Bare Dykk · marine protected area · Trøndelag
Diving in Skarnsundet — one strait, layer upon layer of life.
From kelp forest and walls to cold-water corals that continue down into the dark. Skarnsundet is one of Norway's most distinctive areas for cold-water diving — shaped by tides, deep walls and a rich marine life.
Photo · Erling Svensen / Bare Dykk
Why Skarnsundet
A protected strait
in motion
Skarnsundet is a narrow tidal strait connecting different parts of the Trondheim Fjord system. The moving water carries nutrients through the area and supports dense communities of attached marine life. It also means timing is everything: some sites can only be dived during suitable tidal windows, while others offer more sheltered alternatives.
What you can experience
Nature dives
Macro life
Fish and larger animals
Night and shark
Corals
Technical diving
Flexibility all year round
More than 30 dive sites
— all year round
Bare Dykk sits in a sheltered spot in the middle of Skarnsundet, a short distance from more than 30 different dive sites. When one spot is exposed to wind, current or poor visibility, there is often a better alternative on another side of the strait, inside a cove or along a more sheltered wall.
That lets us plan diving throughout the whole year — even when the weather isn't entirely on our side. Everything from easy nature dives straight from the centre to boat-based wall dives, night dives, coral dives and technical profiles. We choose dive sites according to experience, certification, weather, tide, visibility — and what you want to experience.
The variety makes the strait
More than coral diving
Many come to Skarnsundet for the cold-water corals. But the area is far more than coral forest: calm nature dives, kelp forest, steep walls, small gullies, hard bottom, fish life, night dives, sharks, cephalopods, macro life and technical profiles.
Some dives are about large structures and depth. Others are about hanging still at 10–20 metres and watching all the small things that move between kelp, stone and rock.
It is the variety that makes Skarnsundet special.
We have recorded more than 50 species of nudibranch in the area, and it is not unusual to encounter both octopus and squid. At certain times and on certain profiles you may also see rabbitfish, velvet belly lanternshark, blackmouth catshark and red-spotted shark.
Before you get to come down
A good dive
leaves no trace
Skarnsundet and Tauterryggen are home to slow-growing cold-water corals. A small injury can remain visible for generations. That is why everyone who dives with Bare Dykk goes through a pre-dive briefing on coral care, buoyancy control, current assessment and rules for photo and video.
This is what we expect of every diver
- Keep your distance from corals, the bottom and the wall.
- Have your buoyancy and trim under control before you approach vulnerable areas.
- Keep hoses, lights, camera and stage cylinders streamlined.
- Stabilise yourself in the water column — never against the bottom or coral.
- Use zoom and distance rather than swimming closer.
- Abort the dive if your control isn't good enough.
- Report it if you observe any damage.
The rules apply to every profile and every depth — they are part of the pre-dive briefing, not a gate on this page. By getting in touch you confirm that you have read them.
The depth profile · 0–250 m
From the surface
down into the forest
Skarnsundet has been mapped metre by metre — from the kelp forest at the top to the fjord wall that continues down towards 250 metres. This is the actual vertical layering, and how much of it opens up is controlled by the profile view.
From daylight to depth — the wall plunges, and the coral forest opens up.
Kelp forest, house reef and nature dives
The first metres are bright, green and full of movement. The kelp forest sways with the current, small fish take shelter between the fronds, and the bottom shifts between stone, rock, pockets of sand and vegetation.
Right outside the dive centre lies our house reef — steep down to around 10 metres before the terrain levels out and gradually goes deeper. Perfect depths for calm nature dives, courses, orientation, evening dives and night dives. Here we also monitor a small research and observation area for sugar kelp.
Nature dives · house reef · courses · evening and night
The forest begins
This is where Skarnsundet starts to show why the area is special. Shallower than most people think corals can grow, the first coral structures appear on current-exposed walls and hard bottom — yellow sea bushes from around 28 metres, together with sponges, anemones and filter-feeding life. Among the shallowest occurrences known from the literature.
Darker walls, more current
The walls grow darker, the current more noticeable and the coral forest denser. These are depths where good buoyancy, a calm fin kick and local knowledge become decisive. Here you also approach the Nitrox limit — the constraint is the gas, not the wall.
A bubblegum coral where it shouldn't be
At 36 metres stands a red bubblegum coral almost a metre across — unusually shallow for a species often associated with far deeper environments (NINA finds the dense communities only at 130–140 m). Colonies like this extend their branches 1.2–3.0 cm a year and are highly vulnerable to mechanical breakage: one careless fin kick can erase decades.
Found by Ella Smevik-Slapgård · within EAN28 (MOD ~40 m)
Walls of coralField observation
Continuous hard-bottom coral forest: rice coral like a carpet over rocky knolls, in gullies and up along the walls, with sea bush turned towards the current. Qualifies as Hard-bottom coral forest (NT). These are Bare Dykk's own documented dive transects — depths that require the right certification, planning and team.
Lophelia coral — the reef builderField observation
Down here, where the plan takes over completely, stands the Lophelia coral: the true reef builder, with a calcium skeleton that grows 0.5–1 mm a year and can be more than 9 000 years old. Around it, scattered bubblegum corals at 64 metres. One centimetre of damage here is ten to twenty years of lost growth.
