Lesbos (Mytilene) spearfishing forecast — Greece

Lesbos (Mytilene) · Greece

5.5

wave 0.2 m

visibility6m

Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.

Sources: IPMA · buoys · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 13:55

Sources & confidence

Sources: IPMA · NDBC & IH buoys · Copernicus Marine · Sentinel-2
Method: spearo sea-state engine: 6-model consensus + 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.

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Where to get in
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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.

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Cape Agios Fokas ShipwreckLesbos (Mytilene)

borderline

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: Mornings, before the daytime breeze gets up. June and early July give quiet water, but the best month is September: warm, clear, and the tourists have gone. Cross May off your plans, the whole country is shut. Gun in the water only between sunrise and sunset.
tide: Tide decides nothing here, twenty or thirty centimetres. What matters is the Kalloni mouth next door: the gulf joins the sea through a shallow strait about four kilometres long, and on the outflow warm, milky water comes out of it. After rain it arrives loaded with silt and cuts the visibility.
shelter: Cape Agios Fokas closes the western end of Vatera, and the whole bulk of the island stands as a wall against the meltemi — with N and NE the water here is flat. The weak side is south and southwest: open sea, long fetch, and the shallow wreck starts rolling straight away.
conditions: Go while the north holds: at 5 to 17 m the structure reads perfectly on those days. Southern swell ruins it — at that depth the wave stirs the sand around the hull and the haze hangs on for a day after the wind drops. A fresh southwesterly means stay home.

What's in season,
what the law says.

National minimum sizes + a 150 g floor (in the table below); grouper 1/day. Spearfishing is closed all May (ΠΔ 373/1985).

In season now

gilthead seabream
Sparus aurata · 2–20 m · EU 1967/2006
European seabass
Dicentrarchus labrax · 0–15 m · EU 1967/2006
common octopus
Octopus vulgaris · 0–15 m · weight ≥750 g
Minimum by weight: ≥750 g (ΠΔ 62/2024). Don't take egg-bearing females.
dusky grouper
Epinephelus marginatus · 8–35 m · EU 1967/2006
Grouper: max 1/day (shared genus-Epinephelus limit).
wreckfish / stone bass
Polyprion americanus · 30–60 m · EU 1967/2006
Deep wreck species. Does NOT count toward the grouper limit (different genus). 45 cm — to verify.
common dentex
Dentex dentex · 12–40 m · min 150 g
Premier reef target. No EU size — the 150 g minimum only. Ethical ≥40 cm (not law).
red porgy
Pagrus pagrus · 15–40 m · EU 1967/2006

Charamida / Agios VassiliosLesbos (Mytilene)

borderline

swell on the quarter today (city-level)

window: The first hours after sunrise are the window: the breeze builds through the day and the dive centre's boats start moving. The season opens in June, but the water really cleans up in September and October, with far fewer people. Night is closed all year, sunset to sunrise.
tide: The level moves a couple of dozen centimetres, no more. What you count is the throat of Gera: it is only about 275 m wide, and water pumps in and out through it, so there is a noticeable set past the islets. The wall drops away steeply and a cold layer often sits down there.
shelter: The spot sits just outside the mouth of Gera gulf, tucked behind the island's southeast shoulder: the northerly meltemi passes overhead and the headland with its string of islets kills the swell. It stands open to E and SE — with wind from there the wave runs straight through the gaps and there is nothing to work.
conditions: Come with N or NW: those are the calm days here, the water just stands. A light southerly still works. From the east, around 30 degrees, the wave drives into the gap between the islets and lifts sand off the shallows; at 5 to 25 m the visibility drops and you cannot hold a boat near the rocks.
hazard: Karpouzi beach at Charamida is on the port authority's crowded-beach list: from 1 June to 30 September all fishing there is banned outright, and you keep 200 m off the last swimmer. Dive-centre boats work the islets, so a buoy is not optional. The wall runs deeper than any solo dive should.
access: Tarmac runs from Mytilene to Charamida, about twenty minutes, with parking right at the water. From shore you get in over rock and swim ten minutes to the nearest reef. The Agios Vassilios islets are another ten minutes by fast boat from Charamida — too far to reach by swimming.

Islets and rocky reef SE of Mytilene, 5–25 m, the local dive base — sheltered from the meltemi, shore or boat.

Google Maps

Spearfishing in Lesbos (Mytilene): spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in Lesbos is best planned around shelter. Gera and Kalloni are near-landlocked gulfs with softer bottom, lower visibility and tsipoura, lavraki and octopus. The open rocky coasts are clearer and suit grouper, dentex and sargos, but the north coast suffers in N/NE meltemi. May is a total spearfishing ban across Greece (ΠΔ 373/1985), and no spearfishing licence has been issued since 2014.

Where can you spearfish in Lesbos?

Use the gulfs for shelter and the open rock only when the wind allows. The wreck entries are boat-led and should not be treated as beginner shore dives.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
Charamida / Agios Vassilios	Islets and rocky reef SE of Mytilene	5-25 m	Moderate exposure	Shore or boat	A meltemi-sheltered rocky option near Mytilene.
Gera & Kalloni Gulfs	Sand, seagrass and rocky edges	2-15 m	Sheltered, lower visibility	Shore	The all-wind fallback for tsipoura, lavraki and octopus.
Cape Agios Fokas Shipwreck	Shallow wreck on the south coast	5-17 m	Boat and calm exit	Boat	Leeward in meltemi near the Kalloni mouth.
Petra / Myrmigi Reef	North-coast reef complex	15-21 m	Calm dawn only	Boat	Clearer water, but exposed to N/NE meltemi.

Conditions and season essentials

The useful Lesbos window is June and September to October. May is closed by national law, so there is no legal May workaround. In summer, read wind first: if N/NE meltemi is working, the north coast around Molyvos and Petra is the wrong side, while Vatera, Agios Fokas and the enclosed gulfs make more sense. Greek rules also require freediving only, no scuba or compressed air, and a daily catch limit of 5 kg per person.

FAQ

Do you need a licence to spearfish in Lesbos?

No spearfishing licence has been issued in Greece since 2014. Check gov.gr before travel for the recreational-fisher registry.

Is spearfishing banned in May?

Yes. May is a total spearfishing ban across Greece, including Lesbos.

Where do you go in meltemi?

Use Vatera, Agios Fokas or the Gera and Kalloni gulfs when N/NE wind makes the north coast poor.

What fish are typical?

The gulfs suit tsipoura, lavraki and octopus; clearer open rock adds grouper, dentex and sargos.

Is scuba spearfishing allowed?

No. Spearfishing in Greece is freediving-only; scuba and compressed-air gear are banned.

Lesbos (Mytilene) spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility & live cameras

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