Blog post by Dana Ransby
Inspired, encouraged and advised by Giulia's and Barbora's dive resources for Norway we set off for a nomadic adventure this summer. Our T5 campervan equipped with a roof tent is a trustworthy expedition vehicle for a family of three (He, She and Teen), but this time round we decided to combine the regular summer camping trip with occasional dives for the first time.
Camping & diving meant cutting our otherwise comfortably large and established collection of camping equipment to the bare minimum in favour of accommodating bulky diving kits, part of it fixed to a bicycle rack. Also the van spares and tools needed to be strongly reduced, which was especially painful and stressy for Him, proud to fix almost any technical difficulty by himself. Without the advantage of a comfortable support by a local dive-centre (staying in once place isn't the way nomads do it, and this kind of diving holiday would be way out of our travel budget in Norway, anyways), we relied on finding local dive-centres, dive-clubs and individuals to fill our air bottles.
The first diving stop was lake Lygnstøylvatnet with remains of a village flooded over 100 years ago. This was truly a ghostly and unique site, which She had added to her "dive bucket list" the moment she first read about it. The lake doesn't necessarily have to be explored by scuba diving; most of the scenic parts are also accessible to snorkelers.
At Strømsholmen along the Atlantic Road we were fascinated for the first time by the Norwegian underwater marine world, dramatic rocky landscape and a kelp forest. We refilled our bottles with the friendly dive-centre owner Olav.
Our next diving stop was Ånnvika Marina in Trøndelag, where a local divemaster Vidar Millan Sydskjør arranged stay & air for us. He accompanied us during two exciting days to dives from a boat, including the M/S Moi wreck, while being extremely patient about our clumsiness during getting off and on board. Vidar is incredibly knowledgeable about the local underwater environment. He also encouraged the Teen to try spearfishing. He did and proudly got us an unfortunate fish for a dinner.
The last Norwegian divesite on our trip to ProDykk in the Oslofjord we met Giulia, who guided us to an artificial reef (a wreck sunk deliberatelly in front of the dive-centre). We thoroughly enjoyed this chilled dive on a sunny day.
We were all very impressed by the underwater environment in Norway. Our experience was mostly made possible by the helpful support of local diving enthusiasts. We had fun and will be back for more diving in the north of Europe.
You can download the precise locations of the divesite and our trip here:
and here is a brief description of the non-diving points of interest which we visted:
Jostedalsbreen: glacier viewpoint (last few km using a toll road). Coordinates: 61.7461, 7.0356
Harbakhula cave: our cavemen ancestors must have loved it here, stunning view. Coordinates: 64.0822, 10.0494
Olavsgruva: a visitor mine belonging to Røros copper mines, an impressive subsurface walk. Coordinates: 62.6308, 11.5630
Storwartz: copper processing plant buildings, tailings, scenic lost place. Coordinates: 62.6282, 11.5349
Røros copper smelter: museum, world heritage site. Coordinates: 62.5774, 11.3917
Røstvangen mines: another abandoned copper mine, getting to the parking using a toll road, from the parking hike along the ropeway remains to the upper mining site, very pretty lost place. Coordinates: 62.3840, 10.3773
Vemork hydroelectric power plant: museum, Norwegian heavy water sabotage during WWII. Coordinates: 59.8714,8.4921
Krossobanen: ropeway, starting point for a mountain hike, beautiful view. Coordinates: 59.88571, 8.5470
Fram: museum of polar exploration in Oslo. Coordinates: 59.9034, 10.6996
Møvik fort: German built coastal WWII artillery fortress to control the Skagerrak strait, museum. Coordinates: 58.0909, 7.9680