Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and surge pounding.
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 La Jolla, 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.
⛔ Banned here
Open the seafloor mapReef and kelp from 6 to 15 m fed by canyon upwelling: calico bass, halibut, white seabass and yellowtail. WARNING: the Matlahuayl SMR line runs about 300 m east, inshore of the pin, and the drift sets that way — mark it on GPS before you swim.
Google MapsWARNING: the whole cove sits inside the Matlahuayl SMR, a full no-take reserve — swimming and viewing only, nothing may be taken. Famous kelp forest from 3 to 9 m with resident sea lions. To hunt, move south of the reserve line.
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».
SpainThe outer kelp beds off the northwest corner of the La Jolla headland, 9-24 m, reached by kayak or boat rather than the long surface swim from the Cove. Calico bass and sheephead year-round, yellowtail and white seabass in the warm months; the Matlahuayl SMR inshore of here is no-take.
Google MapsA productive resident kelp bed, 4.5–14 m, with calico bass, yellowtail and white seabass. It is squeezed between two no-take reserves — South La Jolla SMR 1.3 km south and Matlahuayl SMR 1.5 km north. Narrow corridor: watch both lines.
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.
US spearfishing law is state-by-state. License, spearable species, powerhead rules and distances vary; federal sanctuaries (Gray's Reef, the Keys, Flower Garden Banks) ban spearfishing. Always confirm with the state agency and local ordinances.
La Jolla has superb kelp structure, but the first rule is where not to hunt. La Jolla Cove is inside Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve, a hard no-take area, so it is for viewing only. The legal plan moves south to Boomer Beach and Marine Street Kelp, with a CDFW MPA check before entering. Spearfishing La Jolla works best with small surf, readable current and enough visibility to separate kelp lanes from canyon edge.
Only open entries are listed. La Jolla Cove is excluded because it is inside Matlahuayl SMR. South La Jolla protected water also needs a GPS check before the dive.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boomer Beach | Canyon-influenced kelp and reef | Shallow reef to kelp edges | Intermediate | Shore entry south of the Cove line | A compact entry for calico bass, halibut, white seabass and yellowtail. Read the sets carefully before loading. |
| Marine Street Kelp | Resident kelp bed | Kelp lanes and sand breaks | Intermediate to advanced | Shore entry from the Marine Street side | Useful when Boomer is crowded or confused. Keep the route outside the Cove reserve and away from any South La Jolla protected water. |
Matlahuayl SMR is the hard restriction. The city record marks La Jolla Cove and central La Jolla inside that protected area, and CDFW treats state marine reserves as no-take. If your drift or buddy separation makes the boundary doubtful, unload, surface and leave. Spearing gear in protected water should never look like active fishing.
The forecast geometry points at trouble from the west and southwest. Small swell lets kelp settle; open-ocean push wraps into the reefs and complicates entry timing. Upwelling from the submarine canyon can bring life and colder, cloudy water together. Check La Jolla Shores cameras with NOAA Station 46258, then decide at the beach, not from a parking lot.
Open kelp targets include white seabass, California halibut, yellowtail, sheephead, kelp bass and rockfish when seasons and depth rules allow. Giant sea bass, garibaldi and salmon are not spear targets. Red abalone is closed, and lobster is hand-take only. Carry a California sport fishing license and Ocean Enhancement Validation.
No. La Jolla Cove is inside Matlahuayl SMR in the listed protected area.
Boomer Beach and Marine Street Kelp are the practical open-water entries, after checking CDFW lines.
Yes. You need a sport fishing license and, here, Ocean Enhancement Validation unless exempt.
White seabass, yellowtail, halibut, kelp bass, sheephead and rockfish are the core targets.
NOAA NDBC Station 46258 is the nearby ocean station for La Jolla.
buoy Mission Bay, CA: 22.4° · wave 1.7 m/10 s · 1 h ago
Portugal
