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

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◈Hendaye · France
2.5
💧 Water looks set to clear by Saturday (~6d) — tentative
visibility~1m

Nottoday

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 💧 Water looks set to clear by Saturday (~6d) — tentative

Sources: MeteoAlarm · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 03:56

Sources & confidence

Sources
MeteoAlarm · 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.

Entry pointsNo-take zonesLive cams

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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0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app
MeteoAlarm no dataupdated 03:56
Hendaye — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · wave 2.8 m (occasionally up to ~5.6 m)
wave 2.8 mwind 11, gusts 25 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m
today, best window 06:00–09:00
fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 18°C
confidence medium · 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
07:33–18:08 · full moon
▲ 03:00▼ 09:00▲ 15:00▼ 21:00 · 3.7 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide-1.56 m
Wave3.24 m
Wind8 km/h
Water18 °C
fish activity: moonset 06:40 · moderate · moon underfoot 12:00 · high · moonrise 17:26 · moderate · moon overhead 00:00 · high
Conditions window06:00–09:00
don't go fish
Hs 2.78 m · roughperiod 9.3 swind 11→25surge 71.5viz 1 m
2.78 mrough · up to ~5.56 · 311° at an angle
9.3 sswell moderate
11→25gusts 25 km/h
71.5pounding the rocks
0.22m/s
1 mrecent swell
18°C5 mm + hood
▼09:00tide turn near
Atmosphere45 kmovercast
moderatemoonset
  • wave 2.8 m (occasionally up to ~5.6 m)
  • wind-wave — choppy surface
  • ebb — weaker inshore
confidence mediumtwilight
Open the seafloor map with entry points →
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spearo.app · a private marine instrument · Hendaye · a planner, not a safety guaranteePrivacy
Today
Notify me
Map
Best window · next 3 days

Next 3 days — not divable: wave up to 3.4 m

💧 Water looks set to clear by Saturday (~6d) — tentative

transparency nearby ~22 m · satellite, 2 days agosatellite estimate · may differ right at the shore

↓ low tide 08:57 · slack water ~08:12–09:42 bite times: 11:00–13:00 · 16:56–17:56

Tell me when it's on

Just your email — nothing else needed.

Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.

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−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.

See all spots →
−20 m

The seabed

Relief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.

On the rock

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

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.

Entry points

Where to get in
off the rocks.

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 map →
Baie de LoyaHendaye
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—
Seabed depth of the selected area
≈5.5–9.9 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

Rocky cove to the north (path sometimes closed by rockfall — check), 2–8 m, shore; bream and bass.

Google Maps
Corniche de HaïçabiaHendaye
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—
Seabed depth of the selected area
≈0.3–2.7 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

Basque corniche at Haïçabia (Hendaye), rocky strata 0–12 m, shore entry; mostly bream (sar). ⚠️ calm sea only.

Google Maps
Les Deux JumeauxHendaye
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—
Seabed depth of the selected area
≈0.8–5.2 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

Detached stack, rock 1–14 m, shore; bass, pollack, sea bream. Calm swell only.

Google Maps
Les Roches Noires (Pointe Sainte-Anne)Hendaye
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—
Seabed depth of the selected area
≈1.0–2.2 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

Rock plateau, shallow reefs and sand, 1–8 m, shore; very rich in common bream, good to start.

Google Maps
Îlots d'AndagorriaHendaye
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—
Seabed depth of the selected area
≈0.8–4.2 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

Islet, flysch slabs 1–14 m, shore/boat; bass, pollack, sea bream.

Google Maps

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.

One morning glance — and you know.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play
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point your camera
≈

Surfacing

Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.

Live cameras, map & reference
Cameras · live

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↗
Hendaye — AbbadiaSkaping live — Hendaye — Abbadia. Embedded via the provider's official player. Read the water and surf before you go.camera: skaping ↗
connecting to the stream…
● LIVE↗
Hendaye — Plage du Casino et des Jumeauxgosurf.fr surf cam — Hendaye — Plage du Casino et des Jumeaux. Embedded via the official player. Read the water before you go.camera: gosurf ↗
connecting to the stream…
● LIVE↗
Hendaye — Baie du FiguierWindy webcam (Hendaye — Baie du Figuier) — official keyless webcams.windy.com player, plays inline. Read the water before you go.camera: windy ↗Webcams provided by windy.com - add new webcam
Open the seafloor map →
Reference

