Varengeville-sur-Mer · France

2.5

💧 Water looks set to clear by Saturday (~6d) — tentative

visibility1m

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 💧 Water looks set to clear by Saturday (~6d) — tentative

Sources: MeteoAlarm · buoys · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 03:53

Sources & confidence

Sources: MeteoAlarm · 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.

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 — 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.

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

MeteoAlarm no dataupdated 03:53

Varengeville-sur-Mer — solo, off the rocks

DON'T GO

don't go · wave 3.1 m (occasionally up to ~6.3 m)

wave 3.1 mwind 35, gusts 63 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m

today, best window 06:00–09:00

fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 15.1°C

confidence low · 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

08:33–18:45 · full moon

▼ 06:00▲ 11:00▼ 18:00mid-range tides · 7.8 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide3.97 m

Wave2.22 m

Wind18 km/h

Water15 °C

fish activity: moonset 07:40 · moderate · moon underfoot 12:50 · high · moonrise 18:01 · moderate · moon overhead 00:00 · high

Conditions window06:00–09:00

don't go fish

Hs 3.14 m · roughperiod 9.8 swind 35→63surge 2.4viz 1 m

3.14 mrough · up to ~6.28 · 278° at an angle

9.8 sswell moderate

35→63gusts 63 km/h

2.4pounding the rocks

1.06m/s

1 mrecent swell

15.1°Cthicker suit + hood

▲11:00tide turn near

Atmosphere39 kmovercast

moderatemoonset

wave 3.1 m (occasionally up to ~6.3 m)
steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
first hours of the flood — fish moving in

confidence lowtwilight

Open the seafloor map with entry points

More spots

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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

Perré et épis de PourvilleVarengeville-sur-Mer

dangerous

swell on the quarter today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈4.6–7.8 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

A sea wall and its groynes in front of the village, −4.3 m LAT 800 m out (+8–9 m at high water), entry from the slipway. On the fish: bass, grey mullet and sole. ⚠️ a river-mouth fishing reserve right next door: read the legal ground off the zone map, not by eye. Bass: spearfishing CLOSED 01.02–31.03 (ICES 4c/7d); outside the window, 3 fish per day per hunter, minimum landing size ≥ 42 cm.

Google Maps

Plage du Petit-AillyVarengeville-sur-Mer

dangerous

Ultra · subscribers

swell on the quarter today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈0.3–2.3 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Platier du Petit AillyVarengeville-sur-Mer

dangerous

swell on the quarter today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈1.8–6.5 m (bathymetry SHOM Litto3D, 5 m, © Shom)

A chalk platier mapped as bare rock — a real reef, not shingle, −6.8 m LAT 800 m out (+8–9 m at high water), down the valleuse path, steep. On the fish: bass, pollack, ballan wrasse and European lobster. Crustaceans by HAND only — no speargun, no pole-spear (R921-92 II.5). ⚠️ the platier dries: work the window around high water or you walk. Bass: spearfishing CLOSED 01.02–31.03 (ICES 4c/7d); outside the window, 3 fish per day per hunter, minimum landing size ≥ 42 cm.

Google Maps

Platier du VasterivalVarengeville-sur-Mer

dangerous

swell on the quarter today

window: —

A chalk platier mapped as bare rock — a real reef, not shingle, −5.1 m LAT 800 m out (+8–9 m at high water), down the valleuse path, steep. On the fish: bass, ballan wrasse, European lobster and spider crab. Crustaceans by HAND only — no speargun, no pole-spear (R921-92 II.5). ⚠️ the platier dries: work the window around high water or you walk. ⚠️ rockfall: stay more than 100 m off the cliff foot. Bass: spearfishing CLOSED 01.02–31.03 (ICES 4c/7d); outside the window, 3 fish per day per hunter, minimum landing size ≥ 42 cm.

Google Maps

Valleuse du Vasterival — estran ouestVarengeville-sur-Mer

dangerous

Ultra · subscribers

swell on the quarter today

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Épis de Pourville — ouestVarengeville-sur-Mer

dangerous

Pro · subscribers

swell on the quarter today

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

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.

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

bar / loup (European seabass)
Dicentrarchus labrax · 0–15 m · arrêté 2012
Bag: north of 48°N — 3/day (except 1 Feb–31 Mar: catch-and-release only); south of 48°N — 2/day year-round.
maigre (meagre)
Argyrosomus regius · 5–30 m · arrêté 2012
gilthead seabream
Sparus aurata · 2–20 m · arrêté 2012
white seabream
Diplodus sargus · 0–15 m · arrêté 2012
black seabream
Spondyliosoma cantharus · 3–25 m · arrêté 2012
grey mullet
Mugil / Chelon spp. · 0–8 m · arrêté 2012
European conger
Conger conger · 5–40 m · arrêté 2012
striped red mullet
Mullus surmuletus · 3–30 m · arrêté 2012
common sole
Solea solea · 2–20 m · arrêté 2012
European hake
Merluccius merluccius · 10–40 m · arrêté 2012
Atlantic mackerel
Scomber scombrus · 0–20 m · arrêté 2012
Atlantic 20 cm (North Sea — 30 cm), Mediterranean 18 cm.
pollack
Pollachius pollachius · 5–30 m · arrêté 2012
Atlantic/Channel: max 2/day. Practically absent in the Mediterranean.
Atlantic cod
Gadus morhua · 5–40 m · arrêté 2012
brown meagre / corb
Sciaena umbra · 5–30 m · arrêté 2012
🚫 Mérou (5 spp.) and corb: TOTAL spearfishing ban in the French Mediterranean (mainland + Corsica), moratorium to end 2033. Size is irrelevant — not a legal target at all.

Law

✓No paid licence since 2009 (décret 2009-727), BUT since 12 Feb 2026 there IS a registration regime, and it differs BY BASIN (arrêté of 7 Nov 2025, version of 1 Apr 2026): Atlantic and Channel — only if you target the listed species; Mediterranean — everyone aged 16+; shore gathering (pêche à pied) is exempt ONLY while it does not target the listed species — target one and registration applies there too; the overseas territories — not yet required. Civil-liability (RC) insurance for spearfishing is mandatory too — a standalone policy or an FFESSM/FFPSA federation licence. Speargun (arbalète) — 16+.
✓Breath-hold only — any equipment that lets you breathe underwater is banned; you may not carry such equipment and a speargun/foëne on the same boat (bar a prefect's derogation), nor carry and use a speargun and an underwater scooter together; guns powered by a detonating charge, or by compressed gas the diver did not compress himself, are banned (CRPM art. R.921-90). A spearfisher may not: fish between the legal hours of sunset and sunrise; come within 150 m of vessels actively fishing or of gear marked by buoys; take animals from other people's nets and traps; use a light source; take crustaceans with a speargun or a foëne (hands only); keep the gun loaded out of the water (CRPM art. R.921-91 and R.921-92). Ports and marked bathing zones are closed by the LOCAL arrêté, not by a national act; a protected STATUS (Natura 2000, marine park) does NOT by itself ban spearfishing — the specific closures are on the map.
✓Min. sizes are façade-specific (arrêté 26.10.2012 + EU 2019/1241): sea bass (bar) 42 cm Atlantic/Channel and 30 cm Mediterranean. In the Med, moratoria protect the grouper (×5) and the brown meagre (corb) — don't shoot them. Registration + catch declaration have applied since 12 Feb 2026 (arrêté of 7 Nov 2025 as amended 1 Apr 2026). See the species card and the guide.
✓EU Reg. 2023/2842 is in force in France: registration applies since 12 Feb 2026 (differently by basin) and catch declaration covers the species of the annex in force, and the annex ties each species to the basin where it must be declared (not every species in every basin): sea bass (bar), pollack (lieu jaune), blackspot seabream Pagellus bogaraveo (dorade rose), dolphinfish (dorade coryphène) and mackerel (maquereau). Bluefin tuna is NOT in that annex. Check your basin and your species against the annex in force. Basis: the arrêté of 7 Nov 2025 as amended 1 Apr 2026. There is NO postponement.
✓Marking the catch is MANDATORY: on the listed species you cut off the lower lobe of the caudal fin (arrêté 17.05.2011 as amended by the arrêté of 30.12.2021) — sea bass, bonito, cod, brown meagre (corb), dentex, dolphinfish, gilthead, blackspot seabream, swordfish, lobster, spiny lobster, pollack, saithe, meagre, marlins, mackerel, red porgy, red scorpionfish, white seabream, sole, wahoo, the FOUR tunas on the list (yellowfin, albacore, skipjack and bigeye), sailfish. Bluefin tuna is NOT on this list — it has its own regime. For shore spearfishing the mark is made AS SOON AS you get back to the shore. Specimens must be kept whole. Bluefin tuna — fishing is prohibited without an annual ADMINISTRATIVE authorisation, with a tag fitted immediately after capture and a declaration (arrêté 24.03.2026). Which body issues it is decided by the REGION WHERE THE VESSEL IS REGISTERED: the DIRM as a rule, and the DMLC for vessels registered in Corsica. Belonging to a federation changes only the SUBMISSION CHANNEL — the application goes through the federation — not the issuer, which remains the administration.

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 Varengeville-sur-Mer

Where can I spearfish in Varengeville-sur-Mer?

Varengeville-sur-Mer has rock entry points such as Platier du Petit Ailly, Platier du Vasterival and Perré et épis de Pourville. The best rocky ground in the département, and that is not an opinion: the Vasterival and Petit Ailly platiers are the ONLY ones on the whole Côte d'Albâtre that the mapping marks as bare rock. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.

When is the best season in Varengeville-sur-Mer?

Summer (June–September) — warmer water, calmer wind. Macro-tidal (up to 8–12 m at Chausey) — the window is set by slack, not the calendar; off the Cotentin capes (Hague, Barfleur) the currents are fierce.

How cold is the water in Varengeville-sur-Mer?

Channel-cold: ~9 °C in winter, ~18 °C in summer. A 7 mm hooded suit is a must. Huge tides — moving water is almost always murkier than the sheltered coves at slack.

Is Varengeville-sur-Mer good for a beginner?

Technical and cold: tides up to 12 m, fierce currents off the Cotentin capes. Experienced only, planning around slack; not a beginner zone.

Do I need a licence in Varengeville-sur-Mer?

No paid licence in Varengeville-sur-Mer — but third-party (RC) insurance is MANDATORY, and since 10/01/2026 a free EU registration + catch declaration (RECFishing app) applies from age 16. Breath-hold only (no scuba), buoy mandatory, no night; sizes by coast (bar 42 Atl. / 30 Med.), grouper and corb banned in the Med. See the guide.

Full guide: spearfishing in France →

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in France

🇫🇷France

Nearby towns

Normandy

Help us make it better

The water column

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The seabed

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

Surfacing

What's in season,
what the law says.

FAQ — spearfishing in Varengeville-sur-Mer

Hauts-de-France

North Brittany

Pays de la Loire

South Brittany

West Brittany

Varengeville-sur-Mer spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for Varengeville-sur-Mer by email

Spots in France

🇫🇷France

Nearby towns

Normandy

Help us make it better

A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.The call is on the rock.

Where to get in off the rocks.

What's in season, what the law says.

FAQ — spearfishing in Varengeville-sur-Mer

Hauts-de-France

North Brittany

Pays de la Loire

South Brittany

West Brittany

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

What's in season,
what the law says.