🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
visibility~1m
Nottoday
Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
Sources:IPMA · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 19:49
Sources & confidence
Sources
IPMA · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus
Method
spearo sea-state engine: consensus of up to 6 models + 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.
01
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.
02
Wind & gusts
Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
03
Tide phase
Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
04
Water temperature
Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
05
Currents & outflow
Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
06
Rain runoff & air clarity
Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
07
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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0 m
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
calmupdated 19:49
Nazaré — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · wave 2.1 m (occasionally up to ~4.1 m)
wave 2.1 mwind 5 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.
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−10 m
The water column
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
What it is
A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.
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.
Nazaré shelter harbour (south breakwater)Fishing harbour / south breakwater · Porto de Abrigo da Nazaré (molhe sul)
no data
window
—
tide
Best near high tide — more water over the breakwater rock and a cleaner entry.
shelter
The two breakwaters and the harbour's position ~2 km south of the Pontal cape shelter it from the dominant NW swell; water inside/beside the south mole settles when the open coast is blown out.
conditions
Only diveable in small swell (<1–1.5 m) and light wind; the breakwater rock holds bottom fish, but in-harbour visibility is variable.
hazard
Active fishing harbour — heavy boat traffic at the mouth (entrance only 100 m wide); stay on the outer face of the south mole, fly a float, never cross the channel.
access
Drive the harbour road south of town, park by the port, scramble down to the rocks on the mole's outer face.
The most sheltered rocky structure in Nazaré, but it is a working port — only enter clear of the vessel manoeuvring zone. ⚠️ Real fishing harbour (entrance 100m wide, S breakwater ~400m - both confirmed). But coord 39.587,-9.0725 is on the LANDWARD north side of the basin (reverse-geocodes to Avenida Manuel Remigio parking, ~145m from inner quay, ~1.3km from the actual molhe sul outer face). Corrected to the south breakwater seaward face. Hazard is downplayed: spearfishing is LEGALLY BANNED here - Portaria 144/2009 prohibits it within 100m of harbour access and inside the delimited port area. Text presents it as a divable spot with only a boat-traffic caution; it should say spearfishing in/around the harbour is illegal.
Pedra do Guilhim (Sítio cliffs)Sítio promontory / exposed rock · Pedra do Guilhim (arribas do Sítio)
no data
window
—
tide
High tide covers the exit rocks deeper; at low tide bare rocks and shorebreak are more dangerous.
shelter
Almost no shelter — the rock faces the open Atlantic below the Sítio cliffs; only protected in rare flat calms with offshore wind.
conditions
Only in rare flat calms (swell <0.8 m, offshore wind); rocky bottom holds fish, but the window is very narrow.
hazard
The Nazaré Canyon brings deep water right to shore and amplifies swell up to 3x: the sea can grow in minutes, and a rock exit through shorebreak is a lethal entrapment risk. Scouting from land is mandatory.
access
Via the path/stairs ("Escadas para a Pedra do Guilhim") from the Sítio down to the rock; steep cliff descent.
Scout from land first; a known rock "beaten by waves directly in front" — solo is almost always a no.
SOLO 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.
One morning glance — and you know.
point your camera
≈
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Live cameras, map & reference
Cameras · live
Look at the water right now.
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».
Nazaré — Praia do Norte (Windy)Live Windy webcam — Praia do Norte (Nazaré, the big-wave beach). Official keyless player, plays inline. Read the water and swell before you go.camera: windy ↗Webcams provided by windy.com - add new webcam
Prime target. Shy of light — pick early/twilight windows.
Salema
0–2 m · — · daytime
Easiest target at 0–6 m. ⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
Polvo (octopus)
1–6 m · high water · twilight
Peaks in autumn. Spot the den by the pile of shells. Don't take egg-bearing females. Min. weight 750 g (DGRM).
Tainha (mullet)
0–2 m · — · —
Extremely wary; murky water HINDERS it. Opportunistic, in calm coves.
Santola (spider crab)
1–10 m · low water (reef shelf exposed) · calm morning (≤force 2)
Carapace ≥12 cm. Peaks Jul–Aug. CLOSED 15.02–15.06. Limit 2 kg/day.
Law
🦀 spider crab open (season 16.06–14.02)
✓Spearfishing licence required, daily/monthly/annual (~€25/yr). Speargun = licence required. (DL 246/2000, art. 12.º + 12.º-A; fees in , .) There is no minimum age for the licence, but under-16s are exempt from holding one when fishing accompanied by a licence holder (art. 12.º n.º 2 al. b).
