Portobelo spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility & live cameras

spearo.app / Panama / Portobelo
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◈Portobelo · Panama
2.6
wave 1 m
visibility~2m

Nottoday

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding.

Sources: Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 09:58

Sources & confidence

Sources
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.

Entry pointsNo-take zones

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.

Coming soon

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Spots in Panama

🇵🇦Panama

Panama map →

Nearby towns

  • Isla Grande
  • Colón / Fort Sherman
  • Panama City / Taboga
  • El Porvenir (Guna Yala)
  • Coronado / Punta Chame

Pacific coast (Gulf of Panama & Azuero)

  • Contadora (Las Perlas)
  • Pedasí (Isla Iguana)
  • Playa Venao

Veraguas & Chiriquí (Coiba)

  • Santa Catalina (Coiba)
  • Boca Chica (Golfo de Chiriquí)
  • Puerto Armuelles

Caribbean coast

  • Bocas del Toro

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spearo.app · a private marine instrument · Portobelo · a planner, not a safety guaranteePrivacy
Today
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0 m

Surface

Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.

spearo.app
updated 09:58
Portobelo — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · wave 1.0 m + hitting the shore
wave 1 mwind 7 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~2 m
today, best window 18:00–21:00
fish · Visibility 2 m · Water 30°C
confidence medium · verdict for the selected day
Best window · next 3 days

Next 3 days — not divable: wave up to 1.2 m

〜 tide is minor here bite times: 07:07–08:07 · 12:30–14:30

Tell me when it's on

Just your email — nothing else needed.

Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.
›
Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.
Selected day

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

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.

Monday · today2026-10-12
06:06–18:03 · waxing crescent
▲ 03:00▼ 08:00▲ 14:00▼ 22:00 · 0.4 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide0.01 m
Wave0.94 m
Wind5 km/h
Water30 °C
fish activity: moon underfoot 01:10 · high · moonrise 07:37 · moderate · moon overhead 13:30 · high · moonset 19:30 · moderate
Conditions window18:00–21:00
don't go fish
Hs 1.00 m · roughperiod 5.9 swind 7→17surge 5.4viz 2 m
1.00 mrough · up to ~2.00 · 20° at an angle
5.9 sswell moderate
7→17gusts 17 km/h
5.4pounding the rocks
0.56m/s
2 mrecent swell
30°C5 mm + hood
▼22:00tide falling
Atmosphere10 kmovercast
moderatemoonset
  • wave 1.0 m + hitting the shore
  • current 0.56 m/s
  • dawn/dusk
confidence mediumtwilight
Open the seafloor map with entry points →

Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play
Google Play — QR code
point your camera
−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.

See all spots →
−20 m

The seabed

Relief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.

On the rock

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

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.

Entry points

Where to get in
off the rocks.

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 →
Airplane wreckPortobelo
dangerous
⛔ Banned here
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—

Wreck, boat access. No hunting — Parque Nacional Portobelo; freediving/visibility point. Dive-site catalogue coordinates.

Google Maps
BuenaventuraPortobelo
dangerous
⛔ Banned here
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—

Reef, boat access. No hunting — Parque Nacional Portobelo; freediving/visibility point. Dive-site catalogue coordinates.

Google Maps

One morning glance — and you know.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play
Google Play — QR code
point your camera
≈

Surfacing

Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.

Live cameras, map & reference
Open the seafloor map →
Reference

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now
  • no targets this month
Law

    Panama: breath-hold spearfishing is legal sport fishing with an ARAP licence (Ley 204 of 2021, art. 65–66); the catch may not be sold. Taking parrotfish, angelfish, damselfish, butterflyfish and surgeonfish is banned nationwide (Ley 304 of 2022, art. 17). Coiba National Park, Isla Iguana and the Zapatilla cays (Bastimentos) are closed to spearfishing; Las Perlas allows only a band speargun on breath-hold. Check current rules locally.

    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. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
    • Headland rip: prominent points often have 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.
    • Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; 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.
    Chicken PointPortobelo
    dangerous
    ⚠ Restrictions apply
    exposed head-on to the swell today
    window
    —

    Rocky point, boat access. Next to Parque Nacional Portobelo — treat as no-take. Dive-site catalogue coordinates.

    Google Maps
    Coral Reef LabyrinthPortobelo
    dangerous
    ⛔ Banned here
    exposed head-on to the swell today
    window
    —

    Reef, boat access. No hunting — Parque Nacional Portobelo; freediving/visibility point. Dive-site catalogue coordinates.

    Google Maps
    Isla DrakePortobelo
    dangerous
    ⛔ Banned here
    exposed head-on to the swell today
    window
    —

    Island/islet edge, boat access. No hunting — Parque Nacional Portobelo; freediving/visibility point. Dive-site catalogue coordinates.

    Google Maps
    Salmedina reefPortobelo
    dangerous
    ⛔ Banned here
    exposed head-on to the swell today
    window
    —

    Reef, boat access. No hunting — Parque Nacional Portobelo; freediving/visibility point. Dive-site catalogue coordinates.

    Google Maps

    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.

    FAQ — spearfishing in Portobelo

    Where can I spearfish in Portobelo?

    Portobelo has rock entry points such as Salmedina reef, Isla Drake and Coral Reef Labyrinth. Portobelo is a colonial harbour on the Caribbean coast, about 100 km by road from Panama City; Salmedina reef, Isla Drake and a sunken aircraft lie in the bay inside Portobelo National Park. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.

    When is the best season in Portobelo?

    September–October and March–April have the calmest water; December–March the trade winds raise a chop.

    How cold is the water in Portobelo?

    About 27–29 °C; visibility 6–15 m, worse after rain.

    Is Portobelo good for a beginner?

    Easy to moderate: small tides; Guna Yala needs community permission, the Bastimentos and Portobelo parks are partly closed.

    Do I need a licence in Portobelo?

    Portobelo: Panama: breath-hold spearfishing is legal sport fishing with an ARAP licence (Ley 204 of 2021, art. 65–66); the catch may not be sold. Taking parrotfish, angelfish, damselfish, butterflyfish and surgeonfish is banned nationwide (Ley 304 of 2022, art. 17). Coiba National Park, Isla Iguana and the Zapatilla cays (Bastimentos) are closed to spearfishing; Las Perlas allows only a band speargun on breath-hold. Check current rules locally.

    Data partners
    dive centres that send us real visibility readings
    Águas VivasMilfontes · Sagres