🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
visibility~1m
Nottoday
Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
Sources:IPMA · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 02:28
Sources & confidence
Sources
IPMA · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus
Method
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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point your camera
−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.
South Jetty / Cabedelo (Mondego mouth)Mondego mouth / Cabedelo jetty · Molhe Sul / Cabedelo (Mondego river mouth)
dangerous
swell on the quarter today
window
Not a target spot; at most scout it on a very calm summer day.
tide
Slack water only; on the ebb a strong current pours out of the mouth to sea.
shelter
The jetty blocks some southerly swell, but it's a navigation channel — no real shelter for a safe entry.
conditions
Rarely worth it: sandy bottom, turbid river water; only consider in flat calm at slack weak tide — and even then scout from land first.
hazard
Strong tidal current from the mouth + heavy boat/angler traffic from the marina channel; rip along the jetty. Solo, serious risk of being swept into the fairway. Scout from land first is mandatory.
access
From Cabedelo beach / by the south jetty; easy to reach, but the water by the jetty is a shipping channel, not an entry zone.
Included honestly as a scout/fallback: the sandy mouth flats 'offer little appeal for diving' (source). Don't hunt by the jetty — go to the Cabo Mondego reef or Buarcos instead.
One morning glance — and you know.
point your camera
≈
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Carreiros do Forte de BuarcosBuarcos (north end of the bay)
dangerous
⛔ Banned here
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
Summer to early autumn, morning before the nortada; in the weed season schools of bass move in.
tide
Low tide — the holed slabs and sand tongues are exposed, fish hold in the holes ('caça ao buraco', hole-hunting).
shelter
Buarcos bay is partly shielded by the walls and headland from N wind — the most sheltered entry in the area, though still open to W swell.
conditions
In small swell (<1–1.2 m) and light/SE wind; the low holed rocks read even with some haze, but swell stirs sand and clouds the water fast.
hazard
Low sharp holed rocks at the exit: as swell builds a short hard shorebreak slaps the slabs — exit only in the lull between sets; bathing beach, with boats/SUP and swimmers close in.
access
On foot straight from the Buarcos seafront / by the fort; good land access all along the shore, entry off the rocks at the north end of the bay.
Where the rocky bottom starts at Buarcos ('Forte Velho Carreiros') and runs to Cabo Mondego: bass, sargo, sole, gilthead; stay clear of the marked bathing zone.
Praia do Cabo Mondego (Serradinho)Cabo Mondego / Serradinho headland
dangerous
best candidate for today
⛔ Banned here
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
July–October, early morning before the sea-breeze; September is the traditional best month.
tide
Low-to-incoming tide: reefs and channels between slabs open up and entry is cleaner.
shelter
The rocky cape under Serra da Boa Viagem gives some shelter from N/NW wind on the north end; fully open to W swell.
conditions
Only in the summer window with SE/calm wind and swell under ~1 m; on this west-facing coast visibility and access shut down fast.
hazard
Dominant danger is the sharp limestone reef and uneven slabs at the waterline: as swell builds the shorebreak slams the exit rocks, with snag and laceration risk; it's a bathing beach (swimmers, marina boats).
access
Coast road from Buarcos past the lighthouse; parking along the shore and several access stairs. Access is private via Cimpor land; it's a lifeguarded bathing beach, hunting is restricted near the swim zone — work well off the buoys.
The best-documented reef in the area — vast rocky ground running out to sea; nearby Fábrica Velha and Carreiro das Pombas are known for big bass. It's also a Natural Monument (Jurassic strata).
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.
,
.) There is no minimum age for the licence, but under-16s are exempt from holding one when fishing accompanied by a licence holder (art. 12.º n.º 2 al. b).
✓Hand-gathering shellfish with NO gear — no licence; but if a speargun is on the dive, a spearfishing licence is required (DL 246/2000, art. 12.º n.º 1; ).
✓Night prohibited: spearfishing only in daylight (sunset→sunrise not allowed). Artificial light as a means of finding/attracting fish is banned — a torch for safety only (, art. 8.º/3 + 3.º/5; DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 1 d).
✓Signalling buoy MANDATORY for spearfishing: buoy/float with an «Alfa» flag (red/orange/yellow, ≥8 L), no more than 30 m from the diver (, art. 4.º/2).
✓Spearfishing daily limit: fish + cephalopods — 15 kg (excluding the largest specimen). General rod-and-line recreational fishing — 10 kg (, art. 12.º/1).
✓Spider crab: min. carapace 12 cm; (closed season) 15.02–15.06 — applies to recreational gathering too (, ; table).
✓Min. sizes: robalo 36 cm, sargo 17 cm, dourada 19 cm, choupa 23 cm, corvina 42 cm; octopus 750 g ( + EU Reg. 2019/1241; minimum-size table).
✓Grouper — fully protected, may not be taken (, art. 10.º + ).
✓Breath-hold only: spearfishing may be practised in apnea alone. Scuba, rebreather and hookah are banned; the speargun may not be powered by a detonating charge or by compressed gas (DL 246/2000, art. 9.º n.º 3 — o antigo art. 6.º foi revogado).
✓The catch may NOT be sold: displaying for sale, offering or selling recreational catch is prohibited — it is for the fisher, the household, or donation to charitable, scientific or museum institutions (DL 246/2000, art. 7.º).
✓A loaded speargun out of the water is an offence (DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 2 f). Same article: no fishing closer than the legally set distance from concessioned beaches during the bathing season (n.º 2 d), nor in places closed for health or marine-traffic reasons (n.º 2 e). The exact metres come from the regulation and the capitania — check before you go.
