Heading to Sydney - looking for dive options.

I am heading to Sydney this Friday on a last minute business trip. Is the diving okay right now? If so, what is the water temperature? Does anyone have a recommendation for a dive operator? I am looking to do a night dive and also dive on Saturday (10/15). How far a the dive sites, by boat or shore dive? Sorry for the questions but do appreciate any help with this last minute trip.

Phil

I dove with Abyss Scuba in Sydney. One nice thing they were doing at least when I was there last year was doing some free guided shore dives. You'll especially appreciate that when you see what they charge for diving in Australia! I'm sure they'd point you in the right direction for any questions you had. You'll probably get some answers from a local that will be better re the diving..I only did some shore dives there but saw loads..weedy sea dragons, port jackson sharks, lots of nudibranchs. Since you'll be there on a weekend and the weather would be warming up I'd bet they'd have boat dives scheduled as well. When I dove last September the water temp was mid 60s.

Thank you for the information. Upon searching some old threads on SB I also stumbled on Abyss. I was thinking about using Abyss or ProDive in Coogee...Seems Prodive has early morning dives that are free (except for gear), so I could get in a dive or two during the weekday.

ocdiver1:

You'll especially appreciate that when you see what they charge for diving in Australia!

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Agreed...$19 for tank rental!!! Oh well, at least I am not paying for the airfare or hotel!

If anyone (locals) have dive sites to recommend, please chime in as well. I will be staying the Hyde Park area and would like to see the weedy seadragon...so if you know where they are, please let me know.

Thanks.

TeqP:

Thank you for the information. Upon searching some old threads on SB I also stumbled on Abyss. I was thinking about using Abyss or ProDive in Coogee...Seems Prodive has early morning dives that are free (except for gear), so I could get in a dive or two during the weekday.


Agreed...$19 for tank rental!!! Oh well, at least I am not paying for the airfare or hotel!

If anyone (locals) have dive sites to recommend, please chime in as well. I will be staying the Hyde Park area and would like to see the weedy seadragon...so if you know where they are, please let me know.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

ok ill butt in one last time lol...only because i was diving in Sydney nearly 100% for seeing weedy's, so I had Abyss take me to what they considered the number one site..."The Steps" I've since heard that from other people as well...we saw 3 or 4 there

TeqP:

I am heading to Sydney this Friday on a last minute business trip. Is the diving okay right now? If so, what is the water temperature? Does anyone have a recommendation for a dive operator? I am looking to do a night dive and also dive on Saturday (10/15). How far a the dive sites, by boat or shore dive? Sorry for the questions but do appreciate any help with this last minute trip.

Phil

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Hi,

I've just returned from a fairly long trip overseas so I don't know what the conditions are like right now but in general people will dive in Sydney all year round. According to the MHL, water temp right now should be around 18-20C.

Where you go will really depend on what you want to see/do.

If you want to see Weedy Sea Dragons, you'll probably need to go a little south (near Botany Bay), rather than start from in the harbor. You'll sometimes get lucky at other locations in the Sydney region though.

Do you need to rent gear? Do you like to boat dive? Do you have transport?

Most of the Sydney dive shops are setup to deal with local residents rather than tourists, which is why it can be hard to find information.

Some quick recommendations:

- I have never dived with Abyss but people keep recommending them. They look like they're good if you want to go and do a group shore dive. They're not exactly near you however.

- Pro Dive Manly have a boat that picks up from Rose Bay. They can rent the standard set of equipment on the boat, and will normally run a pickup from Rose Bay which is a $15 cab fare from the city.

- If it's a sunny day, getting a dive in at Shelly Beach in Manly is a nice day out. Entry is on a quite nice beach, and there's lots of stuff to see there if the open water courses haven't ruined the vis that day. It can be a bit of a pain getting there by public transport though (unless you can figure out the ferry system, and again, it's a sunny day ;-)

I hope this helps, I can provide some more answers if you have more specific questions.

Pasc

I had good luck with ProDive on George St. under the Hilton Hotel.

If you want to see weedy sea dragon, go to clovelly bay:
Clovelly Bay Diving Spot in Sydney
It's a beautiful place, suitable for a night dive, too

Thank you all for the responses. I ended up using Pordive in Coogee...Dive master Laurie took me out on a nice 80 minute dive...I do not remember the exact site, but it was north of Bondi beach....we saw a few species of nudibranchs, cuttlefish, catfish (didn't know they had salt water catfish)...seahorses and a large (2' ) blue grouper like fish. The water temp was 64f and visibility was around 20'.

Unfortunately no weedy sea dragons...the first place we were going to dive the road was closed for construction and she said that the weedy sea dragons are at that site.

Nevertheless, I had a very nice dive.