Today — sit it out — thunder, wave and wind.
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 Gold Coast (Palm 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.
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 mapReef around the Burleigh headland; boulders 3–8 m, snapper, bream, kingfish. Enter off the rocks below the NP walk.
Google MapsRock and reef by Elephant Rock/Currumbin Alley; 2–6 m, bream, snapper. Watch the Alley tidal current.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appAbout 400 m off Kirra Beach: some 100 m of scattered rocky outcrops with kelp, sponges and anemones between sand channels. Buried by sand pumping around 2001, the reef has re-emerged, and how much shows varies yearly. From the beach it is a long swim through the surf. Around 5 to 8.5 m by bathymetry.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appRocky point at the NSW border; reef 2–6 m, bream, snapper, drummer. Very crowded surf — dive early.
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.
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».
Rules as of now — 25.10.2026 14:32 (Australia/Brisbane)
Spearfishing on the Gold Coast is legal planning by state, not by the word Australia. The city is in Queensland, so the baseline is no general recreational fishing licence for shore spearfishing, with an important gear limit: fish are not taken on scuba. The practical marks are shallow, surf-facing reefs and points: Burleigh Heads, Currumbin / Elephant Rock, and Snapper Rocks / Kirra at the NSW border. They can be productive for snapper, bream, kingfish or drummer, but they are not sheltered nursery pools. The coast faces east, the bad swell sector is roughly north-east through south-east, and the shark-risk flag is moderate. Check the Gold Coast council beach cams, choose small swell, stay out of no-take zones, and do not spear rock lobster.
The Gold Coast marks are close to beaches, surf points and creek mouths, so access is simple but timing is not. No formal safety rating is supplied for the spots; the useful details are depth, habitat, current and crowd pressure. The pattern is shallow reef and boulders in 2-8 m, best treated as early-window shore diving when surf and people are light.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burleigh Heads | Headland reef and boulders | 3-8 m | Exposed point reef | Rocks below the national-park walk | Snapper, bream and kingfish are listed. The council cam looks directly at the point, so use it before committing to the rocks. |
| Currumbin / Elephant Rock | Rock and reef by Currumbin Alley | 2-6 m | Shallow reef with tidal current |
All 461 spots → · Region: QLD South-East · spearo.app — All countries
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.
| Elephant Rock / Currumbin Alley shore |
| Bream and snapper are listed. Watch the Alley tidal current and do not confuse a small wave face with slack water. |
| Snapper Rocks / Kirra reef | Rocky border point and reef | 2-6 m | Crowded surf point, early only | Southern point near the NSW border | Bream, snapper and drummer are listed. The local note calls out very crowded surf, so the realistic window is early and quiet. |
No general recreational fishing licence is required for the Gold Coast because it is in Queensland. Do not carry the NSW fee rule north across the border. That said, no licence does not mean open season. Spearfishing is banned in all inland waters, Marine National Park and Sanctuary zones are full no-take, and fish are not taken on scuba in Queensland. If you cross into NSW after diving Snapper Rocks, the licence and fee setting changes. Plan by the state line.
Burleigh Heads is one of the cleaner local answers because the spot description gives reef around the headland, boulders in 3-8 m, and entry off the rocks below the national-park walk. It is still a point reef on an open coast. The local exposure makes east-sector swell the problem, with worst direction around 120 degrees. If the point is washing, the legal answer does not matter much. Use the Burleigh cam and pick small swell with low crowd pressure.
For the Gold Coast, the useful trio is Burleigh for boulders and headland reef, Currumbin / Elephant Rock for shallow reef beside the Alley, and Snapper Rocks / Kirra for the southern rocky point. The differences matter. Currumbin has a tidal-current warning. Snapper has a crowd warning. Burleigh has the best defined rock entry. None has a published safety score, and none should be treated as a fallback when the surf is running from the east or south-east.
The city is unusually well served by council beach cameras. The camera set includes live or checked views for Burleigh Heads, Currumbin, Snapper Rocks / Rainbow Bay, Narrowneck and Point Danger, with Palm Beach and the Seaway flagged for later live checks. Use those feeds to read whitewater, beach colour and crowding before checking forecasts. Without a local buoy feed, camera and swell direction carry extra weight.
The local risk flag is moderate. That is enough to change behaviour around burley, poor visibility, creek mouths and fish on the float, but no sharper species-by-species safety rating is published. Keep the take selective and tidy. If Currumbin Alley is dirty or the point is full of bait and wash, choose another day rather than trying to out-argue the conditions.
No general recreational fishing licence is required in Queensland, but all Queensland gear, size, bag and closed-area rules still apply.
Burleigh Heads is listed as a reef and boulder mark in 3-8 m, entered from rocks below the national-park walk, subject to conditions and zones.
The local trio is Burleigh Heads, Currumbin / Elephant Rock, and Snapper Rocks / Kirra reef.
Use the council beach cameras first. Several Gold Coast cams were live or checked at last review, while no local buoy feed is supplied for the city.
The local shark-risk flag is moderate. Treat dirty water, creek mouths and fish on the float with caution.
No general recreational licence is required in Queensland.
No. Australian state rules for Queensland expressly ban taking fish on scuba.
Sizes and limits are state rules. Check Fisheries Queensland before diving, especially for snapper and reef fish.
Palm Beach buoy: wave 1.3 m · 4 h ago
