Staying Home Sucks, home
Sunshine at Santa Marta beach Colombia
Near Barcazas, 1 km away. Photo: User:Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Barcazas

Dive site · Colombia

Open Water divers and up

Scored for Advanced divers

Is it worth the trip?

77Good out of 100 for your dates

Home sucks

2 days tie for best

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Tue 3 · 77 out of 100

Sea
0.3 m
Wind
3 kn
Gusts
6kn
Air
28°C

Wed 4 · 77 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
6 kn
Gusts
9kn
Air
28°C

Thu 5 · 76 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
10 kn
Gusts
15kn
Air
28°C

Fri 6 · 76 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
8 kn
Gusts
16kn
Air
28°C

Sat 7 · 78 out of 100

Sea
0.1 mflat
Wind
5 kn
Gusts
16kn
Air
28°C

Sun 8 · 77 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
4 kn
Gusts
12kn
Air
29°C

Mon 9 · 78 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
3 kn
Gusts
10kn
Air
28°C

Tap a day for sea, wind and water. Full forecast

Forecast: next 9 days

Full forecast
  1. Mon 277, good
  2. Tue 377, good
  3. Wed 477, good
  4. Thu 576, good
  5. Fri 676, good
  6. Sat 778, good
  7. Sun 877, good
  8. Mon 978, good
  9. Tue 1078, good

The site in three facts

  • Open Waterand up
  • Water 29 °Crash vest or 1 to 2 mm
  • Faces NWswell from there reaches it

Full forecast

every day, every number

The score doesn't know currents, the visibility on the day or your certification.

Suits Open Water divers and up, as a dive guide states it. Scored for Advanced divers.

Sea and wind forecast and score for each day at Barcazas
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Mon 2Nov77, good0.4 m2 kn5kn28°C
Tue 3Nov77, good0.3 m3 kn6kn28°C
Wed 4Nov77, good0.2 mflat6 kn9kn28°C
Thu 5Nov76, good0.2 mflat10 kn15kn28°C
Fri 6Nov76, good0.2 mflat8 kn16kn28°C
Sat 7Nov78, good0.1 mflat5 kn16kn28°C
Sun 8Nov77, good0.2 mflat4 kn12kn29°C
Mon 9Nov78, good0.2 mflat3 kn10kn28°C
Tue 10Nov78, good0.3 m1 kn9kn29°C

Sea is the waves near the site, in metres; wind and gusts in knots. "Boats in": gusts that keep dive boats in. More

Tide

  • Mon 2 NovLow 00:23 −0.1 mHigh 06:34 +0.1 mLow 11:00 −0.0 mHigh 17:45 +0.2 m
  • Tue 3 NovLow 00:54 −0.1 mHigh 07:14 +0.1 mLow 12:20 −0.0 mHigh 18:36 +0.2 m
  • Wed 4 NovLow 01:21 −0.1 mHigh 07:55 +0.1 mLow 13:40 −0.0 mHigh 19:25 +0.1 m

Local clock times; heights about mean sea level. On open coasts the times are usually within a quarter of an hour; in bays, estuaries and on the Gulf of Mexico they can be an hour or more out. Slack water, the safest time to dive where there is current, is about half an hour either side of each high and low. Tide: EOT20 global ocean tide model, Hart-Davis et al. 2021, DGFI-TUM (doi:10.17882/79489), CC BY 4.0. Times and heights computed by us. A model, not a tide table: check a local table before you go.

Forecast updated . It refreshes every three hours. Forecast data: ECMWF, DWD, Météo-France and NOAA, served by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Changed by us. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information.

Best time to go

No month stands out

Good diving days in a typical week, each month, for Advanced divers, from 2016 on (ERA5 history scored the same way).

  1. Jan6of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Jan
  2. Feb6of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Feb
  3. Mar7of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Mar
  4. Apr7of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Apr
  5. May7of 7: a trip from Sat 1 May
  6. Jun7of 7: a trip from Sat 5 Jun
  7. Jul7of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Jul
  8. Aug7of 7: a trip from Sat 7 Aug
  9. Sep7of 7: a trip from Sat 4 Sept
  10. Oct7of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Oct
  11. Nov7of 7: a trip from Tue 3 Nov
  12. Dec7of 7: a trip from Sat 5 Dec

Tap a month to see this spot for a trip then.

Typical, not a forecast: the sea and the mean wind of each day, with no gusts or rain in the history.

