Name: Gulen Dive Resort
Address: Glossvikveien 134, Dalsøyra, Norway, Lavik, Lavik, Lavik, 5960, Norway
Rating: 8

Location

Bringeland Airport

Gulen Dive Resort

Just at the end of a weeks diving here.
Enjoyed every minute of it, in some ways similar to a lot of my Scottish diving but with its own character too.

The setup is spot-on...
Spacious, cosy, comfortable accommodation, beautiful views, hot showers, a large garage for dive kit storage containing a heated drying room and the compressor and air banks. And huge fresh water rinse tanks!

A few metres away is the pontoon for boarding the dive boats which is also the entry point for the House Reef shore dive which has several lovely sites depending on route.

The hardboat Vikingfjord is roomy, comfortable and well equipped with air banks to top up your set between dives.
The RIB is massive and super fast and with a superb ladder for exiting.

Site briefings are comprehensive and Orjan has great knowledge of the sites.
Our deck hand / compressor operator / waffle maker / general assistant Richard was on hand for everything we needed and being a hugely experienced technical diving instructor had a wealth of knowledge.

I'll be back!

1. Getting there and going back home:
We arrived by plane from Bergen and took the ferry to gulen. All the information is very well explained on the website and Orjan and Monica provides us with information about the bus from the ferry to the divecenter. 

When we went back to Bergen on a sunday, Monica and Orjan were worried about the bus and ferry going. They got the information by themselves and Monica drove us to the ferry herself without expecting we pay for it. We thought this was very nice of her! 

2. Facilities:
Simple, clean rooms and badrooms. Towels and sheets provided. Clean kitchen with fridge, oven, microwave, dishwasher, etc. We brought our own food since we had read on the website that there was no restaurant or anything. A small store is 10 drive with the car. 

Free wifi, not always working so good, especially when u log in with too many at once. 

Hottub available, book in advance as they need time to prepare it. 

Cosy bar where u can drink a beer. 

3. Staff:
Everybody is very friendly. Isabelle helped us get all the gear we needed and Guido helped us with anything else with diving. He gave professional breefings about the divesites, the history of the wrecks and how to dive the wrecks/sites. He was there to help with the gear when needed but also gives us the space we needed. He was very friendly at all times. 

4. Dives:
We did mostly wreckdives and the dives were all amazing! We all are experienced divers so we didn’t needed a guide. We went with the boat were we could sit dry between the dives. Water and snacks are available to buy, but there is also a small kitchen. We took some noodles to heat up between the dives. 

The housereef is also very nice to see, especially for macro. 

5. Dive equipment:
We brought the most of ourselves, but the equipment we’ve rented was vert well maintaned. There is enough room to store everything and a heated room for the suits. 

Big bath to rinse everything and other bath to rinse cameras. 

6. Extra:
After the diving there were freshly baked waffles, coffee and tea. Very jummy. 

Final opinion: keep up the good work guys! Hope to come again some day! 

We were a group of five divers, all highly qualified and very experienced. On our way back to the airport, we all agreed: we want to come back here, it was so great.

The diving is amazing here. The boys in our group loved the wrecks, the girls were more into underwater-nature. We did a wreck dive and a nature dive on every day, so everybody was more than happy.

We were also thrilled by the team: helpful, friendly, communicative; what else do you want? Guido's history lessons before wreck-dives are just amazing. In general, the briefings are very informative and allowed you to have splendid dives.

As for some of the comments here: if you talk to the team, you get what you want. Even though not advertized on their homepage, we got full board with incredible meals, because we communicated before we booked. From Italian Lasagne to asian sweet-sour soup to Norwegian cod. It was so delicious and all hand-made. 

We also appreciated the diving infrastructure: a rinsing pool for cameras, a rinsing pool for divers and equipment, a heated drying room, what else do you need?

The cabins are admittedly simple, we are used to more luxurious rooms. But since there were only five of us, sharing a bathroom was no problem. The two extra toilets in the other building came in handy.

All in all: a great diving holiday!

Prices are admittedly rather high, but hey, this is Norway, everything is expensive here and compared to Bergen, where we went for two days afterwards, the beers here were rather on the cheep side.

