Cala Bona / Cala PolaTossa de Mar
borderlineswell on the quarter today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rock coves toward Sant Feliu; rich grounds, exposed to E swell.
Google MapsTossa de Mar spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras
5.3
wave 0.4 m head-on
visibility4m
Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.
Sources: IPMA · NDBC · Copernicus — high confidence · data 14:47
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
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
calmupdated 14:47
Tossa de Mar — solo, off the rocks
caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · strong wind 8 km/h, gusts 31 — caution
wave 0.4 m head-onwind 8, gusts 31 km/hvisibility ~6 mwindow 12:00–21:00
today, best window 18:00–21:00
fish · Visibility 6 m · Water 26.6°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.
Wednesday · today2026-07-22
06:32–21:16 · first quarter
▲ 02:00▼ 10:00▼ 15:00▲ 19:00▼ 22:00 · 0.1 m
Hours (06→20)
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide-0.47 m
Wave0.26 m
Wind6 km/h
Water27 °C
fish activity: moonset 00:47 · moderate · moon underfoot 08:10 · high · moonrise 15:37 · moderate · moon overhead 20:30 · high
Conditions window12:00–15:00
caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site fish
Hs 0.52 mperiod 4 s head-onwind 15→36surge 0.5viz 5 m
0.52 mup to ~1.04 · 52° head-on
4 sswell moderate
15→36gusts 36 km/h
0.5weak surge
0.17m/s
5 mrecent swell
26.5°C5 mm + hood
▼15:00tide turn near
Atmosphere43 kmlandmarks visible
lowoff the lunar peaks
- wind-wave — choppy surface
- strong wind 15 km/h, gusts 36 — caution
- visibility ~5 m
confidence mediumday
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 spotsThe 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
Cala GiverolaTossa de Mar
borderlineswell on the quarter today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky cove NE of Tossa; rock and Posidonia, moderately exposed to the E.
Google MapsCala LlevadóTossa de Mar
borderlineswell on the quarter today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky coves to the SW; tricky entry off the rocks, semi-exposed to the S.
Google MapsCap de Tossa (Es Codolar)Tossa de Mar
borderlineswell on the quarter today (city-level)
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Rocky ground below the Vila Vella; drop-offs and boulders, sea bream and gilthead, exposed to the easterly (E).
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.
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».
Reference
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
- gilthead seabream
- white seabream
- two-banded seabream
- sharpsnout seabream
- salema / saupe⚠️ Do NOT eat the head/guts (ichthyosarcotoxism).
- bogue
- striped seabream
- grey mullet
- red porgy
- striped red mullet
- brown meagre / corbCataluña: corball 30 cm, máx. 2 ejemplares/día — Resolució ARP/3310/2025.
- dusky grouperSin prohibición estatal de captura (NO está en el Catálogo Español, RD 139/2011). Cataluña: 50 cm, máx. 2 ejemplares/día — Resolució ARP/3310/2025.
- common octopusTalla por PESO: mín. 1 kg (RD 560/1995, todos los anexos). No coger hembras con huevos. Cataluña: veda del pulpo de roca aprox. jul–sep, por zonas — Resolució ARP/3310/2025.
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.
- ✓Spearfishing banned in marine reserves/protected zones (without a special permit), in ports and at busy beaches/bathing areas. The exact distance to bathing zones is set by the autonomous community.
- ✓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).
- ✓There is no fixed national catch cap (, art. 5 delegates it to the communities); the standard is 5 kg/person/day, with 1 specimen allowed not to count (Canaries art. 38.3; Murcia; Galicia; Basque Country). Protected species have per-piece quotas.
- ✓Catalonia: the «Llicència de pesca recreativa subaquàtica» (recreational spearfishing) is issued by the Generalitat de Catalunya — applied for at tramits.gencat.cat.
- ✓Bans: Illes Medes, Ses Negres (Begur), parts of Cap de Creus — spearfishing banned (see zones).
- ⛔ Seahorses (Hippocampus) — protected (RPE).
- ⛔ Catalonia: sharks and rays (elasmobranchs) — capture PROHIBITED (Resolució ARP/3310/2025).
Rules change and are REGIONAL. Before heading out, check with the competent autonomous community (licence) and the min-size table in force.
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.
Spearfishing in Tossa de Mar: spots, seasons and rules
Tossa de Mar is a rocky Costa Brava shore that faces roughly southeast, and one thing runs the day here: the easterly, the Llevant. Cap de Tossa under the old-town Vila Vella, Cala Giverola to the northeast and the Cala Bona / Cala Pola coves toward Sant Feliu all sit open to that east swell. Cala Llevadó, southwest of town, is the odd one out, semi-exposed to the south with a fiddly rock entry. The legal frame is Catalonia: the Generalitat's underwater recreational licence, apnea only, a signalling buoy, Mediterranean sizes. Best on a settled spell, late spring through autumn.
TL;DR
- The day is decided by the easterly. When the Llevant runs, Cap de Tossa, Cala Giverola and Cala Bona / Cala Pola all get chop, surge off the rock and murky water. Wait for a settled spell.
- Cala Llevadó is the exception. It sits southwest of town and faces south, so it can stay fishable on an easterly, but the entry over the rocks is the hard part.
- All four are rock entries, no soft beach, and they double as busy summer coves. Hunt well clear of the bathers and keep the buoy up.
