Staying Home Sucks, home
Hawks Nest - panoramio
Hawks Nest, the nearest town, 14 km away. Photo: Annette Teng, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Looking Glass

Dive site · Australia

Advanced divers and up

Is it worth the trip?

59Fair out of 100 for your dates

Stay home

Best on Sat 7: Sea 0.8 m, Visibility about 5 m, Water 21 °C

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Mon 2 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.8 m
Wind
5 kn
Gusts
10kn
Air
21°C

Tue 3 · 61 out of 100

Sea
0.9 m
Wind
11 kn
Gusts
19kn
Air
21°C

Wed 4 · 61 out of 100

Sea
0.9 m
Wind
11 kn
Gusts
16kn
Air
20°C

Thu 5 · 55 out of 100

Sea
0.9 m
Wind
13 kn
Gusts
16kn
Air
19°C

Fri 6 · 56 out of 100

Sea
1.2 m
Wind
12 kn
Gusts
17kn
Air
20°C

Sat 7 · 65 out of 100

Sea
0.8 m
Wind
3 kn
Gusts
11knboats in
Air
21°C

Sun 8 · 22 out of 100

Sea
1.8 m
Wind
21 kn
Gusts
29knboats in
Air
17°C

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

Forecast: next 10 days

Full forecast
  1. Sun 166, good
  2. Mon 264, good
  3. Tue 361, good
  4. Wed 461, good
  5. Thu 555, fair
  6. Fri 656, fair
  7. Sat 765, good
  8. Sun 822, poor
  9. Mon 949, fair
  10. Tue 1062, good

The site in five facts

  • From a boathow you get in
  • Advancedand up
  • Water 21 °C5 mm wetsuit
  • Faces Sswell from there reaches it
  • Best in Nov4 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 Looking Glass
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Sun 1Nov66, good0.8 m4 kn7kn21°C
Mon 2Nov64, good0.8 m5 kn10kn21°C
Tue 3Nov61, good0.9 m11 kn19kn21°C
Wed 4Nov61, good0.9 m11 kn16kn20°C
Thu 5Nov55, fair0.9 m13 kn16kn19°C
Fri 6Nov56, fair1.2 m12 kn17kn20°C
Sat 7Nov65, good0.8 m3 kn11knboats in21°C
Sun 8Nov22, poor1.8 m21 kn29knboats in17°C
Mon 9Nov49, fair1.4 m9 kn16kn18°C
Tue 10Nov62, good1.1 m5 kn11kn21°C
Wed 11Nov59, fair1.2 m0 kn12kn21°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

  • Sun 1 NovHigh 01:49 +0.2 mLow 07:06 −0.4 mHigh 13:52 +0.8 mLow 20:54 −0.6 m
  • Mon 2 NovHigh 03:08 +0.2 mLow 08:25 −0.3 mHigh 15:03 +0.7 mLow 22:02 −0.6 m
  • Tue 3 NovHigh 04:20 +0.3 mLow 09:49 −0.3 mHigh 16:14 +0.7 mLow 23:01 −0.7 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 in Nov

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

  1. Jan3of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Jan
  2. Feb3of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Feb
  3. Mar3of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Mar
  4. Apr3of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Apr
  5. May2of 7: a trip from Sat 1 May
  6. Jun2of 7: a trip from Sat 5 Jun
  7. Jul2of 7: a trip from Sat 3 Jul
  8. Aug3of 7: a trip from Sat 7 Aug
  9. Sep3of 7: a trip from Sat 4 Sept
  10. Oct3of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Oct
  11. Nov4of 7: a trip from Mon 2 Nov
  12. Dec3of 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 Looking Glass

A cave dive. You get in from a boat. It suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces S: swell from the S reaches it, and wind from the N blows out to sea. No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 19 km away. The sea is about 19°C in August, its coldest month (7 mm wetsuit and hood), and 25°C in February, its warmest (3 mm wetsuit). For Advanced divers the best month is usually November, with about 4 good days in 7; in May, June and July, about 2. From the weather of past years. The town to stay in is Hawks Nest. Within 5 km we also list 1 dive site.

  • What it is Cave.
  • How deep No source states how deep it goes.
  • Getting in From a boat.
  • Who it suits Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it.
  • Dive centres No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 19 km away.

Water about 21°C: 5 mm wetsuit. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility about 5 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Clearest in Jan, Jun and Jul (about 10 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$1,750–US$3,350 each

about US$1,750–US$3,350 each · 6 nights, 2 sharing: flights, hire car, 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
Hire car6 days, sharedabout US$147–US$241
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$355–US$596
Food7 days eating outabout US$322–US$596
Totalabout US$1,750–US$3,350

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: Hawks Nest

Closest

Hawks Nest

24 min by car · 21 places to stay

about US$134/nightcountry average

See 21 places to stay in Hawks Nest · Booking.com

About Hawks Nest 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 30h 20m

About 30h 20m door to door from Chicago

Fly MDW → SYD, changing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), then 3h 25m by road

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

In the water

Dive centres nearby

  • Feet First Dive 19 km

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

Too few open records near this site to list its animals. Ask a dive centre what you are likely to see.

This week: visibility about 7 m, clearer than usual (satellite plankton reading, 24 Oct). Estimated from the month's typical visibility and this week's satellite chlorophyll against the site's normal; heavy rain before a dive can still muddy it.

The current and the life no free forecast gives. Ask a dive centre before you book.

Saved: this link opens the same trip

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The link holds the trip itself: nothing about you is kept. Check the forecast again before you book.