Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
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
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Fernandina Beach, 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.
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: 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 mapCounty concrete reef with 2.5 m of relief in 16 m. Snapper over the modules; carry the Florida saltwater licence and the free State Reef Fish Angler designation for snapper and grouper.
Google MapsConcrete reef with 3 m of relief about 18 km off Fernandina Inlet in 15 m. Snapper and grouper; boat only, and the St Marys bar wants a favourable tide.
Google MapsCameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
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».
All 367 spots → · Region: Florida · spearo.app — All countries
transparency nearby ~2 m · satellite, 3 days agosatellite estimate · may differ right at the shore
The 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 appSunken tug on the snapper grounds off Fernandina in 18 m. Compact iron that concentrates fish; visibility depends on the wind pushing the river water away.
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.
US spearfishing law is state-by-state. License, spearable species, powerhead rules and distances vary; federal sanctuaries (Gray's Reef, the Keys, Flower Garden Banks) ban spearfishing. Always confirm with the state agency and local ordinances.
Spearfishing Fernandina Beach is mostly about offshore structure, not walking the sand with a gun. Amelia Island's nearshore is sandy, so the useful hunting starts on county artificial reefs and snapper-ground wreckage roughly 18 to 24 km off the inlet. Parks & Recreation Reef, Whittaker's Snapper Hole Tug and FB-6 provide concrete, tug and reef relief for snapper, sheepshead, hogfish, cobia and flounder. Wait for light west wind and a small Atlantic sea; east-side swell hurts both the run and visibility. Florida rules are strict: license, reef-fish designation where needed, divers-down flag, no powerheads, and no spearing snook, redfish, seatrout or tarpon.
All three spots are yellow-safety boat sites with sparse access detail. None is flagged protected, and no local no-take polygon is shown, but Florida species rules still decide the catch.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parks & Recreation Reef | Concrete artificial reef | Offshore reef profile, about 3 m of relief | Intermediate boat dive | Boat entry about 18 km off the inlet | Known concrete relief, not a beach gamble. Pick it when offshore water has cleaned after west wind. |
| Whittaker's Snapper Hole Tug | Sunken tug on snapper grounds | Offshore wreck depth, qualitative only | Intermediate to advanced boat dive | Boat entry from the Fernandina inlet area | The wreck-focused option on snapper grounds. Check reef-fish seasons before assuming grouper or red snapper is open. |
| FB-6 | County concrete reef | About 2.5 m of relief | Intermediate boat dive | Boat entry offshore of Fernandina Beach | A practical backup mark when the tug has pressure. The Amelia River camera is only a weather clue, not a visibility guarantee. |
The coast faces east, and the bad sector runs from northeast through southeast. West wind settles the surface and gives sand time to drop. If buoy 41112 shows east-side sea, expect a bumpy run and green water over low relief. There is no mapped river-plume trigger, so judge recent wind, swell and reef distance.
Fernandina is different from rocky shore towns. The useful marks are artificial reefs and a tug, while the beach edge is mostly sand. Launch with a boat plan, flag, handler and enough fuel margin. Solo shore-style assumptions fit poorly here.
The grounded Florida Atlantic list is sheepshead in 2 to 15 m, snapper in 5 to 35 m, hogfish, cobia and flounder. Gag and red grouper are season or limit dependent. Do not spear snook, red drum, spotted seatrout, tarpon, bonefish, pompano, goliath or Nassau grouper, billfish, sharks, rays, or ornamental reef families. Spiny lobster and stone crab are hand-take only.
A Florida saltwater license is required, and reef fish require the free State Reef Fish Angler designation. Keep clear of public bathing beaches, piers, bridges and jetty structures. Florida bans powerheads and rebreathers for spearfishing. With no local reserve hit, the main legal risk is species and method.
Not really. The listed productive structure is offshore artificial reef and tug habitat, so plan a boat dive rather than a beach entry.
Light west wind is the cleanest signal. East, northeast and southeast swell are the bad directions for this east-facing coast.
Yes if you are targeting Florida reef fish. It is free, but it is separate from the saltwater fishing license.
No. Florida prohibits spearing red drum and spotted seatrout, along with snook, tarpon, bonefish, pompano and several protected reef species.
The listed spots are not flagged by a local no-take polygon, but Florida species, distance and gear rules still apply.
buoy Fernandina Beach, FL: 22.6° · wave 2.9 m/8 s · 1 h ago
Sargassum: in seasonshore washups possibleAFAI satellite, 2026-10-23 · NOAA/USF
