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.
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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0 m
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
no dataupdated 12:47
Viveiro — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · wave 1.8 m (occasionally up to ~3.7 m)
wave 1.8 mwind 15, gusts 28 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~2 m
today, best window 18:00–21:00
fish · Visibility 2 m · Water 19.4°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.
Wednesday · today2026-09-09
08:02–20:51 · new moon
▲ 03:00▼ 09:00▲ 16:00▼ 22:00 · 3.5 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide-1.90 m
Wave1.84 m
Wind9 km/h
Water19 °C
fish activity: moonrise 05:51 · moderate · moon overhead 13:00 · high · moonset 20:06 · moderate · moon underfoot 00:00 · high
Conditions window12:00–15:00
don't go fish
Hs 1.84 m · roughperiod 7.6 s head-onwind 14→30surge 21.3viz 1 m
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.
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−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: 1391 spots across 205 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
The Galician calendar decides before the forecast does: weekends and public holidays all year, and every day is legal only between Holy Thursday and Easter and in the block from 1 May to 30 September. Go early, because at Socastro the afternoon wind fills the gullies with foam.
tide
With three and a half metres of range on springs the current speeds up as you round the point and reverses with each tide; the comfortable move is to get in near slack. At high water the entry ledges are washed by the surge, and at low water there is more slippery rock to climb down to reach the sea.
shelter
Socastro is a finger of rock pushed into open sea: nothing between its tip and the ocean stops the 310°–40° sector, and the 335° NNW sweeps the whole thing. Only the downwind flank saves you, the east side in a westerly and the west side in a nordés, and even then the groundswell wraps round the point.
conditions
With no sand and no river nearby, the water at Socastro clears fast: two calm days and a light southerly and you get eight or ten metres over the drop-offs. What shuts it down is not wind but the northwest groundswell, which keeps breaking in the gullies two or three days after the blow.
hazard
The way back up the walkway, with wet gear and several hundred steps, is harder work than the hunting itself: budget your energy before going down. The gullies at the point have heavy surge and there is no easy exit if the sea builds, so never go alone. Night is banned and summer access to the cape may need a booking.
access
You park up top in O Vicedo where the wooden walkway starts and walk down to the isthmus of the cape. The last metres to the water are broken, slippery rock: only get in with less than a metre of sea and identify your exit ledge before you commit, because from the water they all look alike.
Rocky cape at O Vicedo; deep drop-offs with grouper and conger, very exposed to NW swell.
The day you go is decided by the law before the sea decides: Saturday, Sunday or an official public holiday (state or Galician), and daily only in Holy Week from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday and in the May-to-September block. On top of that, Coelleira only makes sense with a settled forecast and plenty of daylight to get back before sunset.
tide
Between the island and the mainland the tide really runs: with almost three and a half metres of range on springs the channel turns into a river and takes you without warning. Plan around slack water and be back at the boat before the stream sets in; on neaps, under two metres, it is far more manageable.
shelter
The island splits the sea in the mouth of the ría: its west and north faces take the 310°–40° sector with nothing in front, while the southeast side, the one facing land, gives shade and can be worked in a moderate NNW. With a southerly the shelter flips and the good side becomes the outer one.
conditions
The water round Coelleira is oceanic and clear: in a settled spell you get eight to twelve metres over the rock, far more than inside the ría. What dirties it is the outflow of the Barqueiro ría after days of rain, and that mostly affects the inner channel between island and mainland.
hazard
There is no friendly shore: you arrive by boat, there is no walking exit and the channel current is the main risk. Annex VI of the 2009 Order closes ría boundary lines that are not drawn on the map, so check the one for this mouth before you go. Keep 300 metres from any working vessel.
access
You go out by boat from O Barqueiro or O Vicedo; there is no walk-in access and no comfortable landing on the island. Anchor in the lee on the landward side, get in from the boat with your float rigged, and never get further from the hull than you can swim back against the channel current.
Islet at the mouth of the ría; rocky bottom, advanced access and very sensitive to NW.
