Staying Home Sucks, home
Private jetty east of Ballynakilla, Bear Island
Near M.V. Bardini Reefer. Photo: Colin Park, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

M.V. Bardini Reefer

Dive site · Ireland

Open Water divers and up

Scored for Advanced divers

Is it worth the trip?

63Good out of 100 for your dates

Home sucks

Best on Sat 7: Sea: flat, Visibility about 7 m, Water 12 °C

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Mon 2 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.4 m
Wind
8 kn
Gusts
13kn
Air
12°C

Tue 3 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.4 m
Wind
8 kn
Gusts
11kn
Air
12°C

Wed 4 · 62 out of 100

Sea
0.5 m
Wind
10 kn
Gusts
15kn
Air
11°C

Thu 5 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.4 m
Wind
11 kn
Gusts
15kn
Air
11°C

Fri 6 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.3 m
Wind
7 kn
Gusts
12kn
Air
11°C

Sat 7 · 65 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
6 kn
Gusts
11kn
Air
11°C

Sun 8 · 55 out of 100

Sea
0.3 m
Wind
16 kn
Gusts
22kn
Air
12°C

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

Forecast: next 10 days

Full forecast
  1. Mon 263, good
  2. Tue 363, good
  3. Wed 462, good
  4. Thu 563, good
  5. Fri 664, good
  6. Sat 765, good
  7. Sun 855, fair
  8. Mon 923, poor
  9. Tue 1059, fair
  10. Wed 1160, good

The site in four facts

  • Open Waterand up
  • Water 12 °C7 mm semi-dry or a drysuit
  • Faces NEswell from there reaches it
  • Best May–Aug7 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 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 M.V. Bardini Reefer
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Mon 2Nov63, good0.4 m8 kn13kn12°C
Tue 3Nov63, good0.4 m8 kn11kn12°C
Wed 4Nov62, good0.5 m10 kn15kn11°C
Thu 5Nov63, good0.4 m11 kn15kn11°C
Fri 6Nov64, good0.3 m7 kn12kn11°C
Sat 7Nov65, good0.2 mflat6 kn11kn11°C
Sun 8Nov55, fair0.3 m16 kn22kn12°C
Mon 9Nov23, poor1.1 m21 kn28knboats in12°C
Tue 10Nov59, fair0.9 m11 kn17kn13°C
Wed 11Nov60, good0.7 m9 kn16kn13°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 03:46 −0.8 mHigh 10:13 +1.0 mLow 16:33 −1.0 mHigh 23:01 +0.9 m
  • Tue 3 NovLow 05:15 −0.8 mHigh 11:31 +1.0 mLow 17:57 −1.0 m
  • Wed 4 NovHigh 00:15 +1.0 mLow 06:34 −0.9 mHigh 12:41 +1.1 mLow 19:06 −1.1 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

best May–Aug

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

  1. Jan4of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Jan
  2. Feb4of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Feb
  3. Mar5of 7: a trip from Sat 6 Mar
  4. Apr6of 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. Sep6of 7: a trip from Sat 4 Sept
  10. Oct6of 7: a trip from Sat 2 Oct
  11. Nov5of 7: a trip from Tue 3 Nov
  12. Dec4of 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 M.V. Bardini Reefer

To all lost at sea
Near M.V. Bardini Reefer. Photo: Neville Goodman, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

About

the place in full, sources, credits

About M.V. Bardini Reefer

A wreck dive. It suits Open Water divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces NE: swell from the NE reaches it, and wind from the SW blows out to sea. No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 25 km away. The sea is about 10°C in January, its coldest month (7 mm semi-dry or a drysuit), and 16°C in August, its warmest (7 mm wetsuit and hood). For Advanced divers the best months are usually May, June, July and August, with about 7 good days in 7; in January, February and December, about 4. From the weather of past years. The town to stay in is Castletownbere. Within 5 km we also list 1 wind sports spot.

  • 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 No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 25 km away.

Water about 12°C: 7 mm semi-dry or a drysuit. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility about 7 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Clearest in Jun (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$1,170–US$2,180 each

about US$1,170–US$2,180 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 2 November 2026.

How we worked it out 
Rough cost per person for this trip
WhatHow we worked it outEach
Flightsreturn ORD to KIR, estimated from distance and season, changing at DUB, full-service airlines, with a hold bagabout US$416–US$859
Hire car6 days, sharedabout US$148–US$242
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$289–US$483
Food7 days eating outabout US$322–US$597
Totalabout US$1,170–US$2,180

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: Castletownbere

Ad Links marked Ad may pay us if you book. You pay the same, and they never change a score. How we earn

Closest

Castletownbere

about 10 min by car · 7 places to stay

about US$107/nightcountry average

See 7 places to stay in Castletownbere · Booking.com

About Castletownbere its beds, food and every spot near it

About US$107 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 2 November 2026.

Getting there: about 16h 50m

About 16h 50m door to door from Chicago

Fly ORD → KIR, changing at Dublin Airport (DUB), then 1h 25m by road

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

In the water

Dive centres nearby

No dive centre mapped within 25 km.

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.

  • Amphorina farraniNudibranch

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Antiopella cristataNudibranch

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Slender facelina Facelina auriculataNudibranch

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Boston facelina Facelina bostoniensisNudibranch

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Rubramoena amoenaNudibranch

    Seen in 3 records.

  • Dead-man's fingers Alcyonium digitatum

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Common starfish Asterias rubens

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Edible crab Cancer pagurus

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Spiny starfish Marthasterias glacialis

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Velvet crab Necora puber

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Dahlia anemone Urticina felina

    Seen in 7 records.

  • Rosy feather-star Antedon bifida

    Seen in 6 records.

Records: OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, IOC-UNESCO) and GBIF.org (1 November 2026, doi:10.15468/dl.jeesns), from the datasets named here, CC0 and CC BY records only. Names: WoRMS and GBIF; common names from the Catalogue of Life, the GBIF Backbone and Wikidata. Largest datasets here: SeaSearch records from Irish coastal waters; Seasearch Marine Surveys in Ireland; Marine Recorder Snapshot extract of surveys entered by SeaSearch; Irish Benthos monitoring as part of the Water framework directive since 2012; Ireland's BioBlitz. Credits

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

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