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 Rainbow Beach, 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 mapReef and headland at the cape; boulders 3–10 m, snapper, mackerel, trevally. 4WD access; Great Sandy MP zoning applies.
Google MapsCameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Rules as of now — 25.10.2026 14:32 (Australia/Brisbane)
All 461 spots → · Region: QLD South-East · spearo.app — All countries
transparency ~23 m · satellite, 2 days agosatellite estimate · may differ right at the shore
Pinnacle ~1 km off Double Island Point, boat only — and CLOSED, which this wave can finally draw: inside Great Sandy Marine Park zone MNP27 «Wolf Rock», a Marine National Park (green) zone where all fishing is prohibited, and a declared Grey Nurse Shark Area on top. It stays on the map as a closure, not a dive.
Sand spit at the Tin Can Bay entrance opposite Fraser Island; strong tidal flow through the passage, 2–8 m. Great Sandy Marine Park zoning covers this area and was re-cut in 2024; check the current zone. The bottom here is mobile sand, not reef — sinkhole collapses have been recorded on this spit.
Google MapsRock platform and reef at the south end of the Rainbow Beach township beach; accessible on foot at low tide, 2–7 m. Surge over the platform is the main hazard; the rocks are only safe in a small swell. This card rests on relief alone — no human account of spearfishing here turned up in the sources.
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 with your state's fisheries (NSW DPI, Fisheries QLD, VFA, DPIRD WA, PIRSA, NRE Tas, NT Fisheries) and the marine-park zoning map.
At Rainbow Beach, read the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning map before the forecast. The main free mark is Double Island Point, a reef and headland at the cape with boulders from 3 to 10 m, snapper, mackerel and trevally, reached by 4WD along the beach. Mudlo Rocks at the south end of the township beach is a small-swell platform dive, and Inskip Point is sand in a strong tidal flow, not reef. Wolf Rock is closed. The town faces east, so a south-easterly shuts the water; check the forecast and the zone before you go.
Depths below are bathymetry ranges that nobody has verified in the water. Wolf Rock stays in the table only so that nobody mistakes it for a dive: it is closed.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double Island Point | Reef and headland at the cape | 3–10 m (unverified) | Calm-day dive | 4WD along the beach | Boulders with snapper, mackerel and trevally. Check the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning before you dive. |
| Mudlo Rocks | Rock platform and reef | 2–7 m (unverified) | Small swell only | On foot at low tide from the township beach | Surge over the platform is the main hazard. No human account of spearfishing here turned up in the sources. |
| Inskip Point | Sand spit, mobile sand bottom | 2–8 m (unverified) | Experienced divers; strong tidal flow | Shore at the Tin Can Bay entrance | Not reef. Sinkhole collapses have been recorded on this spit. Check the current zone; zoning here was re-cut in 2024. |
| Wolf Rock | Offshore pinnacle, boat only | Closed, not a dive | Closed | Closed: all fishing is prohibited | A Marine National Park (green) zone where all fishing is prohibited, and a declared Grey Nurse Shark Area. It stays on the map as a closure, not a dive. |
Rainbow Beach faces east, at 100°, and is not sheltered. Wind and swell from 40° round to 180° blow straight onto the coast, and the worst direction is 130°, the south-easterly. The visibility baseline we hold is about 9 m, and it is a provisional satellite estimate, not a reading from the water. Mudlo Rocks is only safe in a small swell, and Inskip Point runs a strong tidal flow through the passage, so pick the tide as carefully as the wind. Use the forecast on this page for the window.
Wolf Rock is a Marine National Park (green) zone where all fishing is prohibited, and a declared Grey Nurse Shark Area on top. Searys Creek and Myers Creek are the nearest other Marine National Park zones, where all fishing, including spearfishing, is prohibited. Sanctuary and reserve zones are no-take, all fishing, spearfishing included. Inskip Point zoning was re-cut in 2024, so read the official zoning map before you get in.
Snapper, mackerel and trevally are the species named for Double Island Point. Under the Queensland rules snapper have a 35 cm minimum and a bag of 4, and the snapper and pearl perch closure on Queensland east-coast tidal waters runs from 15 July to 15 August. Spanish mackerel have a 75 cm minimum and a bag of 1, with closures on the east coast south of 22°S from 1 February to 21 February and from 1 March to 21 March. Spotted mackerel have a 60 cm minimum and a bag of 5. Greynurse shark and Queensland groper are no-take.
The nearest towns with free marks on our map are Noosa Heads, Coolum Beach, Hervey Bay and Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba). Each has its own page with its own wind sector and forecast, so plan from that page rather than borrowing the Rainbow Beach window.
No. Wolf Rock is a Marine National Park (green) zone where all fishing is prohibited, and a declared Grey Nurse Shark Area.
By 4WD along the beach. Check the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning at the cape first.
Wind and swell from 40° round to 180°, worst from 130°. The coast faces east and is not sheltered.
Snapper have a 35 cm minimum and a bag of 4, with a closure from 15 July to 15 August on Queensland east-coast tidal waters.
No. Greynurse shark and Queensland groper are no-take.
Wide Bay buoy: wave 1.6 m · 5 h ago