Great dive centre and really accommodating. Really good quality of equipment and constantly made sure we were happy and comfortable. The waffles after every day of diving are also a perfect ending! Would recommend! 

One of the best diving centers in Norway. Great wrecks all around the center with great visibility. Center new divingboat has made  traveling to divesites more comftable and relaxing. Center with good anf friendly service 

I was diving at the “Gulen Dive Resort” in September last year.
I was really excited as it is arguably the most famous Dive resort in Norway. There is no other Dive Resort in Norway which has such a omnipresent marketing. 

Travel:
We arrived with the ferry in Bergen, stayed there for a night (to have a look at the city) and then went on to Gulen. To get there took us about 1 hour car drive (a ferry in between) and it was a really wonderful ride. 
Organisation:
Monica welcomed us warmly, I really felt welcome right away! She showed us the resorts facilities and during my entire stay she had an eye on the diving. She would also often take some time to chat with us, which is not a common thing for Norwegians. I really appreciated to learn about the story of the place.
By the time I got there all other divers left the resort. Which means I pretty much had the entire building and dive masters for myself. Which was really cool. 
Activities:
Next to diving there were kajaks. So on the day of my arrival I checked out the fjord a bit. I saw sea otters playing around on the other side of the fjord. The entire area is nice for walking or offers amazing scenery if you want to do something during your surface interval. But of course: diving is the one and only thing which matters.
Diving:
As I said I had a dive-master for me alone. (depending on their working times sometimes even two) 
I did my dry suit course there. The equipment was in a great condition (I rented almost everything) and the dive education was profound and so far the best I got (that sure depends on the guide you have).
As I booked only the dry suit course there was no way to see big wrecks or anything, which are rather far away from the resort. But within a distance of 5 minutes (ride with a small motorboat) there were dive spots like the “Troll wall” and “Gulah Fjord”. These dive spots were absolutely top notch! There was so much to see, in terms of under water landscape and plants and biests ! The house reef (where I got my course-dives) was not really exciting. But there is a tiny rock island right next to the house reef (maybe its even still part of it) which looks unspectacular from the surface, but when you dive around it you will get to see why diving in Norway is so amazing. 
Accomodation:
The resort offers a living area with a kitchen, 2 fridges and 2 bathrooms with shower and a lot of separated rooms with beds. I was glad though that the place was not fully booked by the time I was there. Also there is a cleaning service.

Summary:
I really liked the diving at Gulen Dive resort. The owners were really friendly. It’s a great place to discover Norways under water world. If destiny brings me back to Gulen one day, I will definitely check out the wreck tour. 
______

Das Wichtigste nochmal auf Deutsch:
Ich hatte im vergangenen Jahr meinen Trocken-Tauchkurs in Gulen absolviert. Die Tauchleitung war deutsch und sehr professionell. Die Tauchspots waren –neben dem eher mäßig spektakulären Hausriff, was aber gut für Triningsübungen ist- nahe und extrem abwechslungsreich.  Von „Gula Fjord“ und „Trollwand“ liest man weder im Internet noch in gängigen Tauchmagazinen, aber es waren sicher zwei der besten Spots die ich (bis jetzt!) betauchen durfte, stehen aber denen in Nord-Norwegen im Tier-Reichtum nach. 
Der Standard der Unterkunft ist für norwegische Verhältnisse gut. Es gibt einen Putzservice. Die Tauchausrüstung war spitzenmäßig und im hervorragenden Zustand. 
 Ausnahmsweise war ich –trotz des erheblichen Marketings um das Resort- nicht vom Tauchen enttäuscht, weil meine Erwartungen zu groß waren.

Ich weiß zwar nicht, ob Gulen wirklich die beste Stelle zum Tauchen in Norwegen ist, aber ich kann, würde und empfehle jedem das Gulen Tauchresort!

Lavik

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Fantastic Resort

Excellent and professional divecenter

Amazing diving

Troll wall and Gulah Fjord

Great dive centre

Diving

Gulen Dive Resort has the potential to be as good as Wakatobi in Indonesia.  The diving is truly spectacular with macro and wrecks.   The owner is passionate about diving, having built the property from scratch for the local diving club. I will definitely go back.

