Shelly Beach spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

spearo.app / South Africa / Shelly Beach
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◈Shelly Beach · South Africa
2.5
🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
visibility~1m

Nottoday

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling

Sources: Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 06:07

Sources & confidence

Sources
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.

Entry pointsNo-take zones

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.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play
Google Play — QR code
point your camera
0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app
updated 06:07
Protea Banks (offshore reef) — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · wave 1.7 m (occasionally up to ~3.4 m)
wave 1.7 mwind 10 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m
today, best window 06:00–09:00
fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 24°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.

Sunday · today2026-10-25
05:09–18:16 · full moon
▲ 02:00▼ 08:00▲ 15:00▼ 21:00 · 1.9 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide-0.34 m
Wave1.68 m
Wind4 km/h
Water24 °C
fish activity: moon overhead 00:00 · high · moonset 04:17 · moderate · moon underfoot 11:00 · high · moonrise 17:44 · moderate
Conditions window06:00–09:00
don't go fish
Hs 1.68 m · roughperiod 8.1 swind 10→15surge 13.4viz 1 m
1.68 mrough · up to ~3.36 · 172° at an angle
8.1 sswell moderate
10→15gusts 15 km/h
13.4pounding the rocks
0.92m/s
1 mrecent swell
24°C5 mm + hood
▼08:00tide turn near
Atmosphere27 kmlandmarks visible
lowoff the lunar peaks
  • wave 1.7 m (occasionally up to ~3.4 m)
  • steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
  • low water — slack
confidence mediumtwilight
Open the seafloor map with entry points →
Coming soon

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Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Shelly Beach, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.

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More spots

Spots in South Africa

🇿🇦South Africa

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Nearby towns

  • Margate
  • Port Shepstone
  • Scottburgh
  • Umkomaas
  • Durban

Wild Coast

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  • Coffee Bay

KwaZulu-Natal

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  • St Lucia
  • Sodwana Bay

Eastern Cape

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  • Port Alfred
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  • Jeffreys Bay

Garden Route

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spearo.app · a private marine instrument · Shelly Beach · a planner, not a safety guaranteePrivacy
Today
Notify me
Map
Best window · next 3 days

Next 3 days — not divable: wave up to 3 m

🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling

transparency nearby ~14 m · satellite, 2 days agosatellite estimate · may differ right at the shore

↓ low tide 08:19 · slack water ~07:34–09:04 bite times: 10:00–12:00 · 17:14–18:14

Tell me when it's on

Just your email — nothing else needed.

Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play
Google Play — QR code
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.

See all spots →
−20 m

The 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 →
Protea BanksProtea Banks (offshore reef)
dangerous
swell on the quarter today
window
—

Deep reef complex ~8 km offshore — BOAT ONLY. Tuna, billfish, couta, big sharks (Zambezi, tiger, raggie). Advanced blue-water only.

Google Maps
Shelly Beach reefShelly Beach — inshore
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—

Shore reef off Shelly Beach; couta, snoek and bronze bream. Sheltered launch bay, shark nets nearby.

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.

One morning glance — and you know.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play
Google Play — QR code
point your camera
≈

Surfacing

Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.

Live cameras, map & reference
Open the seafloor map →
Reference

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now
  • yellowtail
    Seriola lalandi · 3–40 m · legal
  • garrick / leervis
    Lichia amia · 1–20 m · legal
  • geelbek (Cape salmon)
    Atractoscion aequidens · 5–40 m · legal
  • galjoen (national fish)
    Dichistius capensis · 0–12 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
    National fish but NOT no-take: legally spearable (35 cm, bag 2), closed 15 Oct–end Feb.
  • kob / kabeljou
    Argyrosomus japonicus · 2–30 m · legal
  • red roman
    Chrysoblephus laticeps · 5–40 m · legal
  • king mackerel (couta/cuda)
    Scomberomorus commerson · 1–25 m · legal
  • elf / shad
    Pomatomus saltatrix · 1–20 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
    ⚠️ Closed 1 Sep–30 Nov (spawning). Don't take it then.
  • white musselcracker
    Sparodon durbanensis · 3–30 m · legal
  • hottentot
    Pachymetopon blochii · 2–25 m · legal
Law
  • ✓You need a endorsed for SPEARFISHING (MLRA 18/1998). Buy it online (fishing.dffe.gov.za) or at an authorised office (SAPO branch) — check the current fee there. Own use only — sale is banned.
  • ✓Breath-hold + snorkel only — scuba/hookah are BANNED (reg 8). Spearfishing in is FULLY BANNED (reg 16, no exceptions). Daily cap of 10 fish total. Inside an obey the managing authority; in several you can't even CARRY a speargun.
  • •NIGHT — the recreational spearfishing brochure (MLRA 18/1998) carries no time-of-day restriction: diving at night is legal. The permit, breath-hold-only, the blanket ban and conditions all apply around the clock; shark risk is worse after dark — that is safety, not law.
  • ⛔ 🚫 Table 3 (zero possession): brindle bass (Epinephelus lanceolatus), potato bass (E. tukula), seventy-four (moratorium since 1998), great white / whale / basking sharks, sawfishes, coelacanth, Natal wrasse.
  • ⛔ 🚫 All hard corals, sea fans and sea pens (Scleractinia/Gorgonacea/Pennatulacea) — protected. Seahorses/pipefish (Syngnathidae) — no-take.
  • ⛔ 🚫 Spearfishing in is FULLY BANNED (reg 16 — no exceptions). Inside an obey the managing authority's conditions; in several you can't even CARRY a speargun (Sardinia Bay, Bird Island, Robben Island etc.). Abalone (perlemoen) — recreationally closed until further notice.

Rules change. Before heading out, check with the DFFE (Marine Recreational Fishing brochure / permit) and the MPA managing authority (SANParks / CapeNature / Ezemvelo KZN / ECPTA / iSimangaliso).

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 Shelly Beach

Where can I spearfish in Shelly Beach?

Shelly Beach has rock entry points such as Shelly Beach reef and Protea Banks. Shelly Beach — the launch for Protea Banks, one of the world's premier shark-and-gamefish reefs (27–40 m): tuna, billfish, musselcracker, snoek and shad. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.

When is the best season in Shelly Beach?

Winter (May–Sep) — drier and clearer, the Sardine Run; summer warm but rainy. Shark nets, Sodwana is an MPA.

How cold is the water in Shelly Beach?

22–27 °C — 2–3 mm suit; warm Agulhas, tropical north (Sodwana).

Is Shelly Beach good for a beginner?

Moderate: warm water, gamefish; shark nets + Sodwana MPA zoning, mind the current.

Do I need a licence in Shelly Beach?

Yes — in Shelly Beach, as everywhere on the mainland, you need a recreational fishing licence (DGRM); breath-hold only (no scuba), with a marker buoy and no night diving. See the guide for the details.

Full guide: spearfishing in South Africa →
  • Plettenberg Bay
  • Knysna
  • Mossel Bay
  • Stilbaai

Western Cape

  • Arniston
  • Struisbaai
  • Gansbaai
  • Hermanus
  • Gordon's Bay
  • Muizenberg
  • Cape Town
  • Simon's Town
  • Hout Bay
  • Langebaan
  • Saldanha

spearo.app — All countries

Data partners
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