The Under Water World

Are you freezing at the top of the mountains? There is even one more extreme that Tromsø can offer you! Diving in ambient waters!

Utropia writers exploring the world under Norwegian waters. (Bilde tatt av: Emma Källgren)

SUT is one of the groups of Tromsøstudentenes Idrettslag (TSI) and will celebrate a 40-year anniversary in 2013. There are currently approximately 22 members; 12 of them are considered active members, since they dive at least once a month, but usually every week. The club has also their own council, which is comprised of 7 members; all the decisions and changes to the club must be approved by the majority of the council members. SUT is led by Sjalg D. Haugnes.

My dive last week

I was able to meet four members of the club during a short introductory course, which they offered to two Utropia members. This course comprised of two sessions – one was theoretical part followed by a pool dive and the other one was an open water dive in the sea outside on Kvaløya. All the members were very nice and helpful to us; I really appreciated it, since for me it was the first dive ever! The pool session was fun and I really enjoyed it, but I was not very prepared to experience the cold of the sea. It must be noted, though, that one wears wet-gloves and wet-cap even in addition to a dry-suit, but hands and head are sensitive parts and suffer a little bit during the first couple of dives before one gets used to the feeling.

Events organized by SUT

“Usually at the beginning of autumn there are a lot of people becoming members of the club, the weather is nice and they want to dive. We would like to encourage people to dive year-round, since the temperature of the water does not drop much during the winter,” – says Emma Katarina Källgren, the secretary of SUT. After becoming a member of the club, you can rent the equipment cheaper and after two dives it is already worth it. The members organize the individual dives through emails and facebook, and there is at least one dive each week. During the weekend there is also a possibility to travel to trickier destinations by rubber boat. Twice a year SUT also goes farther to enjoy diving even more – in spring to Narvik and in autumn to Senja.  In each location there is a lot of nature to see and also second world war shipwrecks.  “There are usually 2-3 dives per day, during these trips, each dive lasting between 45 to 60 minutes“ – explains Källgren.

Diving courses?

SUT also wants to start offering diving courses in cooperation with the local diving center. “We would like to have dry-suit and refreshment courses, but this is now just at a preliminary stage,” – comments Källgren. “We will discuss the possibility with the local diving center. Since we would be helping out during the course we hope to offer the courses at a reduced price.”

Social milieu

SUT encourage more people to join.  Why?  Well, because its fun!

“It is nice to meet new people with whom you share the same hobby, you usually get a different perspective. You also get new ideas by exchanging the experiences or skills with others. This interaction makes diving very social,” – concludes Källgren.

For additional information or try out diving yourself, please write to sut-styre@list.uit.no.  This writer highly recommends it!