That said, a lack of detailed information and dive masters more interested in diving than guiding left me wanting more and hence the rating.  The following is info that I think would help an outsider better understand the dynamics of the resort and diving.

GETTING TO GULEN
- FERRY:   As mentioned on the website, ferry is easiest.  That said there are only TWO departures from the Bergen Ferry terminal.  (just next to the fish market or 3rd stop on the Airport Bus) They are 800am and 430pm and require a transfer.  The ferry staff are helpful and will tell you when to transfer.  Cost is approximately NK300 per person and you can pay with credit card.   Note that the return trip involves a 2:30 hour small ferry adventure before transferring to the large ferry back to Bergen (earliest arrival back is 1130am). The ferry does drop at the resort dock.
- CAR RENTAL:  Takes 2-3 hours with a car ferry that departs every hour at 8:15, 9:15 etc....   You are looking at US100-200 a day to rent from the Bergen Airport.  
- BUS:  You can take the 320 from the 2nd Airport Bus stop and transfer to the 300 which will drop you at the car ferry.    The resort is 20 mins drive from the car ferry drop off so a pick up will need to be discussed first.

RESORT
- There are NO options for food at the resort.  If you are NOT driving, purchase EVERYTHING before arrival.  The nearest option is a small grocery 5km away.   The best option is the grocery across from the ferry terminal in Bergen. You will need to cook you own breakfast, lunch and dinner.   This is fine, but it was not clear this would be the case.   There is a coffee maker, fridge, etc...   There was a bar on site but it was not open during our stay.   We bot wine at duty free on the flight in to Bergen.   The area around the resort is beautiful but there is not much guidance on things to do or see beyond diving.   The rooms with bunk beds are clean and the two bathrooms are shared among 8 guests rooms.  The resort provides sheets and towels.  If you are a light sleeper bring eye covers and ear plugs.  WIFI worked and is an acceptable speed. 

DIVING
All diving requires a dry suit / 7mm, and Gulen only rents dry suits.  The dive instructors can certify you but best to arrange this ahead of time.   To do Gulen justice, you need at least three days.   I booked the macro critters package which means diving off the resort dock on your own.  For a first time visitor this was slightly annoying.  I had a hard time finding critters and spent considerable time trying to get my bearings.  To be fair, a dive guide is NOT offered in the package.  However, the low point was coming out of a dive to see the two dive instructors heading out on their own.   They were very functional which means safety is important but not much else.  As a first time visitor, the guide enthusiasm was lacking, and I left feeling like I missed most of what was on offer.  There was minimal current and vis was 3-5m.  Temperature was 10c.

PHOTOGRAPHY
A set up room is needed.  There is a small desk in the living area that can accommodate one, possibly two photographers max.   Watch the seasons as well.  The kelp was dying in late August and hence covering the seabed which limited visibility.

So all in.... Gulen is a must visit destination for cold water diving, but prep is needed, and a bit of enthusiasm and guidance would go a long way to turning this into a 5-star destination.



Gulen Dive Resort - DIY Guide

we are a french couple, planned to spend some time in the resort specially for dives.
we had a lot of mail with the owner, trying to understand what kind of dives we could do.(we are beginner and saw a lot of wreck on the website that means depth we are not allowed to go, so we thought that the place was not for us) he told us to come anyway, the deal was 200 euros for two nights and 400 euros for 3 dives each.

once on site, it is not really a resort but cabins, no bar, no food...stucked (fortunatly we met some cool divers really helpful) so the first info is that you have to bring your food.(seems to be written on the website...)

the next morning we could not dive because of our qualification...they had not check nothing.we need to be supervised so they werent enought to manage us...sad to know this at 9 in the morning after 10 mails asking for informations and giving them all the clue for a management.

at least we had one dive around the reef, in dry suit (we didnt know that ...only 20 dives in hot water)... the fact is ,if we had been normaly informed, we would not have come (8h by drive from oslo) so we ask for a discount and finaly paid 250 euros...that is quite the price of what we did...i did a search on airbnb and saw the place at 38 euros per night...

Gulen Dive Resort

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