Map

the site and its town

Each place wears its best day on these dates: green good, amber fair, pale red poor, as the key says.

The map needs JavaScript. Every place on it is listed on this page, and each place's page links to Google Maps.

One finger scrolls the page; two fingers move the map. Pins are our own positions. Map OpenFreeMap, © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

More diving near here

5 places

About

the place in full, sources, credits

About Barcazas

A wreck dive. It suits Open Water divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces NW: swell from the NW reaches it, and wind from the SE blows out to sea. 10 dive centres or shops within 10 km, the nearest 1.3 km away. The sea is about 26°C in January, its coldest month (3 mm wetsuit), and 30°C in October, its warmest (rash vest or 1 to 2 mm). The town to stay in is Santa Marta. Within 5 km we also list 1 wind sports spot and 2 dive sites.

  • What it is Wreck.
  • How deep No source states how deep it goes.
  • Who it suits Suits Open Water divers and up, as a dive guide states it.
  • Dive centres 10 dive centres or shops within 10 km, the nearest 1.3 km away.

Water about 29°C: rash vest or 1 to 2 mm. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility about 10 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Clearest in Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Aug and Sep (about 15 m).

The score is the conditions only: the journey, the price and the partners never change it (how we score, how we earn).

Rough cost (estimate): about US$596–US$1,140 each

about US$596–US$1,140 each · 6 nights, 2 sharing: flights, taxi, stay, food.

Our estimate from typical public prices, not a quote: check the real prices before you book (where they come from). Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 30 October 2026.

How we worked it out 
Rough cost per person for this trip
WhatHow we worked it outEach
Flightsreturn ORD to SMR, estimated from distance and season, changing at PTY, full-service airlines, with a hold bagabout US$295–US$616
Taxiairport and back, sharedabout US$33–US$60
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$127–US$208
Food7 days eating outabout US$141–US$255
Totalabout US$596–US$1,140

Guided dives are not priced yet: we have no sourced price, so it is not in it. Prices from public sources, checked in 2026.

Where to stay: Santa Marta

Closest

Santa Marta

about 10 min by car · 149 places to stay

about US$47/nightcountry average

See 149 places to stay in Santa Marta · Booking.com

About Santa Marta its beds, food and every spot near it

About US$47 a night is our estimate of the country's average 2-star double room that month: not each town's price, and not a quote. Drives are estimates. Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 30 October 2026.

Getting there: about 13h 40m

About 13h 40m door to door from Chicago

Fly ORD → SMR, changing at Tocumen International Airport (PTY), then 35 min by road

An estimate, one way; the journey never changes the score.

In the water

Dive centres nearby

The nearest named dive centres and shops within 25 km, in a straight line; training agencies where the map states them. Listings, not a recommendation. Dive centres: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Credits

What you might see

Animals divers and surveys have recorded within 2 km of this site in the last 15 years. A record says someone saw it here, not that you will.

  • Lettuce Coral Agaricia agaricites

    Seen in 19 records, mostly Nov.

  • Great star coral Montastraea cavernosa

    Seen in 15 records, mostly Nov.

  • Pseudodiploria strigosa

    Seen in 12 records, mostly Nov.

  • Moontail Sparisoma viride

    Seen in 11 records, mostly Nov.

  • Katy Chaetodon sedentarius

    Seen in 10 records, mostly Nov.

  • Mustard hill coral Porites astreoides

    Seen in 10 records, mostly Nov.

  • Gutong Sparisoma aurofrenatum

    Seen in 10 records, mostly Nov.

  • Meandrina jacksoni

    Seen in 9 records.

  • Massive Starlet Coral Siderastrea siderea

    Seen in 9 records.

  • Maze Coral Meandrina meandrites

    Seen in 8 records.

  • Gutong Scarus iseri

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Blue tang Acanthurus coeruleus

    Seen in 6 records.

Records: OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, IOC-UNESCO), from the datasets named here, CC0 and CC BY records only. Names: WoRMS, through OBIS; common names from Wikidata. Largest datasets here: Sistema de Monitoreo de Arrecifes Coralinos - SIMAC 2013; 3410f695-4bbb-40c3-82e9-1991c30d4d6d; 21a5ac4d-0df1-4e15-93ad-5fe7c65439b4; Sistema de Monitoreo de Arrecifes Coralinos - SIMAC 2013; 15a20192-5e99-45a5-986a-f6f84b569f37. Credits

This week's visibility and the current no free forecast gives. Ask a dive centre before you book.