Today — sit it out — wave, wind and visibility.
Sources & confidence
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.
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.
Safety gates
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
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
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.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Swanage, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
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 spotsRelief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
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.
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 mapSnorkellers enter from a flat, quarried rock ledge that drops straight into deep water, with a kelp forest and rocky landscape below. Getting out of the water needs calm seas. Currents run along this coast, so go only in settled conditions.
Google MapsRocky point, boat access. Coords approx.
Google MapsEnter at the end of the old slipway rather than over the rocks by the car park. Sand and shale give way to flat rock ledges with small overhangs, usually about 2 m deep and up to 5 m at high spring tides. Watch for surfers when there is swell, and expect noise from the nearby firing range. Voluntary marine reserve — divers are asked to take nothing.
Google MapsRocky point, boat access. Coords approx.
Google MapsTwo rocky fingers run about 200 m east from Peveril Point, with gullies cut into the ledges and depths reaching about 22 m further out. It is usually done as a drift dive. Strong tidal streams run over the ledges, so dive only around slack water.
Google MapsGo in down the steps by the toilets or from the landing stage halfway along the pier. Under the pier, sand, weed and seagrass lie among rubble and old girders at 3–5 m. Dive near high water. Stay under the pier to avoid anglers' lines, and use a surface marker if you leave it because of boat traffic.
Google MapsSOLO 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.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Recreational spearfishing in the sea is legal in the UK without a licence — breath-hold only is the norm. Never spear salmon, sea trout or eels (Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975). Bass: catch-and-release only 1 Feb–31 Mar (rod and line), then 3 a day, 42 cm min. Check the local IFCA/Marine Scotland/DAERA rules — in Cornwall no spearfishing dusk to dawn or with scuba. No-take zones (Lundy, Lamlash Bay, Flamborough) are closed.
Swanage has rock entry points such as Peveril Point ledges, Durlston Head and Dancing Ledge. Purbeck's east-facing bay, flat in westerlies and with small tides. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.
May–October; south-westerly gales in winter; the water clears after calm spells and easterlies.
9–10 °C in March, 16–18 °C in August — 7 mm in winter, 5 mm in summer.
Limestone ledges, reefs and wrecks; strong tidal streams at Portland Bill, heavy boat traffic off Plymouth and Weymouth. No licence; bass rules and IFCA byelaws apply.
Swanage: Recreational spearfishing in the sea is legal in the UK without a licence — breath-hold only is the norm. Never spear salmon, sea trout or eels (Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975). Bass: catch-and-release only 1 Feb–31 Mar (rod and line), then 3 a day, 42 cm min. Check the local IFCA/Marine Scotland/DAERA rules — in Cornwall no spearfishing dusk to dawn or with scuba. No-take zones (Lundy, Lamlash Bay, Flamborough) are closed.
