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.
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.
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0 m
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.
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−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: 1391 spots across 205 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
Praia do MartinhalBaleeira / Martinhal bay, east of town
dangerous
⛔ Banned here
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
window
Mornings before the wind (NW/W reliably picks up by afternoon). Summer for clarity and warmer water.
tide
Any tide, though a higher tide gives more water over the sand and easier reach to the rock edges. Very gentle entry.
shelter
The most sheltered water in Sagres: a wide E/SE-facing bay protected from the dominant NW wind and W swell. Often glassy, hence the snorkel, windsurf and SUP scene.
conditions
Diveable almost any calm day — clear water near the islets. Only the rare SE/S swell wrapping straight in spoils it.
hazard
Water hazards are low — it's a family paddling beach. Real risks: boats and dive RIBs running to the islets and Baleeira harbour (fly a flagged buoy), and weever fish in the sand. Afternoon wind pushes you offshore.
access
Access and parking by the Martinhal resort east of town; gentle sandy walk-in from the beach. The Baleeira harbour mole is right next door — spearfishing is banned there (harbour entrance).
IMPORTANT: the Ilhotes do Martinhal are a marine reserve (Partial Protection I, no-take since 2011) — spearfishing is BANNED there; the beach itself is a bathing beach (200 m rule). Great for scouting/snorkel, but as a hunting spot it's essentially off-limits.
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
window
Early morning before the sea breeze and beach crowds; best season late spring to autumn for cleaner water. Mind the 200 m rule off the lifeguarded swimming zone in summer.
tide
Best on a higher or mid tide; at low water the submerged rocks on the flanks break the surface and the exit over them gets awkward.
shelter
South-facing bay walled by cliffs on both sides — it kills the dominant W/NW Atlantic swell and the NW wind. The most sheltered entry in Sagres, flat most of the year.
conditions
Diveable on W/NW swell when the west coast is firing — the bay stays glassy. Only blown out by the rare S/SE swell that wraps straight in and turns the shore into a heavy closeout.
hazard
The dominant danger is current along the rocky flanks — forums and dive shops explicitly warn of strong current off the 'Telheiro restaurant' rocks — plus hidden rocks on the flank exits. Solo: flagged buoy mandatory, hug the rock line, not open water.
access
Walk in from Sagres centre via the N268, parking and steps down to the sand; gentle sandy entry in the middle, swim out to the rock structure on the left (Telheiro) or right.
Sagres' classic shore-spear entry: sand in the middle to get in, rock on the flanks for fish (sea bream, bass, octopus). Don't hunt inside the lifeguarded swimming zone.
Telheiro / west headland of MaretaWest headland of Mareta bay (Telheiro do Infante) · Telheiro / Ponta da Mareta (recife oeste)
dangerous
swell on the quarter today
window
Early morning calm before the breeze. Late spring to autumn. This is fish structure (rocks, gullies, octopus), not a sand beach.
tide
Higher or mid tide — at low water the reef shallows out, with surge and an entrapment risk between the rocks.
shelter
Same south aspect as Mareta but the reef juts west toward the headland, so W swell wraps onto it more. Cliff-sheltered from the NW wind but less protected than the beach centre.
conditions
Window is small W swell with N/NE wind. As soon as the W swell builds, the reef gets shorebreak and surge in the rocks — don't go then.
hazard
Dive operators flag strong current here and rocks/caves — solo risk is high: drift along the headland plus surge slamming the exit rocks as swell builds. Calm only, with a buoy, ideally with a buddy.
access
From the left (west) end of Praia da Mareta, below the Telheiro do Infante restaurant: drop to the sand and swim/scramble out to the reef. Shares Mareta's parking.
This is the reef 'in front of Telheiro' that dive guides and forums call the bay's best fish structure — rocks, caves, variety. Quiet, but more technical than the beach itself.
Praia do TonelWest-facing beach below Sagres fortress
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
Only early morning on a rare swell-less day. Never solo in winter.
tide
Even small swell on the wrong tide turns the beach into a heavy closeout — pick a higher tide and a calm window, or don't enter at all.
shelter
Essentially unsheltered: faces due west and takes any Atlantic swell at full force. The side rocks give only slight shelter from N/E wind, never from the swell.
conditions
Diveable only in a rare flat window — tiny swell (significant height well under ~0.5 m) with E/NE wind. Most of the year it's surf and closeout.
hazard
Serious danger: powerful closeout surf, strong rips and submerged rocks (especially on the right). Guides explicitly warn non-experts off swimming. For solo spearing this is a scout-from-land spot, not an entry, until you've seen it genuinely flat.
access
Steps from the car park by Sagres fortress down to the sand. Water straight off the beach, but the exit is governed by incoming surf.
