Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding.
Sources:IPMA · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 08:00
Sources & confidence
Sources
IPMA · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus
Method
spearo sea-state engine: consensus of up to 6 models + 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.
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.
Coming soon
Get the go / no-go verdict for Sesimbra by email
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Sesimbra, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.
point your camera
−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: 3016 spots across 406 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
Praia da Ribeira do CavaloArrábida / Marine Park (no-take)
dangerous
⛔ Banned here
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
window
Early morning — before the wild beach fills with tourists.
tide
Any tide; low water exposes the rocky islets.
shelter
South-facing cove, very sheltered from N/NW — hence the glassy, fish-rich water. Ideal for freediving/snorkel.
conditions
Almost always diveable in N wind; clear water. But spearfishing is NOT allowed.
hazard
The main 'hazard' here is legal: the whole water is the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park, spearfishing BANNED park-wide (fines, gear seizure). Physically, the trail's final descent is near-vertical over slippery rock dust, below an unstable cliff that sheds loose blocks onto the beach.
access
~1 km trail from the dirt road past Sesimbra's Porto de Abrigo, descending between rocks; or by boat/kayak.
The prettiest, most fish-rich water by Sesimbra — but it is a NO-TAKE reserve. Listed as a WARNING: come here to dive without a gun. For spearfishing, go west of Cabo Espichel. ⚠️ The descent to the cove is dangerous: the final ~50 m are near-vertical over slippery fine dust on rock, and the fractured cliff drops loose blocks onto the beach — a real risk for a solo diver hauling gear.
One morning glance — and you know.
point your camera
≈
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».
Early morning before the afternoon wind; summer is often flatter and diveable, winter brings big swell.
tide
Low-to-mid tide opens the reef and the entry off the rock platform.
shelter
Sheltered from north wind (Cabo Espichel and the cliff block N/NW). Fully open to the west swell.
conditions
Only on a small W/NW swell (<1 m) with N or no wind; the reef starts breaking at 1–1.5 m.
hazard
Entry/exit over flat rocks in the shorebreak is the main danger; on swell it slams onto the rocks and there are rips along the reef.
access
N377 toward Meco, then right onto the dirt road to the parking; walk the cliff path down to the small sand patch and rock platform.
First spearfishing-legal spot north of the park: reef bottom, a known spearo location (Roteiro da Arrábida). The Luiz Saldanha park begins to the south — spearfishing is BANNED inside it.
Early morning in calm; by afternoon nortada and waves churn and endanger the water.
tide
Low tide exposes the rocky reef ends, better for hunting.
shelter
Almost no shelter — a long open beach facing the west swell and the afternoon nortada head-on.
conditions
Rare window: small swell plus light/easterly wind. Sandy bottom — structure only at the rocky ends.
hazard
The Meco rip currents are NOTORIOUS — the dominant danger, with recurring drownings; there is almost always wave and shorebreak. Solo only on an obviously calm day.
access
From Aldeia do Meco via N377 to the Camping Meco lots; short walk over the dunes to the sand.
Mostly open sand (little for spearing); only worthwhile at the reef ends on a flat day. Otherwise a scout/fallback. Outside the park, legal.
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.
,
.) 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 (, art. 10.º + ).
✓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).
Rules change. Before heading out, check with DGRM / ICNF / Capitania and the defeso table.
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 · Sesimbra
Spearfishing in Sesimbra: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Sesimbra is a legality-first spearfishing area. The town bay and Arrábida water are famously calm, but the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park bans spearfishing throughout the park. The local legal direction is west of Cabo Espichel: Praia da Foz, Praia das Bicas and Moinho de Baixo at Meco. Those spots are no longer sheltered bay water; they are west-coast entries with swell, rips and rock exits.
TL;DR
In Sesimbra, the calmest water is not automatically legal spearfishing water.
Spearfishing is banned throughout the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park; legal options sit west of Cabo Espichel.
Praia da Foz, Bicas and Meco are listed; Ribeira do Cavalo is a protected red warning.
Legal spearfishing spots near Sesimbra
Only yellow, non-red entries outside the park ban are listed. Check current boundaries before entering.
Spot
Type
Depth
Level
Access
Notes
Praia da Foz
West-coast reef and slab
Shallow to mid reef
Careful advanced
N377 toward Meco, dirt road to parking, then cliff path down
First legal spot north of the park. Needs small W/NW swell and a planned slab exit.
Praia das Bicas
Sand beach with reef ends
Shallow rocky ends
Intermediate to advanced
Clifftop parking and long staircase to the sand
Outside the park and associated with spearfishing, but exposed to west swell and a tiring stair exit.
Praia do Moinho de Baixo (Meco)
Open sand with reef ends
Shallow only at the rocky ends
Intermediate on flat days
From Aldeia do Meco toward Camping Meco lots, then across the dunes
Fallback only. Meco rips and open-beach shorebreak are the main hazards.
What decides a Sesimbra spearfishing day?
The legal boundary comes first. Spearfishing is banned throughout the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park, so Ribeira do Cavalo and the Arrábida side are not hunting spots. Legal shore entries west of Cabo Espichel need small W/NW swell, light or easterly wind and early timing before the nortada. Low to mid tide reveals reef; early flood helps the exit. The Meco webcam reference can help read the exposed coast.
FAQ
Can I spearfish in Sesimbra town bay?
Do not assume so. The town sits in the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park context, where spearfishing is banned park-wide.
Where are the legal options?
West of Cabo Espichel: Praia da Foz, Praia das Bicas and Moinho de Baixo at Meco.
Why exclude Ribeira do Cavalo?
It is protected park water and marked red, with a difficult trail and no legal hunting.
What is the main Meco hazard?
Rip currents and shorebreak on the open sand beach.
Which Portugal rules apply?
License from 16, breath-hold only, daylight only, flagged buoy within 30 m and national minimum sizes.
Portugal