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now
  • bar / loup (European seabass)
    Dicentrarchus labrax · 0–15 m · arrêté 2012
    Bag: north of 48°N — 3/day (except 1 Feb–31 Mar: catch-and-release only); south of 48°N — 2/day year-round.
  • maigre (meagre)
    Argyrosomus regius · 5–30 m · arrêté 2012
  • gilthead seabream
    Sparus aurata · 2–20 m · arrêté 2012
  • white seabream
    Diplodus sargus · 0–15 m · arrêté 2012
  • black seabream
    Spondyliosoma cantharus · 3–25 m · arrêté 2012
  • grey mullet
    Mugil / Chelon spp. · 0–8 m · arrêté 2012
  • European conger
    Conger conger · 5–40 m · arrêté 2012
  • striped red mullet
    Mullus surmuletus · 3–30 m · arrêté 2012
  • common sole
    Solea solea · 2–20 m · arrêté 2012
  • European hake
    Merluccius merluccius · 10–40 m · arrêté 2012
  • Atlantic mackerel
    Scomber scombrus · 0–20 m · arrêté 2012
    Atlantic 20 cm (North Sea — 30 cm), Mediterranean 18 cm.
  • pollack
    Pollachius pollachius · 5–30 m · arrêté 2012
    Atlantic/Channel: max 2/day. Practically absent in the Mediterranean.
  • Atlantic cod
    Gadus morhua · 5–40 m · arrêté 2012
  • brown meagre / corb
    Sciaena umbra · 5–30 m · arrêté 2012
    🚫 Mérou (5 spp.) and corb: TOTAL spearfishing ban in the French Mediterranean (mainland + Corsica), moratorium to end 2033. Size is irrelevant — not a legal target at all.
Law
  • ✓No paid licence since 2009 (décret 2009-727), BUT since 12 Feb 2026 there IS a registration regime, and it differs BY BASIN (arrêté of 7 Nov 2025, version of 1 Apr 2026): Atlantic and Channel — only if you target the listed species; Mediterranean — everyone aged 16+; shore gathering (pêche à pied) is exempt ONLY while it does not target the listed species — target one and registration applies there too; the overseas territories — not yet required. Civil-liability (RC) insurance for spearfishing is mandatory too — a standalone policy or an FFESSM/FFPSA federation licence. Speargun (arbalète) — 16+.
  • ✓Breath-hold only — any equipment that lets you breathe underwater is banned; you may not carry such equipment and a speargun/foëne on the same boat (bar a prefect's derogation), nor carry and use a speargun and an underwater scooter together; guns powered by a detonating charge, or by compressed gas the diver did not compress himself, are banned (CRPM art. R.921-90). A spearfisher may not: fish between the legal hours of sunset and sunrise; come within 150 m of vessels actively fishing or of gear marked by buoys; take animals from other people's nets and traps; use a light source; take crustaceans with a speargun or a foëne (hands only); keep the gun loaded out of the water (CRPM art. R.921-91 and R.921-92). Ports and marked bathing zones are closed by the LOCAL arrêté, not by a national act; a protected STATUS (Natura 2000, marine park) does NOT by itself ban spearfishing — the specific closures are on the map.
  • ✓Min. sizes are façade-specific (arrêté 26.10.2012 + EU 2019/1241): sea bass (bar) 42 cm Atlantic/Channel and 30 cm Mediterranean. In the Med, moratoria protect the grouper (×5) and the brown meagre (corb) — don't shoot them. Registration + catch declaration have applied since 12 Feb 2026 (arrêté of 7 Nov 2025 as amended 1 Apr 2026). See the species card and the guide.
  • ✓EU Reg. 2023/2842 is in force in France: registration applies since 12 Feb 2026 (differently by basin) and catch declaration covers the species of the annex in force, and the annex ties each species to the basin where it must be declared (not every species in every basin): sea bass (bar), pollack (lieu jaune), blackspot seabream Pagellus bogaraveo (dorade rose), dolphinfish (dorade coryphène) and mackerel (maquereau). Bluefin tuna is NOT in that annex. Check your basin and your species against the annex in force. Basis: the arrêté of 7 Nov 2025 as amended 1 Apr 2026. There is NO postponement.
  • ✓Marking the catch is MANDATORY: on the listed species you cut off the lower lobe of the caudal fin (arrêté 17.05.2011 as amended by the arrêté of 30.12.2021) — sea bass, bonito, cod, brown meagre (corb), dentex, dolphinfish, gilthead, blackspot seabream, swordfish, lobster, spiny lobster, pollack, saithe, meagre, marlins, mackerel, red porgy, red scorpionfish, white seabream, sole, wahoo, the FOUR tunas on the list (yellowfin, albacore, skipjack and bigeye), sailfish. Bluefin tuna is NOT on this list — it has its own regime. For shore spearfishing the mark is made AS SOON AS you get back to the shore. Specimens must be kept whole. Bluefin tuna — fishing is prohibited without an annual ADMINISTRATIVE authorisation, with a tag fitted immediately after capture and a declaration (arrêté 24.03.2026). Which body issues it is decided by the REGION WHERE THE VESSEL IS REGISTERED: the DIRM as a rule, and the DMLC for vessels registered in Corsica. Belonging to a federation changes only the SUBMISSION CHANNEL — the application goes through the federation — not the issuer, which remains the administration.
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.
Local guide · Hendaye