Sagres' most famous surf break — by default not a hunting spot. Look first from the fortress clifftop; only enter if it's truly calm. Otherwise skip it and fish Mareta.
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.
One morning glance — and you know.
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≈
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Live cameras, map & reference
Cameras · live
Look at the water right now.
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».
Sagres — Praia do Martinhal (Windy)Live Windy webcam — Praia do Martinhal (Sagres). Official keyless player, plays inline. Read the water and swell before you go.camera: windy ↗
Sagres — Porto da Baleeira (Windy)Live Windy webcam — Baleeira harbour (Sagres). Official keyless player, plays inline. Read the water and swell before you go.camera: windy ↗
Sagres — Praia da Mareta (Windy)Live Windy webcam — Praia da Mareta (Sagres). Official keyless player, plays inline. Read the water and swell before you go.camera: windy ↗
In season now: Sea bass, White seabream, Gilthead bream, Salema, Octopus, Mullet
In season now
Robalo (sea bass)
<4 m · end of ebb → start of flood · dawn/dusk
Prime target. Shy of light — pick early/twilight windows.
Sargo (white seabream)
1–5 m · flood (rides the surf onto the reef) · dawn
Dominant reef target. Visibility matters more than time of day.
Dourada (gilthead bream)
1–4 m · flood over sand/weed · dawn
Very skittish — static ambush.
Salema
0–2 m · — · daytime
Easiest target at 0–6 m. ⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
Polvo (octopus)
1–6 m · high water · twilight
Peaks in autumn. Spot the den by the pile of shells. Don't take egg-bearing females. Min. weight 750 g (DGRM).
Tainha (mullet)
0–2 m · — · —
Extremely wary; murky water HINDERS it. Opportunistic, in calm coves.
Santola (spider crab)
1–10 m · low water (reef shelf exposed) · calm morning (≤force 2)
Carapace ≥12 cm. Peaks Jul–Aug. CLOSED 15.02–15.06. Limit 2 kg/day.
Law
🦀 spider crab open (season 16.06–14.02)
✓Spearfishing licence required, daily/monthly/annual (~€25/yr). Speargun = licence required. (DL 246/2000, art. 12.º + 12.º-A; fees in , .) There is no minimum age for the licence, but under-16s are exempt from holding one when fishing accompanied by a licence holder (art. 12.º n.º 2 al. b).
✓Hand-gathering shellfish with NO gear — no licence; but if a speargun is on the dive, a spearfishing licence is required (DL 246/2000, art. 12.º n.º 1; ).
✓Night prohibited: spearfishing only in daylight (sunset→sunrise not allowed). Artificial light as a means of finding/attracting fish is banned — a torch for safety only (, art. 8.º/3 + 3.º/5; DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 1 d).
✓Signalling buoy MANDATORY for spearfishing: buoy/float with an «Alfa» flag (red/orange/yellow, ≥8 L), no more than 30 m from the diver (, art. 4.º/2).
✓Spearfishing daily limit: fish + cephalopods — 15 kg (excluding the largest specimen). General rod-and-line recreational fishing — 10 kg (, art. 12.º/1).
✓Spider crab: min. carapace 12 cm; (closed season) 15.02–15.06 — applies to recreational gathering too (, ; table).
✓Min. sizes: robalo 36 cm, sargo 17 cm, dourada 19 cm, choupa 23 cm, corvina 42 cm; octopus 750 g ( + EU Reg. 2019/1241; minimum-size table).
✓Grouper — fully protected, may not be taken (
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. At Cabo Raso/Arriba a 0.5 m rise in swell makes a boulder exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer here.
Headland rip: at Cabo Raso there is 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.
Nortada (Jun–Sep): wind builds from midday — be out of the water by ~11:00; 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.
Local guide · Sagres
Spearfishing in Sagres: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Sagres is one of Portugal’s strongest spearfishing areas because the town has both west and south coasts. When west swell is running, Mareta often stays sheltered; when S or SE swell arrives, that bay can close quickly. For shore spearing, use Mareta as the practical entry and Telheiro as the more technical reef. Martinhal is calm but tied to protected no-take islets, and Tonel is a red/scout surf beach.
TL;DR
Sagres is about choosing the lee side between west and south exposures.
Mareta is the classic sheltered entry; Telheiro has better structure but more current and surge.
Martinhal is protected/no-take context, and Tonel is red/scout, so neither is recommended.
Best spearfishing spots in Sagres
Only non-red, non-scout entries are listed. Check local park rules before entering.
