How divewindow.app works
divewindow.app is a daily forecast of diving conditions for 100+ sites across Latin America, the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific. Each site gets a 0–100 Score combining five physical and biological factors. Unlike Windy, Magic Seaweed or Windguru — designed for surf and navigation — this Score is calibrated for what matters underwater: visibility, marine life and dive comfort.
Quick answers
- How do I tell which sites have the best conditions this week?
- Open the map or the “Best conditions this week” section on the home page: every site shows its 0–100 Score for the next 7 days, based on sea forecast, ENSO and biological calendar.
- What does the Score mean?
- 0–100, where >90 is exceptional (flat sea, no strong current, target marine life likely present) and <40 is not recommended (swell >2m, wind >20 m/s, poor visibility likely).
- What certification is each site for?
- Every site profile shows the minimum recommended certification (Open Water, Advanced, Deep or Rescue), typical depth and suggested logged dives.
- Where do I find Caribbean dive forecasts?
- divewindow.app covers the Mexican Caribbean (Cozumel, Riviera Maya, cenotes), Belize, Honduras, Colombia (Rosario, Providencia, Capurganá), Panama and Cuba. Filter by country or region in /en/explore.
Designed for diving, not surf
Windy, Magic Seaweed and Windguru show swell and wind, but they don't integrate dive currents, thermocline temperature, ENSO phase or biological calendar. A day with 1.2m swell and moderate wind can be ideal for surf and at the same time a disaster for diving if the site is exposed to strong lateral current or if the thermocline rose to 15m because of El Niño.
divewindow.app combines the five variables that matter for an immersion into a single 0–100 Score specific to each dive site — not generic beaches. It covers 100+ sites from the Mexican Caribbean to Patagonia, auto-updated daily through feeds from Open-Meteo Marine, NOAA, ENSO ONI and NOAA Coral Reef Watch.
The 5 factors that determine underwater visibility
Underwater visibility and dive quality depend on the interaction of five variables. divewindow.app weights them per site according to geography and seasonality.
1. Swell (typical weight 30%)
Swell above 1.5m stirs sediment in shallow bottoms and reduces visibility. At ocean-exposed sites (Pacific Colombia, Galápagos, Cocos) swell also makes panga entry and safe ascent difficult. Below 0.6m conditions are usually optimal.
2. Wind (typical weight 20%)
Winds above 15 m/s create suspended particles, reduce surface visibility and stir up shallow sites. The Caribbean trade winds (typically NE 5–10 m/s) particularly affect Colombia's north coast, the Bahamas and Belize between December and April.
3. Currents (typical weight 20%)
Currents are ambiguous: strong currents drag sediment (poor visibility near sandy bottoms) but also bring clean ocean water (high visibility on pinnacles and seamounts like Bajo Alcyone in Cocos or Darwin Arch in Galápagos). The Score weights direction and magnitude relative to site bathymetry.
4. ENSO phase (typical weight 20%)
El Niño / La Niña — the Pacific Southern Oscillator — modulates the thermocline, biological productivity and surface temperature. In El Niño years the thermocline rises and reduces visibility at many tropical-Pacific sites (Cocos, Galápagos, Malpelo). In La Niña years the opposite happens: deep thermocline, colder clearer water, and higher chance of pelagic sightings. divewindow.app reads the 3-month ONI index every update.
5. Biological calendar (typical weight 10%)
Seasonal marine-life events — whale-shark aggregations, humpback-whale migrations, hammerhead-shark schools on seamounts, coral spawnings, plankton blooms. Blooms reduce visibility but attract pelagics. The Score drops slightly during dense plankton periods and rises when it overlaps with a target event at the site (e.g. hammerheads in Cocos Jun–Nov, whale shark in Holbox Jun–Sep, humpbacks in Bahía Solano Jul–Oct).
How the Score is computed
For every “site + day” combination, divewindow.app:
- Reads the marine forecast from Open-Meteo Marine (significant wave height, direction, wind at 10m) for the site coordinates.
- Cross-references the active ONI index (NOAA Climate Prediction Center) to adjust the expected thermocline.
- Compares the date against the site's curated biological calendar (documented marine-life events, historical optimal window).
- Weights each factor by the site profile (an ocean-exposed site weights swell more; a sheltered site weights biological calendar more).
- Returns a 0–100 value, labeled: 90+ exceptional, 75–89 good, 55–74 acceptable, <55 not recommended.