About us
Sotra Sportsdykkerklubb is a small, but active dive club located in Apalvågen on the west side of Sotra. We are a non-commercial scuba diving club with approximately 50 members from the local area.
We do not arrange commercial diving trips, but if you want to become a member, or want to join one of our regular dive trips, you are welcome.
Facilities
Clubhouse
We have our own clubhouse, with kitchen and living room, bathroom, bedroom and compressor room with attached filling panel.
We offer other dive clubs to rent the house if they want to come diving in our area.
Air filling
You can fill both 200- and 300-bar diving cylinders. If the bank is full, it will only take a few minutes to fill your cylinders. We only offer air (no mixed gases).
Boat
Our boat, «Skjærgårdstrollet», can accommodate 10 divers and has a maximum speed of 8 knots. The boat has a small cabin that allows you to change indoors and store dry clothes if needed.
Equipment rental
We do not offer diving education or equipment rental. If you need to rent diving equipment, you could contact a commercial diving center in Bergen www.nemo.no for detailed information. The people at Nemo are friendly and skilled. They will be able to help you with your equipment needs. In addition you can get your education license there, if so desired.
Diving
We run regular dive trips every Thursday at 18.00 and every Sunday at 11.00. Members are prioritized, but if space is available, guests are welcome to join.
In order to participate in dives, you must bring a diving certificate.
Expect great nature dives
The area is dotted with islands. You can expect great nature dives. We have areas with beautiful kelp forest, sandy plains, underwater canyons and and a diverse marine life. In Norway scuba divers are allowed to hunt fish and shellfish (except lobster) for personal consumption. If you are lucky you will find fish or scallops to bring home for dinner!
Standard club dives
A standard club dive is 20 meters maximum depth and 45 minutes dive time. Divers are allowed to do longer dives (max 60 minutes), as long as they dive within the no-decompression limits.
We always dive in pairs. If you don’t have a buddy you will dive with one of the members of our club. Most of our members have more than 50 dives in the area.
Cold water means mostly good visibility
We have good visibility more or less all year around. However, late spring and summer can have weeks with lesser visibility due to sea flowering. From Septemer to February it is not unusual to get 15 meters visibility.
The middle temperature is 8 degrees celsius all year at 20 meter depth. There are some variations in surface temperature from 12 degrees in summer and 5 degrees in january/february, depending on the weather. Dry suit is recommended throughout the year.
We love night dives!
Mid October to April Thursday dives are night dives. Two torches are required.
Signing up for a dive
Follow this link to sign up for diving. Choose a day and leave your name and mobile number in a comment. If guests can’t join the dive, you will get a notice after the deadline.
Priority
Max 10 divers (including boat driver) can join a dive. With more than 10 signed up, the priority will be:
- Members signed up within deadline
- Guest divers signed up within deadline
- Members signed up after deadline
- Guests signed up after deadline
Deadline for registration is at 14:00 on Thursdays and 21:00 on Saturdays for Sunday dives.
Location
We are located in Apalvågen at Sotra island, in the outskirt of Bergen on the west coast of Norway. Aprox. 40 min. by car from Bergen city centre. (See map at bottom of page.)
Prices
Guest dive: NOK 200,-
Air filling guest: NOK 50,-
Air filling member: NOK 40,-
Membership: NOK 1500,-
Membership including unlimited air fillings: NOK 2200,-
Membership including unlimited air and unlimited boat dives: NOK 2500,-
Club house rental: NOK 1000,- per night
(For dive clubs only)