Formerly Lophelia pertusa · age record in Norway > 9 000 years
This is normally the lower limit for guided diving with Bare Dykk in Skarnsundet. Below this, the walls, the coral habitats and the fjord landscape continue further down — but not as ordinary guiding. For qualified technical teams we contribute local knowledge, boat, gas, logistics and planning; the profile is built as an independent technical team dive.
From here down, the page shows a technical knowledge profile — not a finished dive plan.
The wall continuesTechnical zone
Below the guided zone the light fades further, but the wall continues. The terrain grows larger, darker and more technical: steep drop-offs, hard bottom, ledges, gullies and current-exposed sections where filter-feeding life can grow dense.
This is the zone for qualified technical teams. Here the dive is less about "going deeper" and more about precise planning: the right gas, bailout, team role, current window, ascent profile and clear abort criteria.
There is a great deal of beauty shallower in Skarnsundet. But for teams with the experience who want to plan a deeper profile, we can facilitate with local knowledge, logistics and gas.
The deep coral beltDeeper knowledge layer
Deeper than we normally dive, the coral ecosystem continues down the walls. Here the landscape passes into a darker knowledge layer: steep hard-bottom sections, ridges, overhangs, ledges and deep coral forests documented through report data and remote mapping.
At these depths there are both gorgonian coral forest and stony corals. Bubblegum coral can dominate larger sections, while rice coral and sea bush form dense fields in other layers. Deeper zones may also hold Lophelia coral and zigzag coral — reef-building species that grow extremely slowly and create habitats for other marine life.
This is not a guided dive experience. It is the knowledge layer that shows how far down the system actually continues.
From the report data: dense Primnoa–Paramuricea forest 55–80 m · Paragorgia-dominated forest 85–185 m · stony corals in deep zones
The fjord depths below usFjord depths
Skarnsundet does not end where divers turn — nor where the coral mapping grows thinner. The fjord wall continues further down to around 250 metres: darker, colder and less accessible.
This depth is part of the whole explanation of Skarnsundet. The steep walls, the sills, the water masses and the tidal current create a transport of nutrients and water through the strait. It is this combination of depth, current and hard bottom that lets life grow layer upon layer up the walls.
You are not diving a small local wall. You are diving the edge of a deep fjord system.
For the diver, this is perhaps the most powerful feeling in Skarnsundet.
Source: Bare Dykk AS — dive transects 20–70 m · NINA/ROV deeper layers · expert basis for the County Governor of Trøndelag, 2020–2025
Up through the life · what the corals sustain
The corals build
an entire community
The corals in Skarnsundet are azooxanthellate — they don't live off sunlight, but by filtering plankton from the current. What they give back is structure: three-dimensional habitats that shelter, feed and nurture all the other life around them. On the way up, this is what you see.
Between the branches
The branching colonies act as shelter, anchoring substrate and nursery. Between the branches live crustaceans, bristle worms and brittle stars; on the surface sit sponges, hydroids and bryozoans. Sea urchins graze at the edges. If the colony is damaged, it isn't only the coral that is lost — but every microhabitat it holds.
Calcareous sponge and funnel sponge
Where the coral forest is densest, large sponges also stand — calcareous sponges between the colonies, funnel sponge along the walls — and colourful anemones that capture nutrients from the moving water. The sponge fauna is an indicator in its own right of an intact, current-rich hard-bottom community.
The predatory fish that belong here
The coral habitat is a hunting ground. Redfish shelter in the lee of the structure, wolffish patrol the hard bottom as a predator, and saithe and cod pass through the water column above. This is not incidental fauna — these are species ecologically tied to the structure the corals build.
Back in the light
The last metres up bring the kelp forest — greener, brighter, moving with the current. Nudibranchs crawl on the kelp fronds, and small fish shelter in the dense vegetation. A safety stop here is rarely boring.
Associated fauna documented in Skarnsundet · Bare Dykk AS 2020–2025 · cf. Buhl-Mortensen et al. 2010, Roberts et al. 2009
Right outside the dive centre
The house reef — close and underrated
We live where we dive
Right outside the dive centre lies our house reef. It sits in the middle of Skarnsundet, but inside a cove that gives surprisingly sheltered conditions — close to the strait without being as exposed to the current as the open walls. That makes the house reef perfect for orientation dives, courses, evening dives, night dives and calm nature dives between the longer boat trips.
The dive starts steeply down to around 10 metres before the terrain levels out and gradually goes deeper. From there you meet small walls, gullies, hard bottom, kelp, nudibranchs, small creatures and fish life. On good days this is one of the most underrated dives we have — not because it is deep, but because it is close, varied and full of detail.
We also use the area as a small field and observation site for sugar kelp and natural development right outside the centre.
- Access — straight from the centre, no boat
- Suited to — orientation, courses, nature, evening and night dives
- Terrain — steep start to ~10 m, then gullies, walls and hard bottom
Some of our most interesting observations have been made right outside the centre. We're happy to share more with guests who come here to dive — the most sensitive details become part of the briefing and the experience on site.
