Diving Silfra - without a guide?

[flowerdiver]

A friend and I are going in Iceland in September, taking all our dive gear with us (except tanks and weights). We want to do some local diving, including Silfra. On some websites I read that it was mandatory to have a local guide to dive Silfra; while others don't mention it.
We find the cost dive shop-led of Silfra excursions quite high for what are basically shore dives. My friend and I are experienced cold water divers and we would prefer to do our own thing... Is it really mandatory to have a guide in Silfra??

 

[BreeAbyss]

Looking at www.silfra.org it says because it is a national park you are only allowed to dive with a guide

 

[flowerdiver]

Looking at www.silfra.org it says because it is a national park you are only allowed to dive with a guide

Yes, I have seen this - actually, it is what motivated my question. Because on the Thingvellir national park website (Thingvellir National Park - Diving), there is no mention of this requirement. In fact, it is possible to buy a dive permit straight from that website.

Maybe worth noting that the website www.silfra.org is sponsored by one of the Reykjavik-based dive operators...

 

[Gareth J]

We dived Silfra in August 2015.

We used Magmadive (David Ramsey). We are both experienced UK (cold water) divers. David gave us a briefing on most of the site's and let us get on with it. We took our own suits thermal layers, heated vests fins and mask. David provided the Scuba sets.

Prices seemed fairly consistent among all the outfits. I was impressed with the service David provided and would happily recommend him.

Some of our pictures are here

St Ives Sub Aqua Forum - Iceland Aug 2015

Gareth

 

[BreeAbyss]

Yes, I have seen this - actually, it is what motivated my question. Because on the Thingvellir national park website (Thingvellir National Park - Diving), there is no mention of this requirement. In fact, it is possible to buy a dive permit straight from that website.

Maybe worth noting that the website www.silfra.org is sponsored by one of the Reykjavik-based dive operators...

very interesting...........!

 

[TAP]

It is definitely not required to hire a guide - this is a lie spread by the local dive shops.

I have dived Silfra this month, without a guide, and wrote about my experience in this post:
Diving in Iceland

 

[flowerdiver]

It is definitely not required to hire a guide - this is a lie spread by the local dive