The Order of 17 September 2009 closes weekdays: in Galicia you may only spearfish on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and every day only from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday and from 1 May to 30 September. At Area the first hour after sunrise is the good one, before the nordés puts a ripple on it.
tide
Springs move about three and a half metres here and neaps barely two. At low water the ledges at the east end dry out and the swim to the rock gets noticeably longer; on the flood, cleaner water pushes in from outside and the rock entry stops being awkward.
shelter
Area faces almost due north (355°), so anything arriving between 310° and 40°, from northwest to northeast, lands on it unfiltered; the worst heading is the 335° NNW. With a south or southeast wind the beach sits in the lee of the hill and the water flattens right out within a couple of hours.
conditions
After two or three straight days of flat sea the sand settles and you get four to eight metres between the rock ledges at either end. One northerly swell ruins it in an afternoon and leaves one or two; after heavy rain the brown water coming down the Landro ría stains the western side of Area as well.
hazard
The shore break at Area is short and hits hard, and on a falling tide the undertow pulls east. In summer there are swimmers and boat traffic: keep the buoy visible, never more than 25 metres from it and 300 from any working vessel. Night is banned nationwide and pollack (Pollachius pollachius) cannot be kept from 1 January to 30 April.
access
Park on the shoulder of the road overlooking the beach and drop down the concrete ramps to the sand. From there walk to the east end and enter over the flat slab at half tide; if that rock is washing, get in and out over the sand even though the swim is a good deal longer.
North-facing open beach with rock at both ends; entry off the rocks on the east side, sea bream and ballan wrasse.
Remember that Monday to Friday there is no spearfishing in Galicia except in two windows: Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday and 1 May to 30 September; outside those you are left with Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. At Xilloi it pays to get in early, since by mid-morning the sand fills with people.
tide
The tidal range, close to three and a half metres on springs, uncovers a slab on the east side at low water that lets you get in almost dry. At high water that slab is gone and you have to jump from higher rock; the sandy bottom barely shifts, but the shoreline changes shape every cycle.
shelter
Xilloi is a scallop of sand with rock on both sides and the Socastro headland covering it from the west; that takes a good deal off the northwest, the worst heading on this coast. What comes in clean is north and northeast from the 310°–40° sector, and then the wave breaks from one end of the beach to the other.
conditions
On a quiet weekend you get three to six metres over the side rocks, less than on an open cape because the sand in the bay is slow to settle. Any swell leaves it milky for a couple of days, and with rain the water coming down the Barqueiro ría takes another metre of visibility off.
hazard
Xilloi is a bathing beach with a lifeguard in season and kids at the water's edge: do not shoot towards the sand and stay well clear of the buoyed swimming area. There is boat traffic in and out towards O Barqueiro. A float is compulsory and you must stay within twenty-five metres of it; night is banned nationwide.
access
There is parking above the beach and steps down to the sand; walk to the west end and get in at the rocky corner, almost always the more sheltered one. If a northerly is putting waves in, the good exit is the middle of the bay, swimming in with the break rather than trying to climb the rocks.
Cove with rock on both sides; partial shelter from NW, good with a low, long swell.
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.
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≈
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
✓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.
✓The state act (, art. 16) bans, for spearfishing: a loaded gun out of the water; explosive/electric points and lamps (hand torches excepted); underwater scooters; night — from sunset to sunrise. Plus art. 12 b), d), e): 300 m from professional fishing vessels, light as an attractant, poisons/explosives. A ban in a PARTICULAR reserve, port or beach comes from that place's OWN instrument (the reserve's order, the autonomous community's rules, the port authority) — see the no-take zones on the map and your community's rules.
✓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).
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.
Local guide · Viveiro
Spearfishing in Viveiro: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-20 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Viveiro sits at the head of a ría on Galicia's north coast, and the whole shoreline looks almost due north, straight into the Atlantic. The bad sector runs from the northwest round through north to the northeast, with north-northwest the worst, so a groundswell out of that arc shuts the open rock and you wait for it to drop. The legal frame is Galicia: a Clase C spearfishing licence through the PE405A procedure, a medical certificate, apnea only, and a visible buoy within 25 m. Cantabrian-Northwest sizes apply.
