Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.
Sources & confidence
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine
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.
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: 1152 spots across 189 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 mapEastern gateway to the calanques, rock and posidonia 3–15 m, shore/boat; bream, bass, octopus. Outside the ZNP.
Google MapsRocky point at the calanques entrance, 3–18 m, shore/boat; bream, bass, dentex. Outside the ZNP, declaration.
Google MapsRiou and Île Maïre approaches outside the ZNP, drop-offs and posidonia 6–25 m, boat; dentex, bass, amberjack. Grouper = observe only.
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.
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 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.
Spearfishing in Marseille is legal only when the Calanques constraints come first. The listed grounds around Riou, Île Maïre, Callelongue and Cap Croisette must be outside the ZNP no-take zones. Do not describe the park envelope as one closed block, but do not soften the closures: central Marseille, Frioul and named calanques are closed. Local fish are Mediterranean, with bass, dentex, bream, amberjack and seabream. Grouper and corb are not targets. France also requires civil-liability insurance and, from 10 Jan 2026, registration plus catch declaration.
The useful Marseille entries are not casual beach marks. Each one needs a ZNP check before the trip, then the Calanques individual declaration and catch declaration where the park system applies. Marseille and Pointe Rouge webcams show the surface, but there is no France buoy station here, so do not turn camera water into a visibility guarantee.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Île Maïre / Riou (hors ZNP) | Island approaches, drop-offs and posidonia | Mediterranean relief with weed and drop-offs | - | Boat | The spot name itself says outside ZNP. Dentex, bass and amberjack are the targets; grouper is observe-only. |
| Callelongue | Rock and posidonia at the east entrance | Rock and posidonia | - | Shore or boat | Outside the ZNP. Bream, bass and octopus are the targets, with the park boundary as the first check. |
| Cap Croisette / Madrague de Montredon | Rocky point at the Calanques entrance | Rocky Mediterranean point | - | Shore or boat | Declaration and outside-ZNP status both apply here. Bream, bass and dentex are the targets. |
Marseille has a Mediterranean tide regime, no buoy station, and a bad sea sector from southeast through west-southwest. Live cameras at Vieux-Port, the port and Pointe Rouge help read surface state before leaving, but they are not an underwater visibility report for Riou or the Calanques entrance. Treat wind direction, chop and exact zoning as the practical filter.
It is banned in the seven no-take zones of the marine core. Spearfishing is allowed only outside the ZNP, with free individual declaration, catch declaration since 2024 and a 7 kg per person quota. Closed places named locally include central Marseille, Frioul, Sormiou, Morgiou, Sugiton, En-Vau and Port-Pin. So the honest answer is not all park closed and not park open. It is outside-ZNP only.
Yes. In the French Mediterranean, five grouper species and corb are under a total spearfishing moratorium until the end of 2033. Size does not make either fish legal. Marseille is the only city in this batch where that Mediterranean moratorium belongs, and grouper should be watched, not shot.
Yes. The France legal block says civil-liability insurance for spearfishing is mandatory, either as a standalone policy or through an FFESSM/FFPSA federation licence. It also says no licence and no old-style declaration since 2009, but from 10 Jan 2026 a new registration plus catch declaration regime applies. Breath-hold only, no night spearfishing, no loaded speargun out of the water, and 16+ for a speargun remain part of the national frame.
The listed choices are Île Maïre/Riou outside the ZNP, Callelongue and Cap Croisette/Madrague de Montredon. Each one needs a no-take-zone check before use.
It is banned in the ZNP no-take zones. Spearfishing is allowed only outside ZNP, with Calanques declarations and the 7 kg per person quota.
Local species include bass, dentex, bream, amberjack, octopus and seabream-related species. Grouper and corb are not targets under the Mediterranean moratorium.
Yes. Grouper species and corb are under a total spearfishing moratorium in the French Mediterranean until the end of 2033.
No spearfishing licence in the old sense is required, but civil-liability insurance is mandatory. Since 10 Jan 2026, registration plus catch declaration also apply.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Marseille – Calanques, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
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transparency ~17 m · satellite, 2 days agosatellite estimate · may differ right at the shore
