Where can you spearfish in Punta Sal?

The named marks are the Arrecifes de Punta Sal reef, the Peña Redonda bank offshore, and Caleta Cancas up to the north. The first two sit in no-take cores of the Mar Tropical de Grau reserve, so verify the zoning first.

Is the water warm at Punta Sal?

Usually, yes. This is the tropical Tumbes north, clearer and warmer than the Humboldt coast down south. But a SE-to-SSW upwelling wind can cool it toward 19 to 21 °C and cloud it, so check before you go.

Do you need a licence to spearfish in Peru?

Spearfishing needs a DICAPI diver card or registration, 18+. Recreational rod fishing doesn't need a PRODUCE permit, but spearing on scuba is banned, apnea only.

Can you fish inside the Mar Tropical de Grau reserve?

Only after checking the zoning. The reserve has core no-take zones, and the Punta Sal reef and Peña Redonda bank fall inside its sector. If the sector isn't confirmed open, don't take.

What fish are there around Punta Sal?

The northern warm-water species: murique grouper, cabrilla, chita, pintadilla, Pacific drum and flounder. Chita is closed in December and Pacific drum in April; seahorse, whale shark and manta ray are protected.

When is the best time to dive Punta Sal?

No fixed season, the north is warm most of the year. Aim for a light wind and a small W-to-N swell, since a sea wrapping in from that quarter is what closes the coast.

Punta Sal spearfishing forecast — Peru

Punta Sal · Peru

2.7

wave 1.1 m

visibility3m

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

Sources: IPMA · buoys · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 06:42

Sources & confidence

Sources: IPMA · NDBC & IH buoys · Copernicus Marine · Sentinel-2
Method: spearo sea-state engine: 6-model consensus + 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.

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.
Wind & gusts: Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
Tide phase: Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
Water temperature: Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
Currents & outflow: Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
Rain runoff & air clarity: Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
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.

Google Play — QR code — point your camera

0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app

updated 06:42

Punta Sal — solo, off the rocks

DON'T GO

don't go · wave 1.1 m (occasionally up to ~2.1 m)

wave 1.1 mwind 14 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~3 m

today, best window 09:00–12:00

fish · Visibility 3 m · Water 25.8°C

confidence low · verdict for the selected day

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.

Wednesday · today2026-09-09

06:19–18:22 · new moon

▲ 02:00▼ 08:00▲ 14:00▼ 20:00mid-range tides · 1.6 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide0.31 m

Wave1.22 m

Wind11 km/h

Water26 °C

fish activity: moonrise 05:02 · moderate · moon overhead 11:10 · high · moonset 17:19 · moderate · moon underfoot 23:30 · high

Conditions window06:00–09:00

don't go fish

Hs 1.02 m · roughperiod 11.9 swind 13→20surge 1.7viz 4 m

1.02 mrough · up to ~2.04 · 224° at an angle

11.9 sswell building

13→20gusts 20 km/h

1.7noticeable surge

0.31m/s

4 mrecent swell

25.6°C5 mm + hood

▼08:00tide turn near

Atmosphere22 kmlandmarks visible

lowoff the lunar peaks

wave 1.0 m + swell period 12 s
wind-wave — choppy surface
low water — slack

confidence mediumtwilight

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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.

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Arrecifes de Punta SalPunta Sal

dangerous

⛔ Banned here

⚠️ This point is inside the restricted zone “RN Mar Tropical de Grau — Zona de Recuperación (zonificación oficial del ANP (Plan Maestro) · Ley 26834 (Ley de Áreas Naturales Protegidas) art. 23)”: fishing there is regulated (season, gear, permit), not banned outright. Read the zone's rules before you go.

swell on the quarter today

window: —

Warm-water reef, a noted dive site; inside the Mar Tropical de Grau reserve — check the no-take core before taking. Coords approx.

Google Maps

Caleta CancasPunta Sal

dangerous

swell on the quarter today

window: —

Fishing cove N of Punta Sal; rocky point and sand, warm water. ⚠️Coords approx.