✓Hand-gathering shellfish with NO gear — no licence; but if a speargun is on the dive, a spearfishing licence is required (DL 246/2000, art. 12.º n.º 1; ).
✓Night prohibited: spearfishing only in daylight (sunset→sunrise not allowed). Artificial light as a means of finding/attracting fish is banned — a torch for safety only (, art. 8.º/3 + 3.º/5; DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 1 d).
✓Signalling buoy MANDATORY for spearfishing: buoy/float with an «Alfa» flag (red/orange/yellow, ≥8 L), no more than 30 m from the diver (, art. 4.º/2).
✓Spearfishing daily limit: fish + cephalopods — 15 kg (excluding the largest specimen). General rod-and-line recreational fishing — 10 kg (, art. 12.º/1).
✓Spider crab: min. carapace 12 cm; (closed season) 15.02–15.06 — applies to recreational gathering too (, ; table).
✓Min. sizes: robalo 36 cm, sargo 17 cm, dourada 19 cm, choupa 23 cm, corvina 42 cm; octopus 750 g ( + EU Reg. 2019/1241; minimum-size table).
✓Grouper — fully protected, may not be taken (, art. 10.º + ).
✓Breath-hold only: spearfishing may be practised in apnea alone. Scuba, rebreather and hookah are banned; the speargun may not be powered by a detonating charge or by compressed gas (DL 246/2000, art. 9.º n.º 3 — o antigo art. 6.º foi revogado).
✓The catch may NOT be sold: displaying for sale, offering or selling recreational catch is prohibited — it is for the fisher, the household, or donation to charitable, scientific or museum institutions (DL 246/2000, art. 7.º).
✓A loaded speargun out of the water is an offence (DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 2 f). Same article: no fishing closer than the legally set distance from concessioned beaches during the bathing season (n.º 2 d), nor in places closed for health or marine-traffic reasons (n.º 2 e). The exact metres come from the regulation and the capitania — check before you go.
✓Distances between people: at least 20 m from another spearfisher (, art. 6.º n.º 3) unless you agree otherwise; from a boat, 50 m from other vessels, divers and set gear (art. 6.º n.º 2); every vessel must keep 50 m from your signalling buoy and from boats flying flag Alfa (art. 7.º n.º 6). The figure that circulates — «30 m between hunters» — is wrong: 30 m is the distance to YOUR OWN buoy.
✓What you may take into the water: the CAPTURE gear on a spearfishing dive is the speargun, a shellfish knife, a gaff (puxeiro) and an arrelhada (, art. 3.º n.º 3). That is not a ban on everything else: art. 4.º n.º 1 expressly allows equipment for cold protection, for buoyancy, for protection or safety and for carrying the catch, and any other equipment that does not permit the direct capture of specimens. Bait and groundbait are PROHIBITED in spearfishing (art. 5.º n.º 3). You may not carry or keep a speargun and a breathing apparatus aboard at the same time, nor carry the gun ready to fire out of the water or in a zone where spearfishing is banned (art. 3.º n.º 6). On any recreational-fishing boat the whole crew wears a lifejacket (art. 4.º n.º 3).
✓Where recreational fishing is closed altogether (, art. 8.º n.º 1): in marked shipyard zones (no exception) and in aquaculture establishments — in the LATTER only, fishing is possible when the concession-holder or owner formally authorises it; the shipyard bar has no such carve-out; within 100 m of the mouth of any marked sewage outfall; over beach-concession waters, to the extent the POOC sets; and in other zones closed by the port or maritime authority. For spearfishing and boat fishing specifically (n.º 2) the navigation channels of port and river bars, the approach channels and the buoyed channels are closed. There is NO «300 m from the beach» rule on the mainland — that number comes from Madeira's own act; on the mainland the distance is set by the POOC and by the capitania's edital.
✓The border rivers Minho and Guadiana: spearfishing is BANNED along both international stretches — bilateral Portugal-Spain agreements, art. 9.º n.º 3 (Minho, RAR 34/2023, in force since 26-05-2023) and art. 6.º n.º 1 (Guadiana, RAR 173/2025, in force since 07-12-2025), both reading «É proibida a pesca submarina». On the Guadiana it is also a serious offence (art. 19.º), and a 100 m strip alongside the Sapal de Castro Marim reserve is closed separately (art. 5.º). The stretches run from the confluence with the Trancoso / the Chança down to the closing line at each mouth.
✓On the other Portuguese-Spanish border river stretches (outside the TIRM and the Guadiana maritime-jurisdiction zone) — Decreto 30/88, art. 6.º n.º 1: harpoons, gigs, tridents and any blunt instrument used to take fish are prohibited (al. e), as is «a pesca ou caça subaquática» with artificial light, and night fishing (al. g).
