Today — right on the edge — 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 Pacific Grove, 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.
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: 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 kelp cove with practical kayak access, 3–10 m, and finfish spearing permitted. WARNING: our approximate polygons also clip the no-take Asilomar SMR here — confirm the exact line before loading up.
Google MapsWARNING: the kelp reef off the Lovers Point beach entry, 3-12 m, sits inside the Lovers Point - Julia Platt SMR by the CDFW polygon: no-take, nothing may be removed. The reserve edge is barely 30 m away, so a drift out of the cove changes the law. Photography, never hunting.
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».
SpainA rocky cove with lingcod, cabezon and several rockfish species, 3–12 m. Conditional: in the Marine Gardens SMCA finfish may be speared, but ALL invertebrates are protected — no lobster, no abalone.
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.
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.
Spearfishing in Pacific Grove is restricted by protected water before it is limited by habitat. Kelp, rockfish, lingcod and cabezon habitat is obvious, but the named shore entries fall into hard MPA warnings or require exact confirmation that cannot be guessed from the rocks. For a visiting diver, the honest plan is to scout conditions, verify CDFW boundaries and avoid harvest unless a legal finfish area is clear.
Otter Cove and Coral Street are conditional finfish-by-spear options inside the Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA, so finfish may be speared while all invertebrates stay protected. The fail-close rule is stronger than the fish appeal: if the water is inside Asilomar SMR, Lovers Point-Julia Platt SMR or an uncertain MPA boundary, do not spear. Lovers Point-Julia Platt SMR is left out of the table because it is no-take viewing water.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otter Cove | Rocky cove and kelp reef | Shallow rock and kelp, qualitative only | Intermediate cold-water dive | Shore approach after checking surge and exit | Rocky cove holding lingcod, cabezon and several rockfish. It is conditional under the Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA: finfish by spear are allowed, but all invertebrates are protected, with no lobster, abalone or poke-pole. |
| Coral Street reef (Lucas Point) | Kelp cove reef | Kelp and rock, qualitative only | Intermediate, kayak or shore entry | Kayak-dive access into the kelp cove | Kelp cove where finfish spearing is permitted. It is conditional under the Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA, with invertebrates protected and no poke-pole. |
The local checks include Asilomar SMR, Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA and Lovers Point-Julia Platt SMR. State Marine Reserves are no-take. Some SMCAs allow selected finfish methods, but only inside exact boundaries and under exact rules. Do not simplify this coast from memory.
The west-facing peninsula has a bad sector from about 250-340 degrees. Northwest swell can make even small coves surge hard over rock and kelp. NOAA station 46042, Monterey Bay cameras and a direct entry check should all agree before a legal dive is considered.
The species mix includes lingcod, cabezon, rockfish, halibut, white seabass, sheephead and kelp or sand bass. Giant sea bass and garibaldi are no-take, salmon are not spear targets, red abalone is closed to 2036, and lobster is hand-take only where legal.
Use the shoreline as a conditions classroom first. Check whether the entry is actually outside hard reserve water, then decide whether harvest is lawful. If there is any doubt, keep the gun unloaded and use the dive for visibility, kelp and exit practice instead of taking fish.
No. Treat Lovers Point-Julia Platt SMR as no-take viewing water.
Do not assume so. Hard MPA warnings require CDFW confirmation before any harvest.
Cold water, kelp, rock exits and west-northwest surge.
NOAA NDBC station 46042 is the listed offshore reference.
Yes. A California sport fishing license is required wherever harvest is lawful.
buoy Monterey, CA: 17.0° · wave 1.3 m/11 s · 5 h ago
Portugal
