Diving the Great Divide

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Some dive are more impressive than others...some are actually even colder than your average dive! Today challenge, diving the Great Divide of Silfra in the Thingvellir National Park.

I know, you are asking me but what the hell is he speaking about. Fifty kilometers from Reykjavik lay the Thingvellir National Park with a huge lake in the middle of it. This lake is actually fed by water filtring from glaciers way away from here.

And in the middle of this wonderland is Silfra. This is the crack in between two seismic plates, being the European plate and the North American plate. In some places this crack has been filled through the centuries by water melting and filtering from surrounding glaciers. This means the water is at a constant 2 degrees celsius...but better, this water is so pure that you can actually drink it! And guess what...you can dive it too!

This has been ranked by many dive magazines as one of the top world dive if you take into account cold dives, or sweet water dives... But better than this, it's the visibility. My divemaster asked me if I ever dived with such visibility? Well, to be honest, Easter Island was not far away from it.

Silfra is simply amazing. I spent my day with AJ from scubaiceland.com. These guys are great. They are not cheap, but nobody is here. They for sure have top quality equipement. Don't forget, we are speaking of dry suit here, so better be good!

The water of Silfra is only 2 degrees celsius, really cold! It was also a first for me to dive in a dry suit. Not only does this takes time to put on properly....but I was carrying way over 15 kilos in weights just to keep me down in the water.

As AJ put it, for your first dry suit dive, it does look like if you were back to your first open water dive....man...I did feel so stupid and inefficient during these two dives...happily for me, not all the time though!

For the non divers...you wear a full dry suit, another under-suit to keep you warm, and to make sure you don't get cold, on more layer of long underwears...so warm I was. But the gloves you wear do not protect you much from the cold water, and your face is...exposed!

The slight problems I faced was to have enough weights to go down....and once you are two meters down...you are sinking full speed. To make things even more interesting...and way more difficults, the gloves make your movements and agility...way more limited.

For the first dive I took my camera with me...may not have been a great idea...but I wanted these pictures. On the second time, I left the camera behind me, which was a good choice to concentrate on the important things....the dry suit and the diving!

There are no fishes in Silfra! Wrong, we saw one! You actually go up and down all the time...this makes things even more tricky. The crack is ending in a kind of little lake, with amazing colors. Actually, put it simply, pictures speak better than my words.

And a point of warning...do not let go air into your boats...I did...and I flew up to the surface fast.

That was a day. I was exhausted by the end of it. After the dive, I decided to explore Reykjavik on foot. It was after 5pm, so the pics do reflect the end of the day and the cloudy sky of the Icelandic Autumn.

Some people do thousand of miles just to dive Silfra. Most experienced divers have heard of the place without really knowing where it is. I'm one of those who tick places when it comes to diving...and Silfra was amazing. Thanks to AJ, I had a great time. Oh yes, and it was a very private experience as there was only two of us! The fun part, last week-end I was in Saigon, and AJ just spent the last three years in Nha Trang....it's a small world.

Next morning, it was time for me to head South, for more friend encounters and more fun...coming soon...

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Comments

[denidax]

It looks amazing Peter!!!

[littlewing]

AWESOME!
Peter how amazing! You are an inspiring diver, if i wasnt scared of cold water I would be there in a flash - thank you for sharing with us!

[liliram]

Unbelievable!
you know me. I don\'t dive, would be too scared . But this visibility... Unbelievable! And wedged between Europe and North America plates! It sounds almost crazy. But really, your photos blew my mind.

[liliram]

Unbelievable!

[Chris and Nikki]

Awesome picture!

[Chris and Nikki]

Great blog, I now have another place on my wish list, thank you.

[Doug B]

Clear Lake
Very "cool" pix. Check this out for one of you possible dives in the future. Clear Lake, located about 2.5 hours Southeast of the Portland/Vancouver area or about 75 miles East of Eugene, OR, is surrounded on three sides by 9,000' tall snow-capped mountains at an elevation of 3,012' and is primarily fed by snow runoff from nearby Mount Washington and the surrounding areas. Sources state the runoff filters through underground caverns for more than 20 years before emptying into Clear Lake. Clear Lake also serves as the headwaters of the McKenzie River, which is the sole source of drinking water for Eugene, Oregon. Clear Lake is reported to be one of the most exceptional freshwater dive spots in the United States, a certain unique experience. Submerged in the lake are upright preserved trees that were killed approximately 3,000 years ago when volcanic activity created the lake, bubbling springs, eerie neon green foliage, and weird little stick bugs underwater (plus some little red dots that I swore had legs and were also moving). The trees are remarkably preserved due to the cold year-round water temperatures of between 35–43 °F. The lake has two main bodies connected by a fast moving bottleneck which presents some fair water movement when in that channel, in all other places underwater the water is serene. Visibility can ebb into the 100'+ range at times. http://eugenediveclub.com/photo_gallery/clear_lake/clear_lake.html

[D MJ Binkley]

You are amazing
We love to dive but not sure we are interested in that cold water. You are always an inspiration. We are so glad we got to meet you.