Rules change. Before heading out, check with DGRM / ICNF / Capitania and the defeso table.
Safety protocol
Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. At Cabo Raso/Arriba a 0.5 m rise in swell makes a boulder exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer here.
Headland rip: at Cabo Raso there is a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
Nortada (Jun–Sep): wind builds from midday — be out of the water by ~11:00; the chop builds — get out.
UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.
Local guide · Nazaré
Spearfishing in Nazaré: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Spearfishing in Nazaré is one of the hardest cases on Portugal's central coast. The submarine canyon offshore focuses and amplifies the west swell right at the rock, and the sea can grow in minutes. You only get in on rare calm windows, with groundswell under half a metre and a light offshore wind, mostly in spring and summer when visibility opens. The town bay is the one calm patch of water, but it is sand and a swimming beach. A licence is required and only freediving is allowed.
TL;DR
The Nazaré submarine canyon focuses and amplifies the west swell right at the shore, so you can only spearfish on the rare, genuinely calm days.
There is no reliable hunting spot: the town bay is sand and a swimming beach, spearfishing in the harbour is banned by law, and Pedra do Guilhim at the Sítio is a land-scout only.
National rules: licence required, freediving only, mandatory signal float, minimum sizes and catch limits to confirm with DGRM and the Capitania.
Where can you spearfish in Nazaré?
Nazaré has no reliable spearfishing spot. The rock that holds fish sits on the Sítio headland and the reefs to the south, but the canyon drives deep water to the shore and seals almost every window. Pedra do Guilhim, below the Sítio cliffs, is a land-scout only: the Nazaré canyon amplifies swell up to three times, the sea can grow in minutes, and a rock exit through the shorebreak is a lethal entrapment risk. In the harbour, spearfishing is banned by law, inside the port area and within 100 m of the harbour access, and the 100 m wide mouth carries heavy boat traffic. The town bay is the calmest water, but it is sand and a swimming beach where hunting is banned, so it only serves to read the conditions.
How are the sea conditions in Nazaré today?
Conditions rule everything here, more than the tide. The canyon focuses the west swell, so a day only opens with groundswell under half a metre and a light offshore wind; any west or northwest swell shuts the coast. The better windows are spring and early summer, when the sea settles. Watch the nortada: the same northwest wind that washes the low platforms also drives upwelling and drops the water temperature. On the tide, the end of the ebb into the start of the flood is the better phase for bass near the rock, while seabream feed on the flood. Before you get in, check the swell on the Praia da Vila and Porto de Abrigo webcams.
When is the best time to spearfish in Nazaré, and what can you catch?
There is no fixed local season by the month: what counts is the rare, genuinely calm days, more frequent from late spring through summer, when calmer sea and clearer water line up. The species are the national ones, not Nazaré rules. Sea bass, minimum 36 cm, is the prize target, shy of light and best at dawn from June to October. White seabream, minimum 17 cm, is the most consistent reef fish from April to September; then gilthead bream, black seabream, salema and, in autumn, octopus. Meagre has a national closed season from 1 to 30 June, and grouper is fully protected. Nazaré is not a place to learn solo: for a first outing pick a flat day and a more sheltered coast.
FAQ
Do I need a license to spearfish in Nazaré?
Yes. A spearfishing licence is required from age 16, for residents and visitors alike, available daily, monthly or annually at around 25 euros a year, and hunting is only allowed on breath-hold. Scuba spearfishing is banned. Check the current licence on the DGRM site before you go.
What is the minimum size for sea bass in Portugal?
The minimum landing size for sea bass is 36 cm nationwide. Other minimums include white seabream 17 cm, gilthead bream 19 cm, black seabream 23 cm and meagre 42 cm; octopus is regulated by weight, minimum 750 g.
Is night spearfishing allowed in Portugal?
No. Spearfishing is only allowed in daylight, between sunrise and sunset. Using artificial light to find or attract fish is prohibited; a torch is for safety only.
What is the catch limit for spearfishing in Portugal?
The daily spearfishing limit is 15 kg of fish and cephalopods per person, excluding the single largest specimen. Invertebrates, including spider crab, count under a separate 2 kg daily cap; spider crab has a closed season from 15 February to 15 June.
How far from the beach can you spearfish in Portugal?
You may not spearfish inside delimited bathing zones or near harbour access. At Nazaré, spearfishing is banned inside the port area and within 100 m of the harbour access. Your mandatory signal float must stay within 30 m of you; confirm exact limits with the local Capitania.
Portugal
