 mm with a bag of 12, silver trevally or skippy is 250 mm with a bag of 8, snook is 300 mm with a bag of 8, and tailor is 300 mm with a bag of 8 and only 2 fish over 500 mm. These sit inside a nearshore mixed bag of 16, while yellowtail kingfish and samsonfish are both 600 mm inside a large-pelagic mixed bag of 3. Western blue groper is 500 mm with a bag of 1, and breaksea cod carries a bag of 4 in the South Coast bioregion against 2 on the West Coast.
Because the DPIRD guide states plainly that land-based spearfishing for West Australian dhufish is not permitted. That bites hardest here, on a coast where dhufish live on the limestone and granite ledges. The other demersal rule is the boat-based closure, which runs in the West Coast bioregion between Kalbarri and Augusta until Spring 2027; the South Coast bioregion that Esperance and Albany sit in is outside it. From 1 June 2026 the demersal mixed bag also dropped from 5 to 4 fish per day in the North, Gascoyne and South Coast bioregions.
Shore-based spearfishing needs no recreational fishing licence in WA. A Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence, listed at 40 AUD and valid 12 months from issue, is required for any fishing from a powered boat, spearfishing included, and rock lobster sits under a separate 50 AUD licence, so confirm the permitted method with DPIRD before you plan a crayfish dive. All inland waters are closed to spearfishing. Spearfishing is generally allowed in ocean waters except in some marine protected areas and around dive wrecks. Grey nurse sharks, white sharks, whale sharks, sawfish, seadragons and several rays are totally protected in Western Australia.
Not from the shore. A Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence, listed by DPIRD at 40 AUD, is required for spearfishing from a powered boat, and rock lobster needs a separate 50 AUD licence.
Not from the shore. The DPIRD guide states that land-based spearfishing for West Australian dhufish is not permitted.
White sharks belong to the fauna of this coast and the risk recorded for Esperance is high. Dive with a partner.
From 1 June 2026 the demersal mixed bag is 4 fish per day in the North, Gascoyne and South Coast bioregions, reduced from 5. Confirm the current table with DPIRD.
The boat-based demersal closure applies to the West Coast bioregion between Kalbarri and Augusta until Spring 2027, and the South Coast bioregion that Esperance sits in is outside it.
The Western Australian salmon migration along the south-west and south coast peaks in autumn, roughly February to May, and it is the most reliable shore-dive event of the year.
Esperance buoy: wave 2.2 m · 5 h ago
