Private attention
Your guide looks after only your group, allowing more time for questions, support and local insight.
Private Guided Dive
This is your dive — not a group tour.
For a flat fee of $295, you’ll have your own experienced guide dedicated to just your group (1–4 divers). Move at your pace, focus on what interests you, and enjoy a relaxed, personalised dive from start to finish.
Perfect if you want more confidence, flexibility, or simply a better overall diving experience.
Booking is simple: choose the option that matches your group size and register each diver under the same option. The total cost remains $295 for your private guide.
CHECK YOUR PREFERRED DAY
Is your date available?
First, check your preferred date. If it’s available, you can then choose Continue to booking to open the booking form.
Availability: In Stock
One guide · One private group · One flexible dive plan
Private Guided Shore Dive in Sydney
Your group, your pace and a Sydney shore dive planned around what you want to achieve.
Book an experienced Abyss guide exclusively for your group of one to four certified divers. Whether you want a supported first dive in Sydney, more confidence, local orientation, time for photography or a focused marine-life search, the plan begins with your experience and interests.
The private guiding fee is $295 for the group—not $295 per diver. Rental equipment is additional. The final dive site and plan are confirmed around diver suitability, weather, swell, visibility and safe entry conditions.
Why book a private guide?
A dive with a purpose
Discuss confidence, buoyancy, marine life, photography or local orientation before the site is selected.
Conditions come first
Abyss selects a suitable shore site for your group based on the conditions on the day.
How to book your group
One $295 fee for one private group
Diver 1 is the Organiser and carries the one-off $295 private guiding fee. Use Add another diver for up to three Buddies; they are included in the guiding fee.
Register every diver separately. Rental equipment is additional for each person and is the only selection that should increase the $295 group total.
Booking checklist
- Choose an available date above, or contact Abyss if the page asks you to enquire.
- Complete Diver 1 as the Organiser.
- Add and complete each Buddy, up to four divers in total.
- Check that the total is $295 plus any rentals selected.
Hoping to see a weedy seadragon?
Start with Sydney’s complete seadragon dive hub
A private guide can dedicate suitable dive time to searching known local habitat when your experience and the day’s conditions align. The hub explains where Sydney’s common or weedy seadragons live, how to spot them, responsible photography and every Abyss encounter option.
These are wild animals, so no guide, site or scheduled dive can guarantee a sighting.
Sydney’s speciesCommon or weedy seadragon
Private formatOne guide for 1–4 divers
Site choiceMatched to the group and conditions
WildlifeSightings are never guaranteed
Know what you are booking
What the $295 private guiding fee covers
The flat fee reserves a guide for your certified group of one to four divers. Equipment remains individual, so each person can bring or hire exactly what they need.
Included
- A dedicated Abyss guide for your private group
- One guided Sydney shore dive planned around group experience
- Site advice based on conditions, marine life and your goals
- Dive briefing plus entry and exit guidance
- Local marine-life interpretation during the experience
- A focus such as confidence, buoyancy, orientation or photography where suitable
Bring or arrange separately
- Your certification card or verifiable proof of certification
- Each diver’s complete scuba equipment and suitable exposure protection
- Any rental equipment required for the dive
- Personal photography equipment, if photography is one of your goals
Need equipment? Review Sydney scuba gear rental and arrange it before the dive.
Personalised, not predetermined
How your private dive is planned
Your preferred site and interests guide the conversation, but safe conditions and suitability determine the final plan.
Tell us your goals
Share your certification, recent experience, confidence and what you hope to get from the dive.
Match the site
Abyss considers swell, visibility, entry and exit, diver ability and the wildlife or skills focus.
Agree on the dive plan
Your guide briefs the route, conditions, communication, limits and safe entry and exit.
Dive at your group’s pace
The plan adapts to comfort, air consumption and conditions while remaining safe and relaxed.
Before you book
Certification, recent experience and equipment
This is a guided dive for certified divers, not an introductory scuba experience or certification course.
Who can join
- Every participant must hold at least an Open Water certification.
- Bring proof of certification on arrival.
