Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.
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 Funchal, 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.
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: 1391 spots across 205 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 mapThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appCameras, 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».
In season now: Sea bass, White seabream, Gilthead bream, Salema, Octopus, Mullet
SpainThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
The westernmost Funchal entry — clearly OUTSIDE the Garajau reserve (whose west edge is Ponta do Lazareto, east of the city), so hunting is legal here. But it's a guarded bathing complex — don't shoot near the entry; move off the pools onto the rock reef.
Google MapsA documented dive-school 'home reef' (east–west reef off the Clube Naval, plenty of fish) — but a public, surveilled swim zone. Use it for scouting/freediving and hunt on the Ponta da Cruz rocks to the west.
Google MapsMadeira's largest beach and a guarded swim zone — works as a flat-calm fallback entry for freediving/scouting; for actual hunting move west to the Ponta da Cruz rocks. ⚠️ Longitude -16.943 is ~750m too far east (true ~-16.951, OSM beach 32.6392,-16.9512; -16.943 lands between Cavacas and Clube Naval, not at Formosa). Hazard downplayed: omits the documented strong undertow/under-currents that make Praia Formosa locally known as one of the most dangerous places to swim, plus frequent red-flag closures (spring tides/rough surf) and documented drownings (e.g. body found Jan 2024). Framing it as a benign 'calm-day fallback entry' sugar-coats a known dangerous-current beach for a solo diver.
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.
Rules change, and in the Autonomous Regions they are their OWN. Before heading out, check with the regional fisheries administration (Madeira / Azores), not with the mainland DGRM tables.
Spearfishing in Funchal is an island plan, not a mainland beach plan. Madeira's south coast is sheltered from the dominant N/NE winds by the island, with blue water and quick volcanic drop-offs close to shore. Doca do Cavacas is the usable hunting entry, but only with a calm sea and small southerly swell. Praia Formosa and the Lido/Clube Naval reef are busy urban bathing areas, better kept for apnea practice or reconnaissance. Deep water close in makes solo risk serious.
Only one Funchal entry belongs in the hunting table. The other urban references have bathing-zone, crowd or protection issues. Doca do Cavacas still needs distance from swimmers and a clean rock exit.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doca do Cavacas | Volcanic rock entry at Ponta da Cruz | Depth increases quickly beside the promontory | Intermediate | Rua da Ponta da Cruz 66; steps to the natural-pool complex, then access to open water over the rocks. | Sheltered from N/NE by Madeira, but exposed to S and SW swell. Enter only in calm sea with small southerly swell, keep the speargun unloaded near the pools and move away to the reef. |
Doca do Cavacas is best at first light, before the afternoon sea breeze and before swimmers arrive. The local window is calm sea with southerly swell around 0.8 m or less. SW swell stirs the water by the rocks and makes the volcanic exit hazardous. Tide is less critical because depth builds fast, although low water makes the rocks more slippery. Summer and early autumn bring the best visibility. National rules apply: licence from age 16, apnea only, daylight only, Alfa buoy within 30 m, and protected grouper/mero left untouched.
Doca do Cavacas is the main defensible shore entry. Move away from the pool entrance and only use it in calm sea.
It should not be treated as a hunting spot. It is an urban bathing beach with cobbles, undertow risk and turbid water after rain.
It is useful for apnea and terrain reading, but it is a public bathing front with lifeguards and crowds. Do not frame it as a hunting mark.
Summer and early autumn are the best visibility window noted locally, especially early morning with small southerly swell.
No. It is island geography: sheltered south coast, volcanic rock and deep water very close to shore, so partner safety matters.
Caniçal buoy: wave 0.5 m · 3 h ago
Portugal
