Question 1

What does DiveSight actually do?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight forecasts marine life abundance and underwater visibility at 28,000+ dive sites, using proprietary models trained on satellite and oceanographic data from Copernicus Marine, HYCOM, and NASA.

Question 2

How does the visibility forecast work?

Accepted Answer

It predicts underwater clarity for individual dive sites worldwide from satellite and oceanographic inputs, updated daily. We don't know of another consumer app that forecasts visibility at this resolution.

Question 3

How does DiveSight forecast marine life abundance?

Accepted Answer

A proprietary model trained on satellite oceanography, physical ocean data, and millions of historical marine-life observations. Output is a 0–100 Marine Life Activity score updated daily for each of 28,000+ dive sites.

Question 4

How accurate are the forecasts?

Accepted Answer

Both forecasts are validated out-of-sample. We hold out entire marine eco-regions and time periods the models never see during training — spatial and temporal cross-validation — then score them on that held-out data. The marine life forecast is checked against tens of thousands of in-situ diver observations; the visibility forecast is built from satellite measurements of water clarity, calibrated against thousands of in-situ diver visibility readings. When a forecast flags a site as better than its seasonal norm, it is right about 85% of the time for visibility and 75% for marine life, and higher still on its strongest calls. Accuracy varies by region — and the more you log, the more the models learn about the sites you care about. The marine-life abundance model is the subject of research being prepared for publication.

Question 5

How many dive sites does DiveSight cover?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight covers 28,000+ dive sites across 1,600+ dive regions worldwide — and you're not limited to the catalog. Drop a custom site at any coordinates and the forecast runs there too, so coverage reaches anywhere you want to dive. The catalog includes the Coral Triangle, Caribbean, Red Sea, Raja Ampat, Palau, the Maldives, Cozumel, Bali, and the Galápagos.

Question 6

What data sources does DiveSight use?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight is built on institutional-grade ocean data from Copernicus Marine Service, HYCOM, NASA, and Apple WeatherKit, plus biodiversity data from GBIF, OBIS, iNaturalist, and WoRMS. Forecasts are produced by proprietary models built in-house.

Question 7

Is DiveSight free?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight's free tier is best-in-class on its own. It includes 15,000+ dive sites and 3,000+ marine species (more than any other dive app we're aware of), the most expansive set of live ocean conditions in a free dive plan, today's marine life abundance index, intelligent search, the seasonal events calendar, unlimited dive and marine-life logs, 25 saved sites, 10 custom sites, and two-way iNaturalist sync. Pro unlocks all 28,000+ sites, 6,000+ species, 8-day forecasts, 10-year monthly climatology, depth-resolved data, offline mode, cloud sync & backup, and log exports for $4.99/week, $9.99/month, or $79.99/year; your first week of Pro is free.

Question 8

Does DiveSight sync with iNaturalist?

Accepted Answer

Yes — two-way iNaturalist sync is built in. Species you log in DiveSight (with an iNat account connected) flow into the global biodiversity record; any iNat observations you make at a dive site flow back into your DiveSight life-list. We think a dive-planning app should give back to the citizen-science databases it relies on, so this is a first-class feature, not an afterthought.

Question 9

Can DiveSight import dive logs from my dive computer?

Accepted Answer

Yes — DiveSight's logbook imports from nearly every major dive computer file format, including dive logs recorded on Apple Watch dive apps. Ocean conditions auto-fill from the live data pipeline, and each dive can be linked to the marine life observed on it.

Question 10

What is the 10-year monthly climatology?

Accepted Answer

Every dive site in DiveSight shows monthly averages of water temperature, visibility, currents, and other key conditions over the past decade — so you can see how a given month at a given site has actually behaved year over year, not just how a guidebook describes it.

Question 11

What marine species can I look up in DiveSight?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight's species database contains 6,000+ marine species across 15 categories, including sharks, rays, reef fish, pelagic fish, cetaceans, sea turtles, cephalopods, crustaceans, and macro life. Each species links to the dive sites where it's been observed.

Question 12

Who built DiveSight?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight is an independent project — not a venture-backed company. It was built by a PhD statistician who has been diving for 33 years, with two siblings — a coral reef ecologist and a physicist, all lifelong divers — shaping the science throughout; the marine-life abundance model draws on the statistician's own research, now being prepared for publication. The species catalog at the heart of the app started as an informal database the three of them had been building together for years from their own sightings.

Question 13

Which platforms is DiveSight on?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight is a native app for iPhone and iPad (iOS 26 and newer), a native Mac app, a native Android app on Google Play, and a full web app at divesight.ai, with one account and one Pro subscription across all of them.

Question 14

What sets DiveSight apart from other dive and ocean apps?

Accepted Answer

Some of what DiveSight does exists somewhere else — scattered across a dozen apps, each doing one piece (a logbook here, a tide forecast there, species ID over there). DiveSight is the only app that brings them all into one place, with a purpose-built experience for each: 28,000+ dive sites, 6,000+ marine species, 8-day forecasts of marine life abundance and underwater visibility, 10-year monthly climatology per site, a seasonal events calendar, a best-in-class dive logbook with imports from nearly every major dive computer file format, and two-way iNaturalist sync.

