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
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Olinda, 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.
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: 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 map⛔ Inside the 500 m wreck buffer (State Decree PE nº 23.394/2001, art. 1º, and State Decree PE nº 50.351/2021, art. 5º): amateur fishing and spearfishing are banned; confirm the limits. An iron-hulled paddle steamer, badly broken down and largely buried, 21 m, ~5 nm from Porto do Recife off Olinda; the German sailing vessel Ausstheiger, 17 m, went down in 2016 on the same bearing. Boat only; an info mark.
Google MapsSandstone reef ~645 m off the Casa Caiada seafront towards Rio Doce, 2–5 m. This is the part of Olinda outside the Decreto Estadual PE nº 21.402/1999 interdiction area, but still a coast carrying shark-risk signs — 13 of them in town. Shallow bottom, heavy suspended sand, small reef fish. There is no public record of regular spearfishing here: the coordinate is from OSM and the practice is unverified.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Sandstone barrier ~520 m off Bairro Novo beach, 2–5 m, reachable by a long swim, by kayak or by small boat. It lies a few hundred metres NORTH of the 8º00.700'S limit of the Decreto Estadual PE nº 21.402/1999 interdiction — formally outside it, but right on the line and inside the CEMIT-signposted stretch. Turbid water most of the year, the window being September to December. Depth estimated, not measured.
Google Maps⛔ INSIDE the interdiction area of State Decree PE nº 21.402/1999, art. 1º, whose northern limit is 8º00.700'S; confirm the limits. Reefs ~650 m offshore in front of the Olinda lighthouse and Del Chifre, 2–5 m. Del Chifre alone carries 6 shark attacks and 4 of the town's 13 warning signs. Zone information, not a recommended mark; estimated depth.
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.
Rules change and vary by state. Before heading out, check on gov.br (recreational licence, MPA) and the state closed seasons/sizes; apnea only, goliath grouper is banned.
Olinda has rock entry points such as Recifes do Bairro Novo, Recifes de Casa Caiada / Rio Doce and Recifes do Farol de Olinda / Del Chifre. Olinda sits at the northern end of the Greater Recife shark-attack corridor: the interdiction area of State Decree PE nº 21.402/1999 starts exactly here, at latitude 8º00.700'S (Bairro Novo), and runs south — the lighthouse and Del Chifre, with 6 attacks, are inside it; Casa Caiada and Rio Doce fall a couple of kilometres north of it, but the seafront carries 13 CEMIT warning signs. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.
Best in the drier season (Sep–Mar); the Coral Coast's reef pools clear on calm, low-swell days.
Warm, ~26–28 °C — rashguard or 1.5 mm. Clear coral shelves; much of this coast is a protected APA with rules.
Beginner-friendly shallow reef, but heavily protected — check the APA Costa dos Corais no-take zones before you dive.
Yes — in Olinda you need the Licença de Pesca Amadora (gov.br portal; the category follows boat use, per the MPA: «desembarcada» R$ 20/yr when you enter from shore, «embarcada» R$ 60/yr with a boat — Portaria 616/2022 itself sets no categories; 65+/pensioners exempt). Breath-hold only (no scuba tank — art. 4º §3º), licence on you (art. 17); take home at most 15 kg + 1 fish and never filleted or headless (arts. 8º and 12); don't sell the catch (art. 6º). A marker buoy is mandatory in Santa Catarina (IN MMA 21/2005, art. 5º) — there is no federal buoy rule. Goliath grouper (mero) is full no-take, dusky grouper has a 1 Nov–28 Feb closed season, badejo-mira and peroá close on 25/10/2026 (Portaria GM/MMA 1.666/2026, art. 12) and taking lobster while diving is banned all year (Portaria SAP/MAPA 221/2021, art. 6º III). See the guide.
