Traveling to Sydney

[bohemoth]

I am traveling to Sydney for business at the end of August and was able to extend my stay for 3.5 days. I would love to get in a few dives. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there anything good around Sydney? I am an Advanced & experienced diver.
I would love to do the Great Barrier Reef but everything I have seen shows it would be a flight. I could possibly do that if I flew up then did a full day of diving, decompress for a day and fly back to Sydney in time for the flight home. If that is the best suggestion, where should I fly into and what areas should I try to go to?

 

[huwporter]

Hi mate,

You could plausibly fly to the barrier reef for a day but be warned that Cairns (for example) is about 1,500 miles from Sydney, or a four hour flight.

There is plenty of great (colder water) diving in Sydney though - have a read of Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site for a start.

Cheers,
Huw

 

[asha]

Diving in Sydney is amazing! I enjoyed it so much more than I enjoyed the GBR.

 

[Griffo]

There;s great diving in Sydney. As above, check out Michaels blog, and try in the Australia forum here. I can remmond Dive Center Bondi, and Dive Manly as two great shops.

 

[ocdiver1]

For so little time, as others have stated there's great diving in Sydney...and great chance to see weedy seadragons among lots of other cool stuff. I've dove with Abyss and would recommend them. IF you decided to fly somewhere Byron Bay is closer than the GBR, has great diving at Julian Rocks, and is an awesome place to spend a couple of days.

 

[mareemunn2040]

I can remmond Dive Center Bondi

 

[tasmanianjac]

Most of the guided stuff is on Fridays/at the weekend if that is when you are here because its winter, although I think you can go on guided night dives with prodive on Tuesdays or Thursdays, I’ve done a couple and they are really good fun. The mcfadyen site is great for local info.

Great dives (in no particular order):

Manly – shelly beach. shallow shore dive – great for macro life (octopus, cuttlefish that sort of thing and carpet sharks). I’ve dived with both prodive manly and dive centre manly for guided shore dives at the weekend, both an easy walk from the ferry.

Other side of the harbor - camp cove, shallow shore dive, (8m max) so much macro stuff, seahorses that sort of thing - I’ve dived with DC Bondi and Prodive Coogee (guided). Both good, prefer prodive coogee, their enthusiasm for local diving is infectious. You tube link for campcove, although the worst vis ever:[video=youtube;J5UXHFnryZ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5UXHFnryZ8&feature=plcp [/video]





If you want to see the endangered grey nurse sharks &#8211; it&#8217;s easier with boat diving, I go with prodive &#8211; either from rose bay wharf (can get there by bus or taxi, if taxi say the catalina restaurant or they can get a bit lost!) or manly wharf. Don&#8217;t forget some seasick tabs for that trip. <span lang="EN-US">[video=youtube;AKZRA2t5tJI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKZRA2t5tJI&amp;feature=plcp [/video]



So Sydney is pretty good for diving!


I would second a trip to Byron bay - Julian rocks. It is actually my fav. place to dive in Aus, warmer than Sydney, you get a lot of tropical fish, grey nurse sharks etc, and often better vis than Sydney. I fly into Coolangatta and drive down (about 40 mins) to Brunswick heads and go from there. You tube link for typical dive: <span lang="EN-US">[video=youtube;RYomH8GwN-Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYomH8GwN-Q&amp;feature=plcp[/video]


Cant comment on the GBR at the moment, but am going there this weekend and will be doing some day trips so if you are interested i can post again.



Hope that helps!

 

[JoBro]

Check out the Facebook group Scuba Dive Sydney

https://www.facebook.com/groups/scubadivesydney/