Santa Pola · Spain

5.3

wave 0.7 m head-on

visibility4m

Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.

Sources: IPMA · buoys · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 12:49

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

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0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app

no dataupdated 12:49

Santa Pola — solo, off the rocks

BORDERLINE

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry

wave 0.7 m head-onwind 28, gusts 42 km/hvisibility ~4 mwindow 12:00–15:00

today, best window 12:00–15:00

fish · Visibility 4 m · Water 27.3°C

confidence low · verdict for the selected day

Before entering, check the camera and the surge

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

07:38–20:19 · new moon

▲ 02:00▼ 10:00▲ 21:00 · 0.2 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide-0.34 m

Wave0.96 m

Wind12 km/h

Water27 °C

fish activity: moonrise 05:33 · moderate · moon overhead 12:30 · high · moonset 19:28 · moderate · moon underfoot 00:00 · high

Conditions window12:00–15:00

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site fish

Hs 0.66 m · slightperiod 3.8 s head-onwind 28→42surge 0.3viz 4 m

0.66 mslight · up to ~1.32 · 103° head-on

3.8 sswell moderate

28→42gusts 42 km/h

0.3weak surge

0.11m/s

4 mrecent swell

27.3°C5 mm + hood

▲21:00tide rising

Atmosphere39 kmlandmarks visible

highmoon overhead

steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
strong wind 28 km/h, gusts 42 — caution
visibility ~4 m

confidence lowday

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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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Cala Galera / AljibeSanta Pola

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: There is no bus and no beach infrastructure here, so there are fewer people than below the lighthouse and the window is wider: you can work in peace until midday even in July. Water is 19.1 °C in May and 25.2 °C in September. Remember the hundred-metre rule from swimmers, the Valencian one, not the Greek two hundred.
tide: The tide gives you nothing, fourteen centimetres. What does work is the general southward drift of the Gulf of Valencia: on this face it is gentle, but after three days of settled wind you feel it. And the mixed bottom holds turbidity longer than rock: once the sea has been up, the sand pockets keep bleeding sediment for another day.
shelter: The south face of the Santa Pola massif, rocky coves between the town and the Calas del Este group. The shore faces south and southeast: Xaloc and southerly swell run straight in, but Gregal and everything from the north is cut by the ridge itself, so in a northeasterly, when the cape's east face is blown out, you can still work along the rock here.
conditions: The bottom is mixed, stone alternating with sand pockets, and that is the difference from the cape's clean reef: visibility stays within 5 to 8 metres even on a good day; after a southerly the surf stirs the sand and about three are left. The ideal wind is northerly and northwesterly, off the land. There is no specific closure here; the general Comunitat Valenciana rules apply.
hazard: Start with the toponym: the name "Cala Galera" does not exist in Santa Pola, on maps or in registers, and "Aljibe" is a corruption of "l'Aljub", since the real Calas del Cabo de l'Aljub lie further east, below the lighthouse. Plan by the ground, not by the name. Then: local fleet nets over the sand patches, urchins on the slabs and summer runs of Pelagia jellyfish.
access: You come off the Santa Pola-Alicante road on dirt tracks running down the southern slope; the asphalt does not reach the water and the last few hundred metres are on foot. The descent is on loose path and you get in over slabs and boulders, so booties and gloves are needed. From the shore to the first stone ridges it is about a five-minute swim in shallow water.

Rocky coves at the cape; mixed bottom, moderately exposed to the SE.

Google Maps

Cala de la PalmeraSanta Pola

borderline

Ultra · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Cala del Palmar (Cap de Santa Pola)Santa Pola

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: Work at first light: in July and August a city bus runs out to the coves below the lighthouse and by ten there are people with parasols. Water is 14.2 °C in February and 26.2 °C in August, and the most honest month is October at 22.6 °C. Night is banned, and the Comunitat Valenciana licence, from age 16 and with a medical certificate, is compulsory.
tide: The level in Santa Pola moves 14 centimetres, from 0.19 to 0.33 metres, so there is nothing to plan. The real question is the channel between the cape and Tabarca island: it is a classic narrows and the flow ought to strengthen there, but we found no measurements. So do not trust the feel of it, check your drift on the buoy before every series of dives.
shelter: The east face of the Santa Pola cape: a 144-metre cliff and, below it, a string of small coves that appear on maps as Caletes del Cap and Calas del Cabo de l'Aljub. The face is open to the east and southeast, so Llevant and Xaloc come straight in. The body of the cape only covers you from northwesterlies and westerlies, and with those it goes smooth here.
conditions: The rule is simple: with easterlies and southeasterlies you move into the harbour bay; with northerlies you work here, under the cape. Over the Messinian limestone reef the water is blue and clean, and on a quiet day you see 8 to 12 metres. After a day of Llevant the cobbles roll through the coves and 2 to 3 metres are left. On the cape itself no act bans spearfishing.
hazard: The legal margin is small: vertex C of the Isla de Tabarca reserve lies about 2.8 kilometres from the cape, and Orden APA/102/2019 art. 5 bans spearfishing there outright. If you work seaward to the south, count the distance. Then there is the Santa Pola fishing fleet: 300 metres from working boats and 148 metres from their set gear.
access: Drive up the Carretera del Cabo to the pine wood and picnic area, then down to the coves below the lighthouse on paths between pines and limestone steps. The sources say nothing about parking, so come early and use the verge. You get in over stone, the rock shelf starts at once and there is almost no swim to the structure.

