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 Napier, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
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: 3016 spots across 406 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 mapRocky Perfume Point at the Ahuriri entrance; snapper and butterfish, watch the harbour tidal flow.
Google MapsBoulder shore under Bluff Hill on Hardinge Road; butterfish and cray, urban entry, exposed E swell.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appReef off Waimārama down the coast; snapper, butterfish and cray in cleaner water than Napier itself.
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 as of now — 25.10.2026 17:37 (Pacific/Auckland)
Spearfishing out of Napier is an open-coast job rather than a sheltered one, and the local rating is fair rather than prime. The ground runs from the town reef off Marine Parade and the Bluff Hill boulder shore, north to Whakaari / Stingray Bay and Waipātiki, and south to Cape Kidnappers, in 3–13 m of water. The coast faces east, the bad sector is broad, and visibility of 1–5 m is normal with the stream mouths clouding up after rain. No sea-fishing licence is needed in New Zealand, but MPI Central rules, several local closures and the Te Angiangi Marine Reserve decide where and what you may take.
These are the premium entries on this coast, north to south. All of them sit on open Hawke's Bay water, so the honest planning question is not which one is best but which one the swell has left workable.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whakaari / Stingray Bay (Tangoio) | Headland and the bay beneath it | 3–10 m | Intermediate | Shore entry north of Napier | Described as the best ground north of Napier. It is open to the east and an easterly swell shuts it, and it clouds up after rain because there are stream mouths alongside. |
| Waipātiki Beach Point | Half-sheltered bay with reef points | 3–9 m | Beginner to intermediate | Beach and point entry north of Napier | Relatively protected, so it fishes more often than the open coast either side of it. Expect the usual Hawke's Bay water at 2–5 m of visibility. |
All 201 spots → · Region: Hawke's Bay · spearo.app — All countries
Rules change and are regional. Before heading out, check with MPI (regional fishing rules / the NZ Fishing Rules app), DOC (marine reserves) and local notices (rāhui/mātaitai).
| Napier Town Reef (Marine Parade) | Rock ridge off a shingle beach | 3–9 m | Intermediate, quiet days only | Shore entry across shingle on the town waterfront | The shorebreak on shingle makes the entry hard work, so it is a settled-day option. Open Hawke's Bay water: visibility is unreliable and 1–4 m is normal. |
| Cape Kidnappers / Te Kauwae-a-Māui | Cape with ridges and channels on sand | 4–13 m | Advanced | Walk in strictly on the tide — at high water the beach route is cut off | Current and swell meet at the tip and there is 4–13 m right at the stone. The tide-cut beach route is a real danger, so the turnaround time matters more than the dive. |
Because it is open and its bad sector is wide. Napier has an easterly aspect with a bad wind and swell sector running from roughly 30° to 190°, which covers everything from the north-east round to the south. That is why the town reef is described as a quiet-days-only entry, why Ocean Beach is listed as workable in a settled spell only, and why Punakērua below the Whirinaki cliffs is called a hard entry over steep shingle. Waipātiki Beach Point is the exception, being half-sheltered and therefore diveable more often. Visibility is the second constraint: 1–4 m at the town reef, 2–5 m at most of the others, and effectively nothing after a storm.
Several areas near Napier are shut, and the closures are species-specific rather than uniform. Te Ohooho o Parapara is a temporary closure covering any species of fish, aquatic life or seaweed. Waimārama, including Te Motu o Kura / Bare Island, is closed to the taking of blackfoot pāua with the ban extended to 22 December 2026, supporting the rāhui of Ngāi Hapū o Waimārama — worth knowing because the Waimārama reef is otherwise named as cleaner water than Napier itself. Te Angiangi Marine Reserve down the coast is one of six marine reserves MPI lists as closed to all fishing in this region, and Tangoiro / Waihirere and Motuoroi carry temporary closures on shellfish and finfish.
Napier sits in the MPI Central area, where the combined daily bag is 20 finfish per fisher, plus 50 baitfish and 6 eels on top. Inside that limit MPI lists snapper at 10 per day with a 27 cm minimum, yellowtail kingfish at 3 per day with a 75 cm minimum, blue cod at 20 per day with a 33 cm minimum in FMA 2 from Titahi Bay to Cape Runaway, butterfish at 35 cm, blue moki and red moki at 40 cm, and tarakihi at 25 cm. Blackfoot pāua in the Central area is 5 per day, not 10, at a 125 mm minimum, yellowfoot pāua is a separate 5 per day at an 80 mm minimum, and kina is 50 per day. Blue cod must be landed whole or gutted only, and finfish are measured nose to the middle ray of the tail.
They are national rules and they are strict. Spearing rock lobster is prohibited everywhere in New Zealand — the regulation bans both using a spear to take them and possessing a speared one, with a fine of up to $10,000 — so divers here take crayfish by hand. MPI lists the Central crayfish limits as 3 spiny and a separate 3 packhorse per day from Cape Runaway to the Wairoa River and a combined 6 with a maximum of 3 packhorse south of the Wairoa River, at a minimum tail width of 54 mm for males and 60 mm for females for spiny (red) rock lobster and 84 mm for males and 90 mm for females for packhorse, measured across the tips of the two large spines on the second tail segment; if unsure of the sex, use the female size. Pāua must be free-dived: underwater breathing apparatus is prohibited nationwide for pāua, and simply having pāua and a tank in the same vehicle is an offence. Salmon and trout may not be speared.
Read the water first. Napier City Council runs three weather cams on Marine Parade and SURFCO publishes five-minute beach stills for the same stretch — both show surface chop and wind, not visibility, but on this coast that is usually the deciding factor. Then match the entry to the day: Waipātiki when the open coast is up, the town reef only when the shingle shorebreak has dropped, and Cape Kidnappers only with the tide table on the dash, because the beach route is cut at high water. This coast sits in 12–18 °C water, where thermal protection stops being optional, and the local shark risk is rated moderate, so a float, a buddy and a short shore plan are the sensible defaults. MPI says fishing rules change regularly and should be checked before every trip.
No. MPI states you do not need a licence to fish in the sea around New Zealand, but every MPI Central rule and local closure still applies.
MPI Central lists snapper at 10 per day with a 27 cm minimum, counted inside the combined daily limit of 20 finfish per fisher.
No. Waimārama, including Te Motu o Kura / Bare Island, is closed to the taking of blackfoot pāua, with the ban extended to 22 December 2026.
It is a walk-in that must be timed strictly on the tide, because at high water the beach route is cut off. Treat the turnaround time as the hard limit of the dive.
No. Spearing or puncturing a rock lobster is an offence nationwide, and possessing a speared one carries a fine of up to $10,000. Divers take them by hand.
A 33 cm minimum, with a daily limit of 20 in FMA 2 between Titahi Bay and Cape Runaway. Blue cod must be landed whole or gutted.