- Legal frame is Catalonia: the Generalitat's recreational underwater licence, apnea only, daylight only, Mediterranean minimum sizes, and no taking sharks or rays.
Best spearfishing spots in Tossa de Mar
These are four rock entries on an east-facing Costa Brava headland, no easy sand among them. Cap de Tossa sits right below the old-town Vila Vella; Cala Giverola and Cala Bona / Cala Pola open to the east swell; Cala Llevadó faces the other way, south, with an awkward rock entry. Use them on a settled sea only, buoy up, and check a cove against the reserve map before you drop in.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cap de Tossa (Es Codolar) | Rocky ground below the Vila Vella | Drop-offs and boulders | Intermediate; the town's most exposed mark | Shore entry off the rock below the old-town headland | Drop-offs and boulders hold sea bream and gilthead. It sits open to the easterly, so it turns rough and cloudy first when an east sea runs. This one is right by the town front, so keep well off the bathing area and the buoy up. |
| Cala Giverola | Rocky cove northeast of Tossa | Rock and Posidonia edges | Intermediate | Shore entry at the cove | Rock and Posidonia, moderately exposed to the east. The cove shape cuts some of the swell, but an easterly still lays chop and murk over it. It doubles as a summer beach cove, so give the swimmers a wide berth in season. |
| Cala Llevadó | Rocky coves southwest of Tossa | Shore rock, awkward entry | Intermediate; the hard part is the entry | Tricky scramble down over the rocks | Rocky coves southwest of town, semi-exposed to the south. Facing away from the east, it can stay fishable on a Llevant day when the town marks are blown out. The trade-off is a fiddly entry and exit over the rock, so read it from land before you commit. |
| Cala Bona / Cala Pola | Rock coves toward Sant Feliu | Rich rocky grounds | Intermediate | Shore entry at the coves up the coast | The richest ground of the four, rock coves on the way to Sant Feliu de Guíxols. They sit open to the east swell, so they want the same settled, easterly-free window as the town spots. |
When is the sea right for spearfishing in Tossa de Mar?
Late spring through autumn is the core window, and inside that you are waiting for a settled spell. The coast faces roughly southeast, and the sector that spoils it runs from the northeast round through east to south, worst on a due easterly, the Llevant. When that east sea is up, Cap de Tossa, Cala Giverola and Cala Bona / Cala Pola take chop, surge off the rock and cloudy water, and the entries turn unpleasant. Visibility swings with the swell and with runoff after rain, so the water reads best after a few calm days. Mornings, before the afternoon breeze fills in, are usually the cleanest.
Which Tossa spot works on an easterly?
Cala Llevadó, most of the time. It sits southwest of town and faces south, so a Llevant that shuts down the east-facing marks does not hit it head-on. The catch is getting in: it is an awkward scramble over the rocks in and out, so it suits someone comfortable reading a rock exit, not the first dive of the trip. If the swell has swung round to the south, though, Llevadó is the one that closes while the town side may lie down. Nothing here is sheltered from every direction; you pick the cove that faces away from whatever is running.
What can you spear at Tossa, and what are the rules?
The ground is classic Costa Brava rock: sea bream and gilthead over drop-offs, boulders and Posidonia edges, with the Cala Bona / Cala Pola coves toward Sant Feliu holding the richest bottom. The legal frame is Catalonia. You need the Generalitat's recreational underwater licence, the Llicència de pesca recreativa subaquàtica; it is apnea only with no scuba tanks, a signalling buoy up, the gun unloaded out of the water, and the catch is never sold. Minimum sizes follow the Mediterranean caladero: sea bream 23 cm, gilthead 20 cm, sea bass 25 cm, common octopus 1 kg, and grouper 50 cm with a two-a-day cap in Catalonia. Sizes and limits vary by comunidad, so confirm the Catalan list before you dive. Seahorses are protected and Catalonia bans taking sharks and rays outright. The Catalan rules also close specific stretches up the coast, such as Illes Medes, Ses Negres and the Cap de Creus zones, so a pretty cove is worth checking against the reserve map first.
FAQ
Where can you spearfish in Tossa de Mar?
Four rock entries: Cap de Tossa below the Vila Vella, Cala Giverola to the northeast, Cala Bona / Cala Pola toward Sant Feliu, and Cala Llevadó to the southwest. All want a settled sea, and Llevadó is the one that can stay fishable on an easterly.
What wind ruins the day in Tossa?
The Llevant, the easterly. The bad sector runs from the northeast through east to south, worst on a due easterly, and it puts chop and cloudy water on the town-facing spots.
Do I need a licence to spearfish in Tossa de Mar?
Yes, the Generalitat de Catalunya's recreational underwater fishing licence. It is apnea only, daylight only, with a signalling buoy up, and the catch cannot be sold.
What are the minimum sizes here?
Mediterranean caladero sizes: sea bream 23 cm, gilthead 20 cm, sea bass 25 cm, red mullet 11 cm, common octopus 1 kg, and grouper 50 cm with a two-a-day cap. Sizes and limits vary by comunidad, so confirm the Catalan list before you go.
Can you spear sharks or rays in Catalonia?
No. Catalonia lists elasmobranchs, sharks and rays, as prohibited catch, and seahorses are protected too.
Sources
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