Rocky ground below the cape's cliffs; rock drop-offs, sea bream and gilthead, exposed to the easterly (E-SE).

Google Maps

Escollera de Santa PolaSanta Pola

borderline

Pro · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Escollera de Santa Pola (2)Santa Pola

borderline

Pro · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Escolleras del puerto (Gran Playa)Santa Pola

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: In summer Gran Playa is one continuous bathing strip and the hundred-metre rule shuts it down entirely by day; you can only work before the beach opens. October and November are the most honest: water at 22.6 and 19.5 °C, an empty beach and fish holding on the blocks. The Comunitat Valenciana submarina licence lasts two years and costs 16.97 €.
tide: The level is fourteen centimetres and changes nothing. Depth does: the bay is shallow and any surf lifts sand off the flat bottom within hours, then it takes a day to settle. Count separately the salt-pan discharge and the Vinalopó outflow after rain: then a brown layer sits at the surface while it can be cleaner underneath.
shelter: The harbour and Gran Playa sit in a bay facing north and northeast, so the Santa Pola cape shields them from everything southerly: with Migjorn and Xaloc people move over here from under the cape. The weak point is Gregal: the northeasterly runs straight into the bay and drives a short chop along the breakwaters that clouds the sand in an hour.
conditions: This is artificial bottom on sand: concrete blocks and breakwater stone with a flat desert all around. Visibility is modest, 3 to 6 metres on a quiet day, because the Vinalopó and Segura mouths and the shallow salt pans are close by. In exchange, with Migjorn, when the whole east coast is blown out, you can dive here. A place for first outings, not for a trophy.
hazard: The legal ceiling here is hard: port waters are closed to all fishing, outer anchorage and haul-out zone included, Decreto 41/2013 art. 4.3, so you may only work the outer face of the breakwaters, outside the harbour water. On top of that Santa Pola runs one of Spain's largest fishing fleets and the Tabarca ferries, and Tabarca itself is closed outright.
access: The easiest access in town: the Gran Playa promenade, street parking and a straight walk in from the sand, waist-deep for tens of metres. It is a seven or eight minute swim to the outer face of the breakwater, and that is the only legal part. Booties are not needed, but a buoy is: against the blocks and the boats you are invisible here.

Man-made bottom over sand; semi-sheltered, good for beginners. Tabarca is a reserve: FORBIDDEN.

Google Maps

Faro de Santa Pola / VaraderoSanta Pola

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today (city-level)

window: Here it is not the season that decides but the boat timetable: the slipway runs from first light and in high season trailers launch one boat after another. So you go in before seven. Water is 16.3 °C in April and 25.1 °C in July. And the national rule: a loaded gun out of the water is forbidden, and on a slipway everyone can see you.
tide: The fourteen centimetres of tide matter here for exactly one thing: at low water the entry over the ramp and wet slabs turns indecently slippery. There is no current as such, the water just sits. After rain, though, murky runoff comes down from the streets and from the salt pans side, and it lingers by the shore longer than out on the open cape.
shelter: A stony strip by the slipway at the southern edge of town, under the sierra's slope. It is open to the south and southwest: Migjorn and Llebeig raise a short, nasty chop here, while with Llevant and Gregal the massif behind you holds and the water stays workable. Note that the real Santa Pola lighthouse is not here but on the cape, some three and a half kilometres northeast.
conditions: It is shallow here: slabs and broken stone mixed with silty sand by the slipway, and that caps things at 4 to 6 metres of visibility on a good day and 1 or 2 after a southerly. Come on northerlies, when it blows off the land. The place is fine for a short morning session, not for a full day's hunting: for depth you go to the cape.
hazard: The big risk here is legal and not obvious: Valencian port waters are closed to all fishing, including the outer anchorage and haul-out zones, Decreto 41/2013 art. 4.3. And a slipway is precisely a haul-out zone. Work further out and keep clear of the approach line. Physically: propellers, trailer cables across the stone and broken glass by the shore.
access: Access is easy: the last street in town takes you to the slipway, you park alongside and it is thirty metres to the water. But that is exactly why there are always people and machinery. Better not to enter over the concrete but a little to the left, off the slabs, where you get in the boats' way less. Kit up at the car and carry the gun to the water unloaded.

