Sines spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Sines · Portugal
8.2
wave 0.7 m
visibility5m

Dive today — wave, wind and noticeable surge.

Sources: IPMA · NDBC · Copernicus — high confidence · data 01:39

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

This verdict — in your pocket. Open the app for the week's window.

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Android beta — QR code
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0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app
calmupdated 01:39
Sines — solo, off the rocks
BEST WINDOW
best weather window · solo, stay careful, run the checklist · calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal
wave 0.7 mwind 7 km/hnoticeable surgevisibility ~7 m
today, best window 06:00–09:00
fish · Visibility 7 m · Water 18.3°C
confidence high · 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.

Thursday · today2026-07-23
06:31–20:52 · first quarter
▼ 04:00▲ 10:00▼ 16:00▲ 23:00 · 1.1 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide0.06 m
Wave0.84 m
Wind13 km/h
Water19 °C
fish activity: moonset 01:13 · moderate · moon underfoot 08:40 · high · moonrise 16:17 · moderate · moon overhead 21:00 · high
Conditions window06:00–09:00
best weather window · solo, stay careful, run the checklist fish ·
Hs 0.72 mperiod 4.3 swind 7→15surge 1.4viz 5 m
0.72 mup to ~1.44 · 305° at an angle
4.3 sswell moderate
7→15gusts 15 km/h
1.4noticeable surge
0.08m/s
5 mrecent swell
18.3°C5 mm + hood
▲10:00tide rising
Atmosphere21 kmovercast
highmoon underfoot
  • calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal
  • flood — water rising
confidence hightwilight
Open the seafloor map with entry points

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

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play

Android: the public release is in Google Play review — leave your email and we'll send beta access today.

Android beta — 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: 1152 spots across 189 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
São Torpes BeachSouth of the Sines cape, by the EDP power-station outflow piers · Praia de São Torpes
borderline
best candidate for today
swell on the quarter today
window
Early morning before the sea breeze; water is noticeably warmer from the power-station outflow. Note: inside the PNSACV park spearfishing is only allowed Thu–Sun and holidays, daytime.
tide
Low to mid tide exposes the shale-rock ledges at the north end.
shelter
The Sines cape and the power-station piers at the north end shelter it from N/NW wind and north swell; open to W/SW.
hazard
Shorebreak and longshore drift in swell; the shale ledges at the north exit are slick and dangerous to climb out on as swell builds. Surfers/kiters share the water.
access
Turn off the N120-1 to the large car park (~700 spaces), walk down the dune to the sand; walk north along the beach to reach the rocks.

The most accessible and best-documented entry in the area; warm water and shale ledges hold octopus and fish. Check the PNSACV calendar before hunting.

Google Maps
Costa do Norte (Sines cape)Open coast north of the Sines cape · Costa do Norte (Cabo de Sines)
dangerous
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
Only a morning calm before the breeze, with a buddy; late-summer/early-autumn gives the most stable spells.
tide
Low tide in calm is safer for reading the rocks, but the sea is still powerful here.
shelter
Essentially unsheltered — fully open to N/NW/W wind and swell; only ever workable in a rare flat calm.
hazard
Open ocean with heavy shorebreak and dangerous depths close in — officially not for swimming. Entrapment on the rocks as swell builds, offshore drift. Solo is high risk.
access
Dirt tracks and footpaths from Sines out to the cape/lighthouse; descents to the water are steep and rocky — find a sheltered gully.

Rocky and fishy, but the town site explicitly calls it dangerous for swimming. Scout from land first; enter only in an exceptional calm and never solo.

Google Maps
Vasco da Gama Beach (Sines bay)Sines town bay, inside the double breakwater · Praia Vasco da Gama
closed
swell on the quarter today
window
Early morning out of season for quiet; in summer it is busy and lifeguarded.
tide
Any tide; mid to high covers the rocks mid-beach.
shelter
Deeply sheltered by the Sines cape and two breakwaters from N/NW/W; almost always calm inside the bay.
hazard
Boat and fishing-vessel traffic — the fishing port and jetty are adjacent; stay close to shore and run a float. Hunting is questionable here (swimming/port beach).
access
Right in town: promenade, steps to the sand, parking nearby. Entry off the sand, very gentle.

Not a hunting spot but a storm-day fallback and a flat-water apnea/snorkel training entry; the central rocks hold small fish.

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

Android: the public release is in Google Play review — leave your email and we'll send beta access today.

