Rocky Reef
Kelp Forest
Bay
Surf Zone[ post hero · coming soon ]
Coming soon · Field guide
Reading the chlorophyll map before you drive
A quick primer on what those green-and-blue NASA tiles actually mean for your dive day, plus the two thresholds we use to call a no-go.
The Nautical Nick
Visibility Report
Ocean visibility forecasts for divers. We tell you how clear the water is going to be at any given beach today, with a 7-day outlook. The site is built for spearfishermen, freedivers, snorkelers, and scuba divers.
Live data·147 beaches tracked·Updated 06:42 PDT
Explore beaches nearby
Pick one of these Southern California beaches and start planning your dive.
Pick your coast
Click any pin to drill into the region. We're starting in Southern California, and the rest of the US coast is rolling out through 2026.
Map of the West Coast. The interactive Mapbox layer drops in here.
20–30+ ft15–20 ft8–15 ft3–8 ft0–3 ft
★ marks a high-coverage region. Click any pin for the regional dashboard.Scale 1:4,000,000 · Mercator
How we forecast visibility
Three inputs, one number. We pull satellite, buoy, and on-the-ground data every 30 minutes and blend them into a daily visibility-in-feet score for every beach we track.
01
Satellite Chlorophyll
NASA MODIS and Sentinel-3 give us chlorophyll-a in mg/m³ every 24 hours. Low chlorophyll means clean oceanic water is pushing inshore. Anything above 2.0 mg/m³ usually means a green-out.
02
Wave + Wind Models
NOAA WaveWatch III and NDBC buoy data come in every 6 hours. Big swell stirs the bottom, and sustained onshore wind drags surface particulate. Both crash visibility within hours.
03
Diver Reports
Diver reports come in from JustGetWet, ScubaBoard, Spearboard, and our own pinged-in reports. We weight recency heavily, since a 6 a.m. report from this morning beats a model any day.
Visibility scaleMeasured in feet of horizontal sight.
0–3 ftBlackwater. Not worth the drive.
3–8 ftMurky. OK for shorelining.
8–15 ftAverage SoCal day.
15–20 ftGood. Drop in.
20–30+ ftExcellent. The kind of day you rearrange your week for.
7-day forecast · La Jolla Cove
This is a sample of what every beach page looks like for Pro members. Free users see the today column.
Pro members get hour-by-hour.
| Day | Vis (ft) | Air | Water | Swell | Wind | Tide AM | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today · Sat | 28 | 68° | 62° | 2.1ft @ 14s | 4kt SW | +4.6 / 06:42 | |
| Sun, May 5 | 26 | 67° | 62° | 2.4ft @ 13s | 5kt W | +4.3 / 07:31 | |
| Mon, May 6 | 19 | 69° | 63° | 3.1ft @ 11s | 9kt W | +4.0 / 08:18 | |
| Tue, May 7 | 12 | 70° | 63° | 4.6ft @ 9s | 14kt W | +3.7 / 09:02 | |
| Wed, May 8 | 7 | 69° | 62° | 5.2ft @ 8s | 18kt W | +3.4 / 09:46 | |
| Thu, May 9 | 15 | 67° | 61° | 3.4ft @ 11s | 11kt SW | +3.2 / 10:30 | |
| Fri, May 10 | 22 | 68° | 62° | 2.0ft @ 13s | 6kt SW | +3.0 / 11:14 |
Latest from the blog
Field notes, honest reviews, and trip logs.
[ post hero · coming soon ]
Coming soon · Honest review
San Diego shore-dive parking, ranked
Where to park, where you'll get ticketed, and which spots have an actual bathroom. No affiliate links and no nonsense.
[ post hero · coming soon ]
Coming soon · Trip log
A trash day at Catalina, what went wrong
The forecast said 30 ft. We got 8. Here's the chain of small misreads that cost a $200 ferry weekend, and how the model is now calibrated for it.
Ocean Oracle Pro
Gain the Power
of the Oracle.
Ocean Oracle sees the future. Get 7-day visibility forecasts for every beach, plus alerts the night before clarity peaks — so you never miss a prime day.
Free shows you what the ocean looks like today. Ocean Oracle shows you the week ahead, the conditions behind every score, and the fish waiting for you down there.
7-Day Forecasts
Visibility predictions for the entire week ahead at any beach. Plan dives, schedule charters, book trips — without guessing.
Sunday Forecast Email
Every Sunday, get the week's outlook delivered to your inbox. Know what's coming before Monday.
Prime-Day Alerts
The night before any beach hits prime conditions, Ocean Oracle pings your phone. Wake up knowing exactly where to go.
Watchlists
Track your favorite beaches in one place. Forecasts, alerts, and conditions for everywhere you dive.
Full Conditions Data
Water temp, air temp, wind, swell, chlorophyll. Every metric behind the visibility score, exposed for the deep-data divers.
Fish Targeting Intel
For every beach: what species are there, when they show up, and how to target them. Built by spearos, for spearos.
Get Ocean Oracle — $9.99/mo or $99/yr
See the future. Dive on the right days.
Ocean Oracle Pro Featureincluded in your subscription
The Morning Report
One email every morning.
We tell you whether the water's worth it.
A short read on conditions across San Diego, Catalina, and Santa Barbara. It goes out at 5:30 a.m., so you can decide before the alarm goes off. Pro members only.
The Ichthyopedia (coming soon)
A field guide built around the SoCal target list. It covers range maps, legal sizes, behavioral notes, and the holes they hold in.
[ illus. ]
Yellowtail
Seriola lalandi
In season
[ illus. ]
White Seabass
Atractoscion nobilis
In season
[ illus. ]
Calico Bass
Paralabrax clathratus
Year-round
[ illus. ]
Sheephead
Semicossyphus pulcher
Year-round
[ illus. ]
CA Halibut
Paralichthys californicus
Closes Jun
[ illus. ]
Spiny Lobster
Panulirus interruptus
Closed