✓Distances between people: at least 20 m from another spearfisher (, art. 6.º n.º 3) unless you agree otherwise; from a boat, 50 m from other vessels, divers and set gear (art. 6.º n.º 2); every vessel must keep 50 m from your signalling buoy and from boats flying flag Alfa (art. 7.º n.º 6). The figure that circulates — «30 m between hunters» — is wrong: 30 m is the distance to YOUR OWN buoy.
✓What you may take into the water: the CAPTURE gear on a spearfishing dive is the speargun, a shellfish knife, a gaff (puxeiro) and an arrelhada (, art. 3.º n.º 3). That is not a ban on everything else: art. 4.º n.º 1 expressly allows equipment for cold protection, for buoyancy, for protection or safety and for carrying the catch, and any other equipment that does not permit the direct capture of specimens. Bait and groundbait are PROHIBITED in spearfishing (art. 5.º n.º 3). You may not carry or keep a speargun and a breathing apparatus aboard at the same time, nor carry the gun ready to fire out of the water or in a zone where spearfishing is banned (art. 3.º n.º 6). On any recreational-fishing boat the whole crew wears a lifejacket (art. 4.º n.º 3).
✓Where recreational fishing is closed altogether (, art. 8.º n.º 1): in marked shipyard zones (no exception) and in aquaculture establishments — in the LATTER only, fishing is possible when the concession-holder or owner formally authorises it; the shipyard bar has no such carve-out; within 100 m of the mouth of any marked sewage outfall; over beach-concession waters, to the extent the POOC sets; and in other zones closed by the port or maritime authority. For spearfishing and boat fishing specifically (n.º 2) the navigation channels of port and river bars, the approach channels and the buoyed channels are closed. There is NO «300 m from the beach» rule on the mainland — that number comes from Madeira's own act; on the mainland the distance is set by the POOC and by the capitania's edital.
✓The border rivers Minho and Guadiana: spearfishing is BANNED along both international stretches — bilateral Portugal-Spain agreements, art. 9.º n.º 3 (Minho, RAR 34/2023, in force since 26-05-2023) and art. 6.º n.º 1 (Guadiana, RAR 173/2025, in force since 07-12-2025), both reading «É proibida a pesca submarina». On the Guadiana it is also a serious offence (art. 19.º), and a 100 m strip alongside the Sapal de Castro Marim reserve is closed separately (art. 5.º). The stretches run from the confluence with the Trancoso / the Chança down to the closing line at each mouth.
✓On the other Portuguese-Spanish border river stretches (outside the TIRM and the Guadiana maritime-jurisdiction zone) — Decreto 30/88, art. 6.º n.º 1: harpoons, gigs, tridents and any blunt instrument used to take fish are prohibited (al. e), as is «a pesca ou caça subaquática» with artificial light, and night fishing (al. g).
Rules change. Before heading out, check with DGRM / ICNF / Capitania and the defeso table.
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. At Cabo Raso/Arriba a 0.5 m rise in swell makes a boulder exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer here.
Headland rip: at Cabo Raso there is 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.
Nortada (Jun–Sep): wind builds from midday — be out of the water by ~11:00; 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.
Local guide · Figueira da Foz
Spearfishing in Figueira da Foz: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Spearfishing in Figueira da Foz works best north of town, where Cabo Mondego adds real reef to an otherwise sandy, west-facing coast. Cabo Mondego is the stronger structure; Buarcos is the more sheltered bay entry. The Mondego mouth is only 0.4 km from the urban zone, so rain, ebb flow and stirred sand can ruin visibility fast. Avoid the south jetty as a target spot.
TL;DR
Figueira da Foz spearfishing is about Cabo Mondego and Buarcos, not the Mondego river mouth.
Pick small west swell, light or SE wind, and an early-morning summer to autumn window.
The south jetty and Cabedelo are red/scout because of bar current, boats and river turbidity.
Best spearfishing spots in Figueira da Foz
Only the non-red, non-scout entries are listed. Both need small swell and distance from bathing zones.
Spot
Type
Depth
Level
Access
Notes
Praia do Cabo Mondego (Serradinho)
Limestone reef and slabs
Shallow to mid channels
Intermediate to advanced
Coast road from Buarcos by the lighthouse, with stairs and roadside parking
The main reef option under Serra da Boa Viagem. Best July to October, early morning, with swell under about 1 m.
Carreiros do Forte de Buarcos
Holed slabs at the north end of the bay
Shallow holes and sand tongues
Intermediate
Walk from the Buarcos seafront and enter off the rocks by the fort
More sheltered than the cape and useful at low tide, but still open to west swell and close to swimmers and small craft.
When are Figueira da Foz conditions good?
The best window is summer to early autumn, especially early before the nortada. Cabo Mondego wants small, clean west swell below about 1 m and light or SE wind. Buarcos can tolerate a little more, but sand clouds the water fast. Low-to-incoming tide exposes the slabs and then gives a safer exit. Do not treat the Mondego south jetty as a backup: ebb current, boat traffic and river turbidity make it scout-only.
FAQ
Where is the best reef in Figueira da Foz?
Cabo Mondego has the strongest reef structure; Buarcos is the more sheltered secondary entry.
Can I spearfish by Cabedelo or the south jetty?
It is not recommended. The area has river current, boat traffic, sand and low visibility.
What ruins visibility here?
West swell, stirred sand and the nearby Mondego plume, especially after rain or on a strong ebb.
What tide is best at Buarcos?
Low to early incoming tide, when the holed slabs show and fish hold in the structure.
Do Portugal license rules apply?
Yes. License from 16, breath-hold only, daylight only, flagged buoy within 30 m and national minimum sizes.
Portugal