Android beta — 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: Sea bass, White seabream, Gilthead bream, Salema, Meagre, Mullet · coming soon: Octopus (Sep)

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).
  • Tainha (mullet)
    0–2 m · — · —
    Extremely wary; murky water HINDERS it. Opportunistic, in calm coves.
  • Corvina (meagre)
    1–6 m (marginal) · — · twilight
    Near the Tagus mouth, NOT on the Guincho rocks. Adults mostly at 5–75 m. ⚠️ CLOSED 1–30 June (defeso).
  • 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 (16+), daily/monthly/annual (~€25/yr). Speargun = licence required.
  • ✓Hand-gathering shellfish with NO gear — no licence; but if a speargun is on the dive, a spearfishing licence is required.
  • ✓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.
  • ✓Signalling buoy MANDATORY for spearfishing: buoy/float with an «Alfa» flag (red/orange/yellow, ≥8 L), no more than 30 m from the diver.
  • ✓Spearfishing daily limit: fish + cephalopods — 15 kg (excluding the largest specimen). General rod-and-line recreational fishing — 10 kg.
  • ✓Invertebrates (including spider crab) — 2 kg/day total.
  • ✓Spider crab: min. carapace 12 cm; (closed season) 15.02–15.06 — applies to recreational gathering too.
  • ✓Min. sizes: robalo 36 cm, sargo 17 cm, dourada 19 cm, choupa 23 cm, corvina 42 cm; octopus 750 g.
  • ✓Grouper — fully protected, may not be taken.
  • ⛔ Grouper (Epinephelus) — fully protected, capture PROHIBITED.
  • ⛔ Seahorses (Hippocampus) — protected.

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 · Sines

Spearfishing in Sines: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in Sines is a narrow-window plan. Sao Torpes is the usable shore option: the cape and power-station piers give partial shelter, while shale ledges hold octopus and fish. Go early, before the nortada, with small W/NW swell and offshore or northerly wind. Bigger W/SW swell brings shorebreak and dirty water. Vasco da Gama is an urban apnea fallback; Costa do Norte is red/scout open-ocean risk.

TL;DR

  • For Sines, the honest shore-hunting entry is Sao Torpes, south of the cape beside the EDP outflow piers.
  • Best window: early morning, small W/NW swell around 0.8 to 1 m or less, N/NE/E wind, and low to mid tide over the shale ledges.
  • Vasco da Gama is an urban bay fallback for apnea, not a main spearfishing mark; Costa do Norte is red/scout and too exposed.

Best spearfishing entry in Sines

The table stays short because only one entry is defensible as a shore-hunting candidate. Vasco da Gama is a sheltered urban fallback and Costa do Norte is too exposed to recommend.

SpotTypeDepthLevelAccessNotes
Sao Torpes BeachShale ledges south of the Sines capeShallow to moderate along the north-end ledgesIntermediateTurn off the N120-1 to the large car park, walk down the dune to the sand, then north to the rocks.Sheltered from N/NW wind and north swell by the cape and piers, but open to W/SW swell. Shorebreak, longshore drift, slippery shale ledges, surfers and kiters are the main issues.

Conditions and season essentials

Aim for dawn before the nortada builds. Sao Torpes works with W/NW swell around 0.8 to 1 m or less and N/NE/E wind. Low to mid tide opens the shale ledges and makes the exit easier to read. Inside the SW Alentejo and Vicentina Coast Natural Park, the local note limits spearfishing to Thursday through Sunday and holidays, in daylight. National rules still apply: licence from age 16, apnea only, Alfa buoy within 30 m and protected grouper left untouched.

FAQ

Where can you spearfish in Sines?

Sao Torpes is the main shore option. It has shale ledges, partial shelter from the cape and a clear beach approach, but only in small swell.

Is Vasco da Gama bay a spearfishing spot?

Treat it as an apnea or snorkel fallback, not as a hunting spot. It is an urban beach and harbour bay with boats and possible turbid water.

Is Costa do Norte safe for shore diving?

No regular shore plan should rely on it. It is marked red/scout, open to N/NW/W swell, with strong shorebreak and high solo risk.

Does Sines have a local webcam or buoy?

No webcam or NDBC buoy is listed for Sines. Use the marine forecast and inspect the entry from shore before committing.

What fish and limits matter in Sines?

Expect reef targets such as seabream, sea bass and octopus. National minimums include sea bass 36 cm, white seabream 17 cm and octopus 750 g.

Sources

Region: Alentejo

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