Rocky ground by the lighthouse; entry over the rocks, exposed to the S and SE.

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.

Minimum sizes by caladero (in the table below). Season depends on the species and place.

In season now

European seabass
Dicentrarchus labrax · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
gilthead seabream
Sparus aurata · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
white seabream
Diplodus sargus · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
two-banded seabream
Diplodus vulgaris · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
sharpsnout seabream
Diplodus puntazzo · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
salema / saupe
Sarpa salpa · Mediterranean · RD 560/1995 Anexo II
⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
bogue
Boops boops · Mediterranean · RD 560/1995 Anexo II
striped seabream
Lithognathus mormyrus · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
grey mullet
Mugil / Chelon spp. · Mediterranean · RD 560/1995 Anexo II
red porgy
Pagrus pagrus · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
striped red mullet
Mullus surmuletus · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
dusky grouper
Epinephelus marginatus · Mediterranean · UE 2019/1241
Sin prohibición estatal de captura (NO está en el Catálogo Español, RD 139/2011).
common octopus
Octopus vulgaris · Mediterranean · 1 kg
Talla por PESO: mín. 1 kg (RD 560/1995, todos los anexos). No coger hembras con huevos.

Law

✓Spearfishing licence mandatory; the AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY issues it (not the State) and it is valid in the exterior waters of the whole coast. Free-diving only — scuba is banned (, art. 3).
✓Spearfishing catch may not be sold or traded — it is non-commercial fishing ().
✓Night prohibited: spearfishing only in daylight (sunset to sunrise not allowed) — , art. 16.d.
✓Marker buoy MANDATORY: mark your position with a clearly visible buoy and stay within 25 m of it — , art. 15.
✓Never keep the speargun loaded out of the water — , art. 16.a.
✓Keep at least 300 m from professional fishing vessels that are working — , art. 12.b.
✓The state act (, art. 16) bans, for spearfishing: a loaded gun out of the water; explosive/electric points and lamps (hand torches excepted); underwater scooters; night — from sunset to sunrise. Plus art. 12 b), d), e): 300 m from professional fishing vessels, light as an attractant, poisons/explosives. A ban in a PARTICULAR reserve, port or beach comes from that place's OWN instrument (the reserve's order, the autonomous community's rules, the port authority) — see the no-take zones on the map and your community's rules.
✓Min. sizes by ( + + EU 2019/1241): sea bass 42 cm (rec.) / 36 cm / 25 cm Mediterranean / 22 cm Canaries; gilthead bream 20 cm and white seabream 23 cm in the Mediterranean (EU 2019/1241); grouper 45 cm. See your zone's species card.
✓Only species in Annex I of may be taken; keeping, landing or transporting undersized specimens is prohibited.
✓The licence needs a medical fitness certificate for free-diving and civil-liability insurance (or a federative licence, which includes it). Mandatory in the Basque Country/Murcia/Asturias/Galicia; the federative licence covers it in Galicia/Balearics/Cantabria; the Canaries and Andalusia do NOT require it for the individual licence (a responsible health declaration). Minimum age generally 16 (14 in Andalusia).

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.

FAQ — spearfishing in Santa Pola

Where can I spearfish in Santa Pola?

Santa Pola has rock entry points such as Cala del Palmar (Cap de Santa Pola), Cala Galera / Aljibe and Faro de Santa Pola / Varadero. Spearfishing in Santa Pola: sea forecast and shore-entry spots. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.

When is the best season in Santa Pola?

Long season (May–October) and warm water; summer is the most reliable, mornings before the breeze. The tide is negligible — what matters is the wind, the thermocline and the nearby ports and sandy stretches that cut visibility.

How cold is the water in Santa Pola?

Warm for the Mediterranean: ~14–27 °C. A 3 mm suit in summer, 5 mm in the shoulder months. The thermocline chills the bottom here too.

Is Santa Pola good for a beginner?

Accessible: warm, often calm water, good for gaining experience. Watch the boat traffic near ports and the thermocline at depth; buoy always.

Do I need a licence in Santa Pola?

Yes — in Santa Pola you need a recreational sea-fishing licence (issued by the autonomous community); breath-hold only (no scuba), with a marker buoy and no night diving. See the guide.

Full guide: spearfishing in Spain →

Santa Pola spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

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

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What's in season, what the law says.

FAQ — spearfishing in Santa Pola

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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.

Look at the water
right now.

What's in season,
what the law says.