Spearfishing in Hendaye: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in Hendaye is built around shallow Basque rock, not deep walls. Les Roches Noires at Pointe Sainte-Anne mixes reef and sand in 1 to 8 m and is listed as a good starter area with plenty of white seabream. The catch is the nearby Bidassoa estuary current, plus Atlantic tide and north-west swell. Loya and the Haïçabia corniche can work in calm seas, but cliff access must be checked first. French rules require insurance and breath-hold only practice.

TL;DR

  • Hendaye's easiest read is Les Roches Noires: shallow reef and sand at Pointe Sainte-Anne.
  • The Bidassoa estuary current matters as much as swell; aim for small swell and slack water.
  • Loya and Haïçabia require access checks because cliff paths can close after rockfall.

Best spearfishing spots in Hendaye

These are shallow, shore-based Basque entries. Check access and current before fish choice.

SpotTypeDepthLevelAccessNotes
Les Roches Noires (Pointe Sainte-Anne)Rock plateau, reefs and sand1 to 8 mAccessible in small swellShoreListed as very rich in white seabream and good to start. North-west swell lifts the plateau.
Baie de LoyaRocky cove2 to 8 mCautious intermediatePath must be checkedBream and bass. The path can close after rockfall, so do not improvise a cliff descent.
Corniche de HaïçabiaRocky strata0 to 12 mCalm sea onlyShore, if openMostly bream. Watch the estuary current and keep a clear exit.

What conditions matter most in Hendaye?

Use the webcams at Abbadia, the beach and Baie du Figuier as a surface check, then judge the shore entry itself. Use small swell, slack water and estuary-current awareness. North-west swell makes the reef less friendly, and rockfall can close access paths to the northern coves.

FAQ

  • Canet-en-Roussillon
  • Saint-Cyprien
  • Collioure
  • Banyuls-sur-Mer
  • Cerbère
  • Cap d'Agde
  • Sète
  • Frontignan
  • La Grande-Motte
  • Le Grau-du-Roi

    • South Brittany

    • Belle-Île-en-Mer
    • Quiberon
    • Arzon – Port-Navalo
    • Île de Groix
    • Lorient
    • Concarneau
    • Bénodet

    West Brittany

    • Penmarch
    • Audierne
    • Douarnenez
    • Pointe du Raz
    • Île de Sein

    Provence — Côte d'Azur

    • Martigues
    • Carry-le-Rouet
    • Marseille – Calanques

    All 95 spots → · spearo.app — All countries

    • ⛔ 🚫 Mérou (5 spp.) and corb — total spearfishing ban in the Mediterranean (mainland + Corsica), moratorium to end 2033.
    • ⛔ Grande nacre (Pinna nobilis) — full take ban (Habitats Dir. 92/43 Annex IV). Marine mammals, turtles, seahorses (Hippocampus), corals — do not touch.
    • ⛔ Crustaceans (lobster, spiny lobster, spider crab, ormer/abalone) — harpoon/foëne PROHIBITED. By hand while freediving only, where species/size/season is open. Ormeau (Haliotis) — hand-take heavily restricted/seasonal, effectively closed in many zones.

    Rules change. Exact distances from beaches/ports and seasonal closures are set by the local préfecture maritime — check its arrêté and the DIRM/OFB zone map before heading out.

    Is Hendaye beginner-friendly?

    Les Roches Noires is listed as good to start, but only in small swell with current under control.

    What fish is Hendaye known for?

    White seabream is the key local fish at Les Roches Noires; bass is also listed at Loya.

    Why check access before Loya?

    The access note says paths can close because of cliff rockfall.

    Do you need a French spearfishing licence?

    No licence or declaration since 2009, but civil-liability insurance is mandatory.

    Is scuba allowed for spearfishing?

    No. French spearfishing is breath-hold only.

    Sources

    • Légifrance, French recreational sea-fishing law
    • EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2019/1241
    • Atlantic maritime prefecture, local orders

    Nearby towns

    • Spearfishing in Biarritz
    • Capbreton: forecast and spots
    • Cap d'Agde: forecast and spots
    • Sète: forecast and spots
    • Spearfishing in Le Croisic
    Data partners
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    Águas VivasMilfontes · Sagres

    Pasaia buoy: wave 3.2 m · 2 h ago