Today — sit it out — 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
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.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Mendocino, 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.
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.
Open the seafloor mapA large, lightly visited rock structure, 6–30 m: good-sized lingcod and cabezon. WARNING: the Van Damme SMCA is 1.3 km north and in practice works as no-take for a diver — do not cross the line.
Google MapsA sheltered anchorage with a kelp reef, 5–15 m: lingcod, rockfish, cabezon and greenling. WARNING: the no-take Point Cabrillo SMR begins only 380 m south and the longshore current pushes that way — mark the limit.
Google MapsWARNING: a dramatic reef beneath the lighthouse, 5–20 m, inside the Point Cabrillo SMR — no-take, nothing may be removed. Excellent for freediving in bull kelp and for photography. Hunting starts north at Caspar, or well to the south.
Google MapsRocky ground at and outside the mouth of Russian Gulch, three miles north of Mendocino, 3-18 m. Good spearfishing for lingcod and rockfish at the mouth and beyond, with 3-12 m visibility; sheltered sand entry inside the park, or a steep roped trail to the south cove.
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.
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.
Mendocino has rock entry points such as Buckhorn Cove, Caspar Cove and Point Cabrillo. Rocky coves and bull-kelp — big lingcod and rockfish; Van Damme and Point Cabrillo bracket the huntable water. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.
Year-round in the kelp; white seabass/CA halibut/yellowtail, SoCal best summer–fall.
Cold California Current, 12–20 °C; kelp, viz best in SoCal.
Intermediate–advanced: cold, kelp and surge — the MPA network (SMR closed, SMCAs vary).
Yes — in Mendocino almost certainly, but the licence is the STATE's, not a federal one: nearly every coastal state requires its own saltwater fishing licence, and several add a free registration or an extra endorsement on top (Florida's free State Reef Fish Survey for reef fish, Texas's saltwater endorsement, California's Ocean Enhancement Validation). Hawaii asks nothing of residents and charges visitors the NRMFL. What may be speared, and with what gear, is state law too — the price and the details depend on the state, so read the «Law» block below.
Spain
Portugal