Nature dives, macro and nudibranchs
Nudibranchs
and small life
Skarnsundet is a fantastic area for divers who love macro life. We have observed more than 50 species of nudibranch at different depths and on different bottom types — some in the kelp forest and on shallower hard bottom, others on walls, sponges, corals and more current-exposed sections. Around them: crustaceans, brittle stars, bristle worms, starfish, anemones and small fish that use the structure as shelter.
Diving for those who swim slowly, stop often and look for what doesn't shout the loudest.
Fish, night and shark
When the light fades,
the strait changes character
Fish and larger animals
At different depths and seasons we may encounter saithe, pollack, tusk, ling, wolffish, flatfish, halibut, skate and cephalopods. These aren't dives where we guarantee particular species — but with the right season, tide, darkness, a calm team and local knowledge, Skarnsundet can deliver encounters you won't soon forget.
Evening and night dives
Kelp forest and walls take on a different calm. Small creatures come out more clearly, fish behave differently, and species you rarely see in daytime can move into shallower water. That increases the chance of rabbitfish, velvet belly lanternshark, blackmouth catshark and red-spotted shark.
The house reef right outside the centre is especially well suited to this — after a longer boat trip, a calm evening dive there can be the perfect end to the day.
Some things we share only in the briefing
Skarnsundet is full of small secrets. Certain observations, exact spots and species finds we share only with divers who come here and are briefed by us. It's about preserving the experience, protecting vulnerable areas — and making the dive more exciting. One of the finest things about Skarnsundet is discovering the place together with someone who knows it.
Beyond the reserve boundary too
Skarnsundet is the core — not the whole story
We also dive outside the marine protected area, where current, bottom shape and fjord depth create great variation in marine life. Some areas have broad hard-bottom sections, others steep drop-offs, sponges, anemones and larger coral structures. Which sites we use is chosen according to experience, weather, current, visibility and consideration for vulnerable natural values.
- Tauterryggen is its own marine protected area, with a strong history of its own.
- Selligrunnen at about 39 metres — among the shallowest documented Lophelia coral occurrences known from the literature.
- NINA has identified four polygons of coral occurrences, with a combined area of about 100 daa.
What is a dive day like?
The day takes shape
around the tide
There is no fixed schedule — tide, weather and the planned profile shape the day. A sport day can include two dives when conditions and bottom time allow; a deeper technical day is built around one main dive.
Assess conditions & site
We read the tide, weather and planned location, and choose the right site for the day.
Prepare team & equipment
Gear checks and gas preparation before we head out.
Briefing & boat transport
A clear plan before we set off, so everyone knows the profile.
The planned dive
Followed by a surface interval and fresh gas preparation.
A second dive where it fits
When conditions and logistics allow — then rinsing and drying.
Ready for the next day
The equipment is dried and prepared. Departure times are adjusted to the tidal windows.
Departure times may change during the stay as the tidal windows shift.
A drysuit is the standard choice — the water is cold all year.
Who is Skarnsundet for?
The strait meets you
where you are
Nature divers
For those who like kelp forest, rock walls, fish life, small details and calm profiles. Skarnsundet has plenty to offer even without great depths.
Macro and photo divers
For those who want to search for nudibranchs, small creatures, anemones, sponges, cephalopods and details in the structure. We have observed more than 50 species of nudibranch in the area.
Coral divers
For those who want to experience cold-water corals in their natural environment: sea bush, rice coral, bubblegum coral, Lophelia coral and zigzag coral — depending on depth, site and profile.
Night and shark divers
For those who want to experience the fjord when it changes character. Rabbitfish, velvet belly lanternshark, blackmouth catshark, red-spotted shark and cephalopods are among the species that make night dives extra exciting.
Technical teams
For qualified teams who want deeper profiles, trimix, DPV, bailout logistics or multi-day planning. Guided diving normally stops at 60 metres — we facilitate for experienced teams planning their own technical dives.
A tailored trip
For clubs who want an area with many options on the same trip. With more than 30 dive sites we put together a programme for different levels within the same group.
Cold-water experience
Plan for cold water
Water temperatures are normally cold throughout the year, and a drysuit is the standard choice for most of the diving. Here's how to prepare.
- A suitable drysuit and undergarment
- Cold-water regulators
- Hood and appropriate gloves
- A reliable dive light
- DSMB and reel
- A dive computer suited to your profile
Stay right by the centre — kitchen, social areas and drying room. Made for long weekends, club trips and technical weeks.
Plan your diving in Skarnsundet
Tell us
about your trip
Tell us what you want to experience, and we'll suggest a realistic programme — with no obligation.
Feel free to send us
- Preferred dates
- Number of divers
- Certification and experience
- Nature dives, macro/photo, corals, night, shark, technical — or courses
- Any need for gas, rental equipment, accommodation or boat
- Easy access from the centre, or boat-based dives
We'll reply with suggested dive sites, availability and a plan that suits the conditions.
Email info@baredykk.no · call +47 458 02 787
By getting in touch you confirm that you have read our coral-care rules.
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