- Divers with fewer than 20 logged dives must have dived within the previous 12 months.
- Every participant must be fit to dive and sign a Liability Waiver.
- Suitability also depends on the selected site, conditions and planned dive.
When a refresher is better
A private guide can provide personal attention, but the booking is not a formal skills-review program. If you have not dived recently, feel unsure about essential skills or want structured practice, complete a refresher first.
Unsure whether the dive suits your certification, recent experience or confidence? Contact Abyss before booking so the team can recommend the right next step.
A better wildlife encounter
Observe without changing the scene
A private format creates time to slow down, hold position and let wildlife behave naturally. It does not change the rules of responsible diving: never touch, chase, surround or reposition an animal for a photograph.
For seadragon-specific advice on buoyancy, approach distance, egg-carrying males and photography, use the responsible seadragon-diving guide.
Stay neutrally buoyantKeep fins, gauges and alternate air sources clear of reef, kelp and animals.
Leave an open routeNever box wildlife in or block its direction of travel.
Use light thoughtfullyAvoid prolonged bright video lights and repeated close flash.
Accept the ocean’s answerA wild-animal search can be rewarding even when the hoped-for species is not found.
Clear booking conditions
Important booking, cancellation and gear-hire terms
Private guided shore dives are covered by Abyss’s local-dive booking terms. Please read these conditions before booking.
Participation and arrival
- Certification: All divers must be Open Water certified or higher and provide proof of certification on arrival.
- Recent experience: Divers with fewer than 20 logged dives must have dived within the previous 12 months.
- Medical fitness: All participants must be fit to dive and sign a Liability Waiver. If a medical condition prevents participation, the cancellation terms apply.
- Arrival time: Please arrive on time and allow for traffic, parking and gear preparation. Refunds or credits are not issued for late arrivals, including delays caused by traffic or parking difficulties.
Cancellations, transfers and weather
- More than 3 days before the dive: refund issued less a $25 administration fee.
- Within 3 days of the dive: no refund.
- No-show or failure to attend: no refund; rebooking is at full cost.
- Date transfers: one free date transfer is permitted with more than 3 days’ notice. Subsequent changes, or transfers within 3 days, incur a $100 rebooking fee.
- Transfer to another person: bookings may be transferred at any time for a $100 rebooking fee, provided the replacement diver meets the certification, experience and medical requirements.
- Weather and safety: If Abyss cancels due to unsafe conditions, you may transfer to another date within 12 months. Any difference in price at the time of rebooking will apply.
Gear-hire responsibilities and cancellation terms
- Rental gear must be booked in advance and collected before the dive briefing.
- Divers are responsible for correct fit, safe use and care of all hired equipment.
- Lost or damaged items will be charged at repair or replacement cost.
- Early return or unused rental gear is non-refundable.
- More than 48 hours before pickup: refund less 20% of the hire fee, minimum $10.
- 48–24 hours before pickup: 50% of the hire fee retained.
- Less than 24 hours before pickup or no-show: 100% of the hire fee retained.
For the complete policy, read the Local Dives Terms and Conditions. If this summary and the full terms differ, the full terms apply.
Frequently asked questions
Private guided shore dive FAQs
Is the $295 price per person?
No. It is the private guiding fee for one group of one to four certified divers. Any rental equipment required is additional for each diver.
Can we choose the dive site?
Tell Abyss which site or experience interests you. The final site is selected for your group’s experience and the day’s weather, swell, visibility and entry conditions.
Can the dive focus on finding weedy seadragons?
Yes, when group suitability and conditions make an appropriate habitat practical. Local knowledge can improve the search, but a wild seadragon sighting is never guaranteed.
Is this suitable if I have not dived recently?
The local-dive recency rule applies, and a formal refresher may be the safer first step when essential skills or confidence need structured practice. Contact Abyss before booking if you are unsure.
Ready to plan your private Sydney shore dive?
Choose an available date above, complete Diver 1 as the Organiser, then add up to three Buddies. Register every diver and arrange any required rental equipment before the dive.
Trusted by Sydney divers 