Methods, systems, and computer readable for providing smart underwater free space optical communications are provided. According to one aspect, a system for smart underwater free space optical communications is provided. The system includes a receiver. The receiver includes an optical detector array for detecting incident light under water. The receiver further includes a compound lens array located optically in front of the optical detector. The compound lens array includes lenses that steer incident light arriving at different angles to different portions of the optical detector array. A controller processes signals generated by the optical detector based on the incident light and controls an aspect of the underwater communications based on the steered incident light detected by the detector array. Components of the controller may include a backscatter estimator and an angle of arrival estimator for estimating water quality obtained from backscattered light and an angle of arrival of incident light, respectively.