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The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appToday — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
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 Riverton, 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 mapThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appRocky Colac Bay/Ōraka west of Riverton; pāua and butterfish in cold kelp water — Foveaux GW hazard, advice-heavy.
Google MapsCameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appRiverton Rocks/Taramea Bay, partly sheltered behind the point; pāua, blue cod and butterfish — cold, GW range.
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 are regional. Before heading out, check with MPI (regional fishing rules / the NZ Fishing Rules app), DOC (marine reserves) and local notices (rāhui/mātaitai).
Riverton has rock entry points such as Riverton Rocks (Taramea), Colac Bay / Ōraka and Balancing Rock (Riverton West). Aparima/Riverton on the western Southland coast, partly sheltered behind Riverton Rocks — cold, kelp-rich water with pāua, blue cod and butterfish. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.
Summer (Dec–Mar) — cold, rough Foveaux water; rare windows, harsh conditions.
Summer 9–13 °C — 7 mm / drysuit; cold Foveaux.
Very hard: cold, rough Foveaux — rare windows.
No — New Zealand has no recreational sea-fishing licence, so anyone may spearfish at Riverton; MPI's size, bag and gear rules still apply and they are regional (the combined finfish daily limit is 20). Crayfish and pāua are free-dive only — taking them on scuba is banned nationwide — spearfishing is banned inside every marine reserve, and mātaitai, taiāpure and rāhui must be respected. See the guide.