Is Gordon's Bay beginner friendly for spearfishing?

On a calm day it is more forgiving than the exposed coast, especially around Bikini Beach point. Kogel Bay and Rooi Els need stronger exits.

Can I spear in the Steenbras river mouth?

No. South Africa bans spearfishing in estuaries, and the Steenbras mouth and harbour basin are excluded too.

Does a southeast wind help visibility?

A moderate southeast can push clearer water into this False Bay corner. A hard southeast builds chop fast and can spoil the dive.

Do I need a South African spearfishing permit here?

Yes. Carry a recreational fishing permit endorsed for spearfishing under MLRA rules, bought online through DFFE or at an authorised SAPO branch.

Is scuba spearfishing legal in Gordon's Bay?

No. South African recreational spearfishing is breath-hold and snorkel only; scuba and hookah are banned for spearing.

Gordon's Bay spearfishing forecast — South Africa

Gordon's Bay · South Africa

5.1

wave 1.3 m

visibility1m

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

Sources: Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 02:16

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 02:16

Rooi Els — Cape Hangklip side — solo, off the rocks

BORDERLINE

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · wave 1.3 m (occasionally up to ~2.6 m)

wave 1.3 mwind 12 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m

today, best window 06:00–09:00

fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 15.7°C

confidence low · verdict for the selected day

Before entering, check the camera and the surge

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

05:51–19:06 · full moon

▲ 02:00▼ 08:00▲ 14:00▼ 20:00mid-range tides · 1.7 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide-0.55 m

Wave1.52 m

Wind12 km/h

Water16 °C

fish activity: moon overhead 00:00 · high · moonset 05:00 · moderate · moon underfoot 11:50 · high · moonrise 18:37 · moderate

Conditions window06:00–09:00

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site fish

Hs 1.28 m · roughperiod 6.7 swind 12→18surge 6.7viz 1 m

1.28 mrough · up to ~2.56 · 228° at an angle

6.7 sswell moderate

12→18gusts 18 km/h

6.7pounding the rocks

0.22m/s

1 mrecent swell

15.7°Cthicker suit + hood

▼08:00tide turn near

Atmosphere39 kmlandmarks visible

lowoff the lunar peaks

wave 1.3 m (occasionally up to ~2.6 m)
wind-wave — choppy surface
low water — slack

confidence lowtwilight

Open the seafloor map with entry points

More spots

Spots in South Africa

🇿🇦South Africa

South Africa map →

Western Cape

Garden Route

Eastern Cape

Feedback

Help us make it better

What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.

Look at the water
right now.

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».

connecting to the stream…

● LIVE↗

Gordon's Bay — Harbour Island ocean view, False Bay (Starboard Coffee)YouTube live — Gordon's Bay — Harbour Island ocean view, False Bay (Starboard Coffee). Embedded live stream; the operator's channel carries several coastal locations, so we pin this specific video (needsLiveCheck: if the stream ends it degrades to the source page). Read the water before you go.camera: youtube ↗

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 Gordon's Bay: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in Gordon's Bay works best as a False Bay weather call. The town sits in a protected corner, so the first look is usually Bikini Beach and the harbour edge. A moderate southeast can push clearer water into the bay, but once that wind hardens, Kogel Bay turns exposed. Carry the MLRA spearfishing permit, dive on snorkel only, and never spear in estuaries or harbour water.

TL;DR

Gordon's Bay is the sheltered northeastern corner of False Bay, with easier kelp entries than the Atlantic side when the sea is small.

Bikini Beach point is the simplest shore start; Kogel Bay is rougher, and Rooi Els is a longer kelp swim.

A light southeast can clean the corner, but a hard southeast stacks chop quickly. Stay out of the Steenbras river mouth and harbour basin.

South Africa requires an MLRA recreational permit endorsed for spearfishing, breath-hold only, and a national daily cap of 10 fish.

Where are the practical Gordon's Bay shore spots?

All three entries are rocky or kelp-edged and sit outside the Steenbras estuary and harbour basin. Treat the coast east of town with more caution than the protected bay corner; it is steeper and more swell dependent.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
Bikini Beach point	Rocky point beside the harbour	Shallow kelp and reef edge	Intermediate, easiest of the three	Shore entry near Bikini Beach and the harbour side	The calm-water choice for hottentot and galjoen on the sheltered northeast False Bay shore. Keep clear of the harbour basin and boat movement.
Kogel Bay (Dappat se Gat)	Rugged reef and gullies below Clarence Drive	Shallow reef gullies	Intermediate with a careful exit plan	Steep rock scramble from the coastal road	Kob and galjoen are the draw, but the site is exposed to southeast wind and sits near a Shark Spotters beach. Skip washing exits.
Rooi Els	Boulder reef at the mountain foot	Kelp-covered reef and boulder lanes	Intermediate, longer swim

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

Look at the water
right now.

What's in season,
what the law says.

Spearfishing in Gordon's Bay: spots, seasons and rules

TL;DR

Where are the practical Gordon's Bay shore spots?

Wild Coast

KwaZulu-Natal

When does Gordon's Bay get the cleanest water?

Which fish should a spearo expect?

What areas are closed or treated as no-go?

What permit is needed in South Africa?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

Gordon's Bay spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for Gordon's Bay 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.

Look at the water right now.

What's in season, what the law says.

TL;DR

Where are the practical Gordon's Bay shore spots?

Wild Coast

KwaZulu-Natal

When does Gordon's Bay get the cleanest water?

Which fish should a spearo expect?

What areas are closed or treated as no-go?

What permit is needed in South Africa?

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.

Look at the water
right now.

What's in season,
what the law says.