Staying Home Sucks, home
Royal National Park NSW 2233, Australia - panoramio (99)
Near Shiprock. Photo: Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Shiprock

Dive site · Australia

Advanced divers and up

Is it worth the trip?

52Fair out of 100 for your dates

Stay home

Best on Tue 3: Sea 1 m, Visibility about 6 m, Water 20 °C

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Tue 3 · 63 out of 100

Sea
1.0 m
Wind
8 kn
Gusts
19kn
Air
25°C

Wed 4 · 58 out of 100

Sea
1.1 m
Wind
5 kn
Gusts
14kn
Air
22°C

Thu 5 · 60 out of 100

Sea
1.0 m
Wind
7 kn
Gusts
17kn
Air
19°C

Fri 6 · 52 out of 100

Sea
1.3 m
Wind
11 kn
Gusts
28kn
Air
21°C

Sat 7 · 36 out of 100

Sea
0.8 m
Wind
5 kn
Gusts
11knboats in
Air
20°C

Sun 8 · 17 out of 100

Sea
2.4 m
Wind
13 kn
Gusts
29knboats in
Air
16°C

Mon 9 · 32 out of 100

Sea
1.9 m
Wind
10 kn
Gusts
27kn
Air
18°C

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

Forecast: next 10 days

Full forecast
  1. Mon 264, good
  2. Tue 363, good
  3. Wed 458, fair
  4. Thu 560, good
  5. Fri 652, fair
  6. Sat 736, poor
  7. Sun 817, poor
  8. Mon 932, poor
  9. Tue 1039, poor
  10. Wed 1169, good

The site in four facts

  • Advancedand up
  • Water 20 °C7 mm wetsuit and hood
  • Faces Eswell from there reaches it
  • Best Sep, Nov–Jan5 good days in 7

Full forecast

every day, every number

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

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

Sea and wind forecast and score for each day at Shiprock
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Mon 2Nov64, good1.0 m6 kn16kn23°C
Tue 3Nov63, good1.0 m8 kn19kn25°C
Wed 4Nov58, fair1.1 m5 kn14kn22°C
Thu 5Nov60, good1.0 m7 kn17kn19°C
Fri 6Nov52, fair1.3 m11 kn28kn21°C
Sat 7Nov36, poor0.8 m5 kn11knboats in20°C
Sun 8Nov17, poor2.4 m13 kn29knboats in16°C
Mon 9Nov32, poor1.9 m10 kn27kn18°C
Tue 10Nov39, poor1.7 m2 kn10kn21°C
Wed 11Nov69, good–9 kn21kn22°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 NovHigh 03:08 +0.3 mLow 08:35 −0.3 mHigh 15:04 +0.7 mLow 22:04 −0.6 m
  • Tue 3 NovHigh 04:18 +0.3 mLow 09:57 −0.3 mHigh 16:12 +0.7 mLow 23:02 −0.6 m
  • Wed 4 NovHigh 05:19 +0.4 mLow 11:11 −0.4 mHigh 17:17 +0.6 mLow 23:54 −0.6 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

best Sep, Nov–Jan

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

  1. Jan5of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Jan
  2. Feb4of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Feb
  3. Mar4of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Mar
  4. Apr4of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Apr
  5. May4of 7: a trip from Sat 1 May
  6. Jun4of 7: a trip from Sat 5 Jun
  7. Jul4of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Jul
  8. Aug4of 7: a trip from Sat 7 Aug
  9. Sep5of 7: a trip from Sat 4 Sept
  10. Oct4of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Oct
  11. Nov5of 7: a trip from Tue 3 Nov
  12. Dec5of 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, its town, photos

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.

Photos of Shiprock

Bundeena - panoramio (14)
Near Shiprock, 1 km away. Photo: Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

About

the place in full, sources, credits

About Shiprock

It suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces E: swell from the E reaches it, and wind from the W blows out to sea. 2 dive centres or shops within 10 km, the nearest 2.8 km away. The sea is about 18°C in August, its coldest month (7 mm wetsuit and hood), and 24°C in February, its warmest (5 mm wetsuit). For Advanced divers the best months are usually January, September, November and December, with about 5 good days in 7. From the weather of past years. The town to stay in is Stanwell Park. Within 5 km we also list 16 surf spots and 1 wind sports spot.

  • What it is No source states what kind of site it is.
  • How deep No source states how deep it goes.
  • Who it suits Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it.
  • Dive centres 2 dive centres or shops within 10 km, the nearest 2.8 km away.

Water about 20°C: 7 mm wetsuit and hood. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility about 6 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Clearest in May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep and Nov (about 8 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$1,630–US$3,160 each

about US$1,630–US$3,160 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 MDW to SYD, estimated from distance and season, changing at LAX, full-service airlines, with a hold bagabout US$925–US$1,920
Taxiairport and back, sharedabout US$33–US$54
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$355–US$596
Food7 days eating outabout US$322–US$596
Totalabout US$1,630–US$3,160

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: Stanwell Park

Closest

Stanwell Park

about 40 min by car · 10 places to stay

about US$134/nightcountry average

See 10 places to stay in Stanwell Park · Booking.com

About Stanwell Park its beds, food and every spot near it

About US$134 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 27h 30m

About 27h 30m door to door from Chicago

Fly MDW → SYD, changing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), 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.

  • Isarachnanthus nocturnus

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Oestergrenia digitata

    Seen in 6 records.

  • Anthopleura krebsi

    Seen in 5 records.

  • Centrostephanus longispinus

    Seen in 5 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: b508f7bc-8708-43d5-b940-e44f2765d1af; 0820b10a-5710-4e90-b9ed-a2ad7c7ec742. Credits

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