A bucket-list scuba dive between two tectonic plates at Silfra in Iceland.
I quickly learned the guide books were correct in their assumption that Icelandic weather was unpredictable. Originally, I had planned to spend 8 days touring the famous Ring Road, due to the unforgiving rain/fog I finished my lap around the island in 5 days.
Knowing that the scuba dive at Silfra Fissure was going to take place regardless of the weather reassured me that it would definitely be a highlight of the Icelandic adventure.
I arrived with plenty of time to kill and begin debating what layers I should wear. Ended up going with two layers of thermals along with the puffer coveralls. The drysuits were much nicer than the one I wore for my certification. This one had built in boots and legit wrist seals, and a separate neck collar to insure no water seeped in.
There were only 4 of in the dive group (1 dive master, 3 divers), much smaller than I had expected but I was definitely happy about it. Lorenzo and the rest of the Dive IS staff were all very attentive and helpful during our gear check. I would highly recommend choosing them for your Silfra diving or snorkel experience.
It was a short walk to the staging area. I was the first one in after Lorenzo and was a little concerned how my buoyancy would be with this dry suit and BCD. After a quick weight check I was relieved to have good buoyancy control at the surface.
The clarity was out of this world!
The clarity and contrast underwear was truly out of this world! I thought I had seen clear water at the Cayman Islands and the Great Barrier Reef but this was indescribable. It was easy to see how people could get a sense of vertigo when diving here due to the 300 ft visibility and tight passage way between the tectonic plates.
Lorenzo, the divemaster wasn’t kidding when he said the dive had a lot of ups and downs! We quickly descended to 30 feet, came up to 5 feet to navigate a ridge, dropped to 60 ft, then came up and down again. One of the narrowest sections of the dive made for an awesome photo opportunity of touching both tectonic plates at the same time! In a few thousand years this will no longer be possible due to the fissure spreading apart roughly 2 cm per year.
Bad Buoyancy Control..
I had trouble controlling the air intake on the dry suit and resorted to inflating/deflating the BCD to control my buoyancy. This combined with the 35° F water temperature caused me to use much more air than I would have liked, especially on such a short dive.
I gave Lorenzo the hand signal for being “low on air” right before we turned into the lagoon for the final leg of the dive. He quickly maneuvered closer and passed me his back-up regulator for the last few minutes. I surfaced once we were relatively close to the exit platform so he could get descend to check on the rest of the group.
As I slowly, made my way to the dive platform I took the opportunity to taste the water and it didn’t disappoint! The most pure and refreshing water you could imagine. It was mind blowing to know that the water melted from a glacier and was filtered through volcanic rock for over 50 years before it made here.
I took on last look underwater before climbing out, feeling grateful for having got to see such an epic natural wonder up close
Afterwards,
I took a short walk with two other divers to Thingvellir, the historical site where the parliament met annually from the year 930-1728. I couldn’t help but wonder if any of them ever took a plunge in Silfra back in their day, only to be just as amazed as I had been.
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