Spot
Type
Depth
Level
Access
Notes
Praia da Mareta
South-facing bay with sand and rocky flanks
Shallow to mid rocky edges
Intermediate
From Sagres centre via N268, parking and steps to the sand
Classic shore entry. Good on W/NW swell; poor when S or SE swell enters the bay.
Telheiro / Ponta da Mareta
Reef on the west side of Mareta bay
Shallow to mid rock, cracks and gullies
Careful advanced
Left end of Mareta below Telheiro do Infante, then swim or scramble to the reef
More fish structure and fewer people, but stronger current and surge. Use a buoy and a clear exit plan.
How do Sagres conditions work?
Choose exposure first. Mareta and Telheiro face south and are sheltered from the dominant W/NW swell and nortada, so they can be glassy while the west coast is breaking. South or southeast swell is the bad setup for the bay. Go early, before wind and beach traffic. There are cameras for Mareta, Martinhal and Baleeira, useful for checking sea state and boat traffic.
✓Breath-hold only: spearfishing may be practised in apnea alone. Scuba, rebreather and hookah are banned; the speargun may not be powered by a detonating charge or by compressed gas (DL 246/2000, art. 9.º n.º 3 — o antigo art. 6.º foi revogado).
✓The catch may NOT be sold: displaying for sale, offering or selling recreational catch is prohibited — it is for the fisher, the household, or donation to charitable, scientific or museum institutions (DL 246/2000, art. 7.º).
✓A loaded speargun out of the water is an offence (DL 246/2000, art. 14.º n.º 2 f). Same article: no fishing closer than the legally set distance from concessioned beaches during the bathing season (n.º 2 d), nor in places closed for health or marine-traffic reasons (n.º 2 e). The exact metres come from the regulation and the capitania — check before you go.
✓Distances between people: at least 20 m from another spearfisher (, art. 6.º n.º 3) unless you agree otherwise; from a boat, 50 m from other vessels, divers and set gear (art. 6.º n.º 2); every vessel must keep 50 m from your signalling buoy and from boats flying flag Alfa (art. 7.º n.º 6). The figure that circulates — «30 m between hunters» — is wrong: 30 m is the distance to YOUR OWN buoy.
✓What you may take into the water: the CAPTURE gear on a spearfishing dive is the speargun, a shellfish knife, a gaff (puxeiro) and an arrelhada (, art. 3.º n.º 3). That is not a ban on everything else: art. 4.º n.º 1 expressly allows equipment for cold protection, for buoyancy, for protection or safety and for carrying the catch, and any other equipment that does not permit the direct capture of specimens. Bait and groundbait are PROHIBITED in spearfishing (art. 5.º n.º 3). You may not carry or keep a speargun and a breathing apparatus aboard at the same time, nor carry the gun ready to fire out of the water or in a zone where spearfishing is banned (art. 3.º n.º 6). On any recreational-fishing boat the whole crew wears a lifejacket (art. 4.º n.º 3).
✓Where recreational fishing is closed altogether (, art. 8.º n.º 1): in marked shipyard zones (no exception) and in aquaculture establishments — in the LATTER only, fishing is possible when the concession-holder or owner formally authorises it; the shipyard bar has no such carve-out; within 100 m of the mouth of any marked sewage outfall; over beach-concession waters, to the extent the POOC sets; and in other zones closed by the port or maritime authority. For spearfishing and boat fishing specifically (n.º 2) the navigation channels of port and river bars, the approach channels and the buoyed channels are closed. There is NO «300 m from the beach» rule on the mainland — that number comes from Madeira's own act; on the mainland the distance is set by the POOC and by the capitania's edital.
✓The border rivers Minho and Guadiana: spearfishing is BANNED along both international stretches — bilateral Portugal-Spain agreements, art. 9.º n.º 3 (Minho, RAR 34/2023, in force since 26-05-2023) and art. 6.º n.º 1 (Guadiana, RAR 173/2025, in force since 07-12-2025), both reading «É proibida a pesca submarina». On the Guadiana it is also a serious offence (art. 19.º), and a 100 m strip alongside the Sapal de Castro Marim reserve is closed separately (art. 5.º). The stretches run from the confluence with the Trancoso / the Chança down to the closing line at each mouth.
✓On the other Portuguese-Spanish border river stretches (outside the TIRM and the Guadiana maritime-jurisdiction zone) — Decreto 30/88, art. 6.º n.º 1: harpoons, gigs, tridents and any blunt instrument used to take fish are prohibited (al. e), as is «a pesca ou caça subaquática» with artificial light, and night fishing (al. g).
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