Question 15

Is there a Surfline for scuba divers?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight is the closest equivalent. Surfline forecasts surf conditions (wind, swell, surface waves) and is not built for divers; DiveSight forecasts what's happening underwater — marine life abundance, visibility, depth-resolved temperature, currents, and tides — at 28,000+ dive sites worldwide.

Question 16

Is there an AllTrails for scuba diving?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight is the closest equivalent. It maps 28,000+ dive sites globally, surfaces difficulty (Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced) per site, and adds forecasts of underwater conditions and marine life — features AllTrails doesn't cover for trails. The free tier includes 15,000+ dive sites and 3,000+ species.

Question 17

Is there a Strava for scuba diving?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight's dive logbook is the closest analog. It imports from nearly every major dive computer file format (including dive logs recorded on Apple Watch dive apps), auto-fills the ocean conditions for each dive, lets you link the marine life you saw to each dive, and contributes species sightings back to iNaturalist if you opt in.

Question 18

How does DiveSight compare to Windy or Windfinder for divers?

Accepted Answer

Windy and Windfinder forecast surface weather — wind, swell, wave height. They are blind to what's happening underwater. DiveSight adds depth-resolved temperature (surface, 10m, 30m), currents, tides, underwater visibility forecasts, and a daily marine life abundance index — at individual dive sites, not on a coarse weather grid.

Question 19

How does DiveSight compare to Fishbrain?

Accepted Answer

Fishbrain is fishing-focused with a freshwater bias and centers on catch logging and bite-window predictions. DiveSight is built for scuba divers, snorkelers, freedivers, and spearfishers, forecasts marine life abundance and underwater visibility at saltwater dive sites worldwide, and links species to the dive sites where they're seen.

Question 20

How does DiveSight compare to Subsurface, MacDive, Diviac, or DiveMate?

Accepted Answer

Subsurface, MacDive, Diviac, and DiveMate are dive logbooks — they record dives after the fact. DiveSight is a forward-looking planning app that also includes a best-in-class logbook: it imports from nearly every major dive computer file format, auto-fills ocean conditions, and links each dive to the marine life observed. The forecasting and species-to-site linking are unique to DiveSight.

Question 21

How does DiveSight compare to Seabook?

Accepted Answer

Seabook offers AI photo-based species identification across roughly 1,700 species. DiveSight's species catalog is 6,000+ species, each linked to the dive sites where it can be seen and the seasons it shows up — and DiveSight adds 28,000+ dive sites, 8-day forecasts, and visibility predictions, none of which Seabook offers.

Question 22

How does DiveSight compare to DiveViz or Marla Blue?

Accepted Answer

DiveViz relies on crowdsourced visibility reports with a nascent ML algorithm and is sparse outside Southern California. Marla Blue forecasts visibility for the UK and Australia only. DiveSight forecasts underwater visibility for dive sites worldwide and pairs it with a separate marine life abundance forecast — both validated out-of-sample on held-out eco-regions and diver observations, with visibility calls right about 85% of the time and marine life about 75%.

Question 23

How does DiveSight compare to Oceanic+ on Apple Watch?

Accepted Answer

Oceanic+ turns the Apple Watch Ultra into a dive computer that records dives in real time. DiveSight plans dives before you get in the water — forecasting marine life, visibility, conditions, and the 8-day outlook for any of 28,000+ sites — and imports Apple Watch dive logs back in once you're done.

Question 24

How does DiveSight compare to the PADI App or SSI App?

Accepted Answer

The PADI and SSI apps are built around certification, training, and store-locator features. DiveSight is built around planning: where to dive, when to dive, what you'll see, and what conditions you'll find — for any dive site on Earth, not just within a certification program.

Question 25

Is DiveSight useful for cave divers, wreck divers, or technical divers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. DiveSight's dive-site database includes cave systems, wrecks, walls, and reefs across 1,600+ regions. Every site shows depth-resolved temperature, current and tidal forecasts, and a 10-year monthly climatology — the same conditions that matter to recreational, cavern, cave, technical, and wreck divers.

Question 26

Can liveaboard guests use DiveSight to plan trips?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Search by destination to compare conditions across an itinerary, by species to find liveaboards in the right season for what you want to see, or by season to time a trip around bucket-list events like the sardine run, hammerhead aggregations, or mola mola season. Offline mode (Pro) downloads full dive-site and species data for the trip area.

Question 27

Does DiveSight work for snorkeling, freediving, or spearfishing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Visibility, current, and marine life forecasts are just as relevant — often more so — for breath-hold disciplines. Snorkelers, freedivers, and spearfishers can search by species, plan trips by season, and use the 10-year monthly climatology to pick the right time of year for a given site.

Question 28

What's the best app for liveaboard trip planning?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight is purpose-built for trip planning at the dive-site level: 8-day forecasts of marine life abundance and underwater visibility, 10-year monthly climatology to find the best month for any site, and seasonal events to time a trip around mantas, hammerheads, whale sharks, sardine runs, mola mola, mobulas, or orca seasons.

Question 29

What app shows when whale sharks, mantas, or hammerheads will be at a dive site?

Accepted Answer

DiveSight. Its seasonal events calendar shows predicted timing windows for the sardine run, manta cleaning stations, hammerhead schools, whale shark aggregations, mobula ray aggregations, mola mola season, orca seasons, and spawning events — each linked to the specific dive sites where the event occurs.

Iron Side

Conditions & marine life

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