Punta CarneroSalinas
borderlineswell on the quarter today
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Salinas spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras
5.1
💧 Water should clear by Thursday (~1d)
visibility1m
Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and surge pounding. 💧 Water should clear by Thursday (~1d)
Sources: IPMA · NDBC · Copernicus — high confidence · data 12:56
Sources & confidence
- Sources
- IPMA · NDBC buoys · Copernicus Marine
- Method
- Model consensus, read per window
- Freshness
- Re-read every hour, per coast
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine
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 — forced red; the window is closed after dark.
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
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
calmupdated 12:56
Salinas — solo, off the rocks
caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · wave 1.4 m (occasionally up to ~2.8 m)
wave 1.4 m head-onwind 15, gusts 42 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~2 m
today, best window 18:00–21:00
fish · Visibility 2 m · Water 26.3°C
confidence medium · 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 · today2026-07-22
06:29–18:30 · first quarter
▼ 03:00▲ 09:00▼ 16:00▲ 22:00 · 1.1 m
Hours (06→20)
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide0.72 m
Wave1.32 m
Wind13 km/h
Water26 °C
fish activity: moonset 00:43 · moderate · moon underfoot 06:50 · high · moonrise 13:00 · moderate · moon overhead 19:10 · high
Conditions window12:00–15:00
don't go fish
Hs 1.54 mperiod 4.9 s head-onwind 19→49surge 4.5viz 1 m
1.54 mup to ~3.08 · 212° head-on
4.9 sswell moderate
19→49gusts 49 km/h
4.5pounding the rocks
0.17m/s
1 mrecent swell
26.3°C5 mm + hood
▼16:00tide falling
Atmosphere30 kmovercast
moderatemoonrise
- wave 1.5 m (occasionally up to ~3.1 m)
- steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
- ebb — weaker inshore
confidence mediumday
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: 1152 spots across 189 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
See all spotsThe 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
La Chocolatera (FAE base — ID access)Salinas
closedswell on the quarter today
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
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.
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».
Reference
What's in season,
what the law says.
In season now
- mahi-mahi⚠️ Closed 1 Jul–7 Oct. Minimum size 80 cm (TL) — the only regulated size in Ecuador.
- wahoo
- yellowfin tuna
- Pacific sierra
- almaco jack
- snapper
- croaker
- snook
- grouperNo national minimum size (verified:false). Slow-growing — set an ethical limit.
- sand/rock bass
- pompano
- barracuda
- roosterfishUsually catch-and-release sport. No national size.
Law
- ✓Authority: Viceministerio de Acuacultura y Pesca (Ministry of Production). Coastal recreational spearfishing is lightly regulated, but mind closed seasons and sizes.
- ✓Dorado (mahi): closed 1 Jul–7 Oct and 80 cm (LT) minimum — the only regulated size in Ecuador. PN Machalilla and the Galápagos Marine Reserve are no-take.
- ⛔ 🚫 Plan de Acción Tiburones: 9 sharks (white, whale, hammerhead ×4, oceanic, basking, bonnethead), manta (Manta birostris) and sawfish (Pristis pristis) — take/sale BANNED. Finning («aleteo») banned.
- ⛔ Sea turtles and marine mammals — no-take.
- ⛔ 🚫 Galápagos Marine Reserve and Machalilla NP (Isla de la Plata/Salango) — marine-resource extraction banned; hunting banned. REMAPE (El Pelado, Ayangue) — core reserve, hunting restricted.
Rules change. Before heading out, check with the Viceministerio de Acuacultura y Pesca (Ministry of Production); respect the dorado closure (1 Jul–7 Oct, 80 cm) and the no-take zones (PN Machalilla, Galápagos).
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 Salinas: spots, seasons and rules
In Salinas, the town beach is not the real spearfishing story. The workable ground is on the rocky points, especially Punta Carnero when the sea is low enough for a clean exit. La Chocolatera may look tempting, but controlled military access and the REMACOPSE protected area make it a fail-closed zone unless formal local clearance says otherwise. Warm-season water from December to May is usually the best bet; the June-November garúa often turns visibility green.
TL;DR
- Salinas is a point-based spearfishing town: the beach is sheltered, the hunting ground is on rock.
- Punta Carnero is the practical open-coast option; La Chocolatera should be treated as no-take.
- Dorado is closed in Ecuador from 1 Jul-7 Oct and has an 80 cm minimum.
Salinas spearfishing points
Use the rocks only when access, swell and protected-area status all line up. Salinas also has sport-fishing traffic, so a visible float matters.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punta Carnero | Open rocky point | Rock and sand, 0-15 m | Intermediate | Open shore access | The best practical shore option for snapper, grouper, sierra, almaco jack and croaker. |
| La Chocolatera | Controlled point in protected context | Exposed rock | Do not plan as a hunting spot | FAE base, ID-controlled access | Treat as no-take because of REMACOPSE unless a competent authority confirms otherwise. |
When does Salinas fish best?
December to May is the cleaner warm season, sometimes around 5-12 m visibility. June to November brings garúa, cooler upwelled water and more green haze. Avoid west to northwest swell on the points, and use the Salinas camera only as a quick sea-state clue, not as a legal check.
FAQ
Can you spearfish La Chocolatera?
Do not plan on it. Treat it as no-take because of protected-area and access controls.
Where is the practical shore spot?
Punta Carnero, on calm days with a safe rock exit.
What can you see there?
Snapper, grouper, sierra, almaco jack and croaker on the rock.
What is the dorado rule?
Closed 1 Jul-7 Oct, with an 80 cm national minimum size.
Is Salinas a boat-only area?
No, but boat and charter traffic are common, so keep the float obvious.
Sources
Nearby towns
Coming soon
Get the go / no-go verdict for Salinas by email
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Salinas, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
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