TL;DR
Viveiro faces almost due north, so the coast lives on the Atlantic groundswell out of the northwest and north. You dive it when that swell drops, or not at all.
Praia de Xilloi holds the most shelter from the northwest; Praia de Area is the town beach with rock at each end; Fuciño do Porco and Illa Coelleira are the exposed outer marks, advanced: Fuciño drops deep, Coelleira sits over rock.
The card gives bottom and exposure, not depths in metres or a safety grade, so read the sea yourself and watch AEMET for the Lugo coast (ES-LU).
Galicia rules: Clase C licence through the PE405A procedure, a medical certificate, apnea only, buoy within 25 m; Cantabrian-Northwest sizes, seabass 42 cm, conger 58 cm, octopus 1 kg.
Best spearfishing spots around Viveiro
Four marks on an open north coast. Praia de Xilloi keeps the most shelter from the northwest, Praia de Area is the town beach with rock at either end, and Fuciño do Porco and Illa Coelleira are the exposed outer ground: Fuciño drops away deep, Coelleira sits over rock. The card names the bottom and how open each one is; it doesn't give hunting depths in metres or a safety grade, so read the sea before you commit.
Spot
Type
Depth
Level
Access
Notes
Praia de Area
North-facing beach with rock at both ends
Rock at both ends of the beach
Workable on a low north swell
Off the rocks at the east end of the beach
The town beach opens to the north, so it takes the swell head-on, but the rock at the east end is where sargo and ballan wrasse hold. It fishes when the north lies down; on any real groundswell the beach ends wash through.
✓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 — Decreto 182/2004, art. 38.3; Murcia; Galicia; Basque Country). Protected species have per-piece quotas.
✓Only a harpoon is allowed — hand-held or mechanically propelled, with one or several points (, art. 14.1). Carrying spearfishing gear and underwater breathing equipment aboard AT THE SAME TIME is prohibited (art. 14.2) — an offence in itself, even if you dived on a breath hold.
✓Spain is not one jurisdiction. The licence is issued by a coastal autonomous community, and you must comply with the rules of the administration on whose littoral you are in the water: «debiendo cumplir la normativa establecida por la administración en cuyo litoral se realice la actividad» (, art. 13). Interior waters — inside the straight baselines: bays, coves, rías, the whole coastal strip — are the community's competence; exterior waters are the State's. So the age, the days of the week, the distances and the are found in your community's act, not in the state one.
✓Galicia: «Clase C» licence (submarina), procedure PE405A on the Xunta portal; minimum age 16, medical certificate required. Galicia recognises spearfishing licences from other communities and the EU. sede.xunta.gal (PE405A).
✓No-take zone: Atlantic Islands National Park (Cíes, Ons, Sálvora, Cortegada) — spearfishing banned (see zones on the map).
✓Galicia is the only community that closes weekdays: spearfishing is allowed only on Saturdays, Sundays and state or regional holidays, and from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday and from 1 May to 30 September, every day (Orden 17.09.2009, art. 13.2). Daylight only, orto to ocaso (art. 13.3). The cap is 5 kg per licence per day, and 2 octopus per fisher per day (art. 12.3). The zones closed to spearfishing are listed in (art. 11.2). The licence needs an official medical fitness certificate, insurance and an arms licence or a federation card (art. 3.b).
⛔ Seahorses (Hippocampus) — protected (RPE).
Rules change and are REGIONAL. Before heading out, check with the competent autonomous community (licence) and the min-size table in force.
Fuciño do Porco (Punta Socastro)
Rocky cape at O Vicedo
Deep drop-offs off the cape
Advanced, very exposed
Off the rocky cape at O Vicedo
The drop-offs run deep here and hold grouper and conger, but the cape sits wide open to the northwest and feels every bit of swell. Save it for a genuinely settled sea and don't dive it alone.
