Can I carry a speargun from Gansbaai Harbour to Quoin Point?

Inside the stated 1 nautical mile corridor, no. The rule is a gear-possession ban, so no speargun should be carried there.

Is Dyer Island open to spearfishing?

No speargun should be carried within 1 nautical mile of Dyer Island under the stated possession ban.

Is Gansbaai suitable for beginners?

No. It is expert, advisory-only water because of great white risk, cold reef, surge, and legal screening.

Which Gansbaai fish are listed?

Yellowtail, roman, kob, galjoen, hottentot, and musselcracker are named across the local reef notes.

Do I still need the national permit outside the ban?

Yes. Legal water still requires the MLRA recreational permit endorsed for spearfishing, and the dive must be breath-hold only.

Gansbaai spearfishing forecast — South Africa

Gansbaai · South Africa

5.1

wave 1.3 m head-on

visibility1m

Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and surge pounding.

Sources: Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 23:09

Sources & confidence

Sources: 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.

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.
Wind & gusts: Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
Tide phase: Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
Water temperature: Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
Currents & outflow: Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
Rain runoff & air clarity: Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
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.

Google Play — QR code — point your camera

0 m

Surface

Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.

spearo.app

updated 23:09

Gansbaai — solo, off the rocks

BORDERLINE

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · wave 1.3 m (occasionally up to ~2.7 m)

wave 1.3 m head-onwind 21, gusts 42 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m

today, best window 15:00–18:00

fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 17.3°C

confidence medium · verdict for the selected day

Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.

Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.

Selected day

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

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.

Sunday · today2026-10-25

05:48–19:05 · full moon

▲ 02:00▼ 08:00▲ 14:00▼ 20:00mid-range tides · 1.8 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide-0.58 m

Wave1.22 m

Wind13 km/h

Water17 °C

fish activity: moon overhead 00:00 · high · moonset 04:58 · moderate · moon underfoot 11:40 · high · moonrise 18:36 · moderate

Conditions window06:00–09:00

don't go fish

Hs 1.30 m · roughperiod 6.8 swind 7→14surge 9.2viz 1 m

1.30 mrough · up to ~2.60 · 222° at an angle

6.8 sswell moderate

7→14gusts 14 km/h

9.2pounding the rocks

0.19m/s

1 mrecent swell

17°C5 mm + hood

▼08:00tide turn near

Atmosphere5 kmlandmarks visible

lowoff the lunar peaks

wave 1.3 m (occasionally up to ~2.6 m)
long secondary swell (11 s) straight onshore
low water — slack

confidence hightwilight

Open the seafloor map with entry points

More spots

Spots in South Africa

🇿🇦South Africa

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Western Cape

Garden Route

Eastern Cape

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What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

yellowtail
Seriola lalandi · 3–40 m · legal
garrick / leervis
Lichia amia · 1–20 m · legal
geelbek (Cape salmon)
Atractoscion aequidens · 5–40 m · legal
galjoen (national fish)
Dichistius capensis · 0–12 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
National fish but NOT no-take: legally spearable (35 cm, bag 2), closed 15 Oct–end Feb.
kob / kabeljou
Argyrosomus japonicus · 2–30 m · legal
red roman
Chrysoblephus laticeps · 5–40 m · legal
king mackerel (couta/cuda)
Scomberomorus commerson · 1–25 m · legal
elf / shad
Pomatomus saltatrix · 1–20 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
⚠️ Closed 1 Sep–30 Nov (spawning). Don't take it then.
white musselcracker
Sparodon durbanensis · 3–30 m · legal
hottentot
Pachymetopon blochii · 2–25 m · legal

Law

✓You need a endorsed for SPEARFISHING (MLRA 18/1998). Buy it online (fishing.dffe.gov.za) or at an authorised office (SAPO branch) — check the current fee there. Own use only — sale is banned.
✓Breath-hold + snorkel only — scuba/hookah are BANNED (reg 8). Spearfishing in is FULLY BANNED (reg 16, no exceptions). Daily cap of 10 fish total. Inside an obey the managing authority; in several you can't even CARRY a speargun.
•NIGHT — the recreational spearfishing brochure (MLRA 18/1998) carries no time-of-day restriction: diving at night is legal. The permit, breath-hold-only, the blanket ban and conditions all apply around the clock; shark risk is worse after dark — that is safety, not law.

⛔ 🚫 Table 3 (zero possession): brindle bass (Epinephelus lanceolatus), potato bass (E. tukula), seventy-four (moratorium since 1998), great white / whale / basking sharks, sawfishes, coelacanth, Natal wrasse.
⛔ 🚫 All hard corals, sea fans and sea pens (Scleractinia/Gorgonacea/Pennatulacea) — protected. Seahorses/pipefish (Syngnathidae) — no-take.
⛔ 🚫 Spearfishing in is FULLY BANNED (reg 16 — no exceptions). Inside an obey the managing authority's conditions; in several you can't even CARRY a speargun (Sardinia Bay, Bird Island, Robben Island etc.). Abalone (perlemoen) — recreationally closed until further notice.

Rules change. Before heading out, check with the DFFE (Marine Recreational Fishing brochure / permit) and the MPA managing authority (SANParks / CapeNature / Ezemvelo KZN / ECPTA / iSimangaliso).

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.

Spearfishing in Gansbaai: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Gansbaai is not a casual shore-spearfishing town. Shark Alley between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock is the world's densest great white ground, even after the recent orca-driven lull, and a statutory gear-possession ban changes the map before conditions are even considered. Cold, productive reef can hold yellowtail, roman, kob, galjoen, hottentot, and musselcracker, but the first decision is legal: no speargun may be carried inside the Gansbaai Harbour to Quoin Point 1 nautical mile ban or around Dyer Island. Outside it, use local knowledge, a boat, a buddy, and a tow-float.

TL;DR

Gansbaai is expert, advisory-first spearfishing water because Shark Alley sits between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock nearby.

A statutory gear-possession ban runs from Gansbaai Harbour to Quoin Point for 1 nautical mile, and around Dyer Island for 1 nautical mile.

De Kelders, Danger Point, and Franskraal are useful legal-screening marks, but no speargun should be carried inside the ban.

Carry the MLRA spearfishing permit only in legal water, dive breath-hold only, and keep catch on a tow-float away from the body.

Which Gansbaai marks need legal screening first?

These are not beginner recommendations. They are named coastal marks where legality, shark risk, surge, and exit options must all clear before a spear enters the water. If a point lies inside or even uncertainly close to the gear-possession ban, treat it as no-speargun water.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
De Kelders	Limestone reef, caves, and kelp	Cold reef along west Walker Bay	Expert with spotter and buddy	West-shore approach, only after legal and sea checks	Roman and yellowtail are listed. This is great white territory, so use a tow-float, keep fish off the body, and do not dive alone.
Danger Point	Exposed lighthouse reef	Surgy reef edge	Expert only	Point access with strong surge and local knowledge	Kob and yellowtail are listed, but Shark Alley is nearby and surge is strong. Confirm the gear-possession ban line before carrying a speargun.

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in South Africa

🇿🇦South Africa

Western Cape

Garden Route

Eastern Cape

Help us make it better

The water column

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The seabed

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

Surfacing

What's in season,
what the law says.

Spearfishing in Gansbaai: spots, seasons and rules

TL;DR

Which Gansbaai marks need legal screening first?

Wild Coast

KwaZulu-Natal

Why is Gansbaai treated differently?

Where does the gear ban apply?

What conditions and fish are relevant?

What national rules still apply?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

Gansbaai spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for Gansbaai by email

Spots in South Africa

🇿🇦South Africa

Western Cape

Garden Route

Eastern Cape

Help us make it better

A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.The call is on the rock.

Where to get in off the rocks.

What's in season, what the law says.

TL;DR

Which Gansbaai marks need legal screening first?

Wild Coast

KwaZulu-Natal

Why is Gansbaai treated differently?

Where does the gear ban apply?

What conditions and fish are relevant?

What national rules still apply?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

What's in season,
what the law says.