Google Maps

Peña Redonda (banco)Punta Sal

dangerous

⛔ Banned here

⚠️ This point is inside the restricted zone “RN Mar Tropical de Grau — Zona de Aprovechamiento Directo (zonificación oficial del ANP (Plan Maestro) · Ley 26834 (Ley de Áreas Naturales Protegidas) art. 23)”: fishing there is regulated (season, gear, permit), not banned outright. Read the zone's rules before you go.

swell on the quarter today

window: —

Offshore bank off Punta Sal, inside the Arrecifes de Punta Sal sector (RN Mar Tropical de Grau). Good dive site — respect the core zone. Coords approx.

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.

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

murique grouper
Epinephelus labriformis · 3–30 m · legal
flag cabrilla
Epinephelus / Paralabrax · 2–25 m · legal
Peruvian grunt
Anisotremus scapularis · 1–20 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
Reproductive closure in December — don't take it that month. Sale of the catch banned.
Pacific drum
Sciaena deliciosa · 1–20 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
Closure in April — don't take it that month.
Peruvian morwong
Cheilodactylus variegatus · 2–25 m · legal
fine flounder
Paralichthys adspersus · 2–30 m · legal

Law

✓Recreational fishing needs no PRODUCE permit, BUT spearfishing requires a DICAPI diver card/registration (Coast Guard), 18+. Spearing on scuba is banned.
✓RN Mar Tropical de Grau (Máncora/Tumbes/Piura) = protected area with restrictions; check the sectors before shooting.

⛔ 🚫 Seahorse, whale shark and manta ray — take banned. Don't shoot.
⛔ 🚫 RN Mar Tropical de Grau (D.S. 003-2024-MINAM), Paracas NR, San Fernando NR and RNSIIPG (guano islands/points) — no-take core zones: no hunting inside the rings.

Rules change. Before heading out, get the DICAPI diver card/registration (Coast Guard) — spearing on scuba is banned; check the sectors of RN Mar Tropical de Grau.

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.

Spearfishing in Punta Sal: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-20 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Punta Sal is Peru's warm-water corner, up in Tumbes, where golden sand gives way to clean reefs instead of the cold Humboldt green farther south. The headland shelters it from most of the prevailing SW swell, so it opens more days than the exposed coast around Los Órganos; a W-to-N swell, worst from the WNW, is what shuts it. The constraint here is legal: the Punta Sal reef and the Peña Redonda bank both fall inside no-take cores of the Mar Tropical de Grau reserve. Spearfishing needs a DICAPI diver card, 18+, apnea only.

TL;DR

Punta Sal is Peru's warm tropical north, up in Tumbes: golden sand and clean reefs, warmer and clearer than the cold Humboldt coast down south.

The headland shelters it from most of the prevailing SW groundswell, so it dives more often than the open coast around Los Órganos; a swell swinging round from the W to N is what shuts it.

Two of the three marks, the Arrecifes de Punta Sal reef and the Peña Redonda bank, sit inside no-take cores of the Mar Tropical de Grau reserve, so verify the zoning before you take anything.

Peru wants a DICAPI diver card or registration for spearfishing, 18+, apnea only; scuba with a speargun is banned.

Best spearfishing spots in Punta Sal

Three named marks, and they don't play the same. Arrecifes de Punta Sal is the shallow reef off the point, a known dive site but inside a no-take core. Peña Redonda is the deeper bank offshore, also inside the reserve sector. Caleta Cancas, the fishing cove up to the north, is the one our marks don't flag no-take. Coordinates here are approximate, so read the sector before you load.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
Arrecifes de Punta Sal	Warm-water reef (Mar Tropical de Grau)	Shallow reef over the shoal, around 10 m	Intermediate, open coast	Off the Punta Sal point, from the beach	A noted dive site in clear, warm water, but it sits in a reserve no-take core. Check the zoning before you take anything: the SERNANP polygons here aren't verified yet, and the coordinates are approximate.
Peña Redonda (banco)	Offshore bank (reserve sector)

Punta Sal spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

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Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

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

Where to get in
off the rocks.

What's in season,
what the law says.