Praia de Xilloi
Cove with rock on both sides
Rock down both sides of the cove
The most sheltered of the four
Into the Xilloi cove at O Vicedo
Rock lines both sides of the cove and it keeps partial shelter from the northwest, so this is the mark that stays workable on a low, long swell when the outer ground is closed. It's your first check on a marginal day.
Illa Coelleira
Islet at the mouth of the ría
Rocky bottom around the islet
Advanced
Islet at the ría mouth, advanced access
The islet sits out at the mouth of the ría over rocky ground, and it's very sensitive to any northwest, so it needs calm to be worth the crossing. Advanced water, not a casual entry.
When can you spearfish in Viveiro?
When the north drops. Viveiro looks almost due north, and the bad sector runs from the northwest round through north to the northeast, with north-northwest the worst direction. That's the reading that matters here: a groundswell out of that arc washes the open rock and shuts the outer marks, and a light wind won't save you while the swell is still running. The card puts no metre figure on it, so you judge the sea and the forecast, watch AEMET for the Lugo coast (ES-LU), and go on the settled spells. A wind off the land, from the south, cleans it up, since the coast is looking the other way. When there's leftover northwest in the water, Praia de Xilloi keeps the most shelter and the exposed capes are out.
Which spot for the conditions?
Match the mark to how much north is left in the sea. On a settled day the outer ground is the prize. Fuciño do Porco drops away deep off the cape with grouper and conger, and Illa Coelleira sits over rock out at the mouth of the ría; both are wide open to the northwest and both advanced, so keep them for calm water and don't dive them solo. Praia de Area, the town beach, works the rock at its east end when the north is low. And when there's still swell about, Praia de Xilloi is the one that holds partial shelter and stays fishable. The card marks bottom and exposure, not a safety grade, so the call on any given day is yours.
What fish and rules apply in Viveiro?
The marks hold sargo and ballan wrasse over the shallow rock, with grouper and conger down the deeper drop-offs off the capes. Viveiro is in the Cantabrian-Northwest caladero, and the sizes are the ones for that ground: European seabass 42 cm, gilthead 19 cm, black seabream 23 cm, salema 15 cm, boga 11 cm, grey mullet 20 cm, pargo 15 cm, red mullet 15 cm, and conger a long 58 cm. Octopus goes by weight, a 1 kg minimum, and you leave any female carrying eggs. Pollack is 42 cm with a two-a-day cap and an Atlantic recreational closure from 1 January to 30 April, and seahorses are protected. On paper you're in Galicia: a Clase C spearfishing licence through the PE405A procedure on the Xunta portal, from age 16, with a medical certificate, and Galicia recognises submarine licences from other autonomous communities and the EU. The common rules hold throughout: apnea only, no scuba, daylight only, a visible buoy within 25 m, the gun unloaded out of the water, and nothing you take is for sale.
FAQ
Where can you spearfish in Viveiro?
Four marks: Praia de Xilloi, the most sheltered from the northwest; Praia de Area, the town beach with rock at each end; and the exposed outer ground at Fuciño do Porco and Illa Coelleira. The card gives bottom and exposure, not depths in metres.
When is the sea calm enough at Viveiro?
When the northwest-to-north groundswell drops. The coast faces almost due north, so any swell out of that arc closes the open rock; a southerly wind off the land helps. Watch AEMET for the Lugo coast (ES-LU) and go on the settled spells.
What licence do you need in Viveiro?
A Galicia Clase C spearfishing licence through the PE405A procedure on the Xunta portal, from age 16, with a medical certificate. Galicia also recognises submarine licences from other autonomous communities and the EU.
What is the seabass minimum size here?
European seabass is 42 cm in the Cantabrian-Northwest. Other sizes include conger 58 cm, black seabream 23 cm, gilthead 19 cm, and octopus a 1 kg minimum.
Can you scuba-spearfish in Viveiro?
No. Spain is apnea only, no scuba and no night diving, with a visible buoy within 25 m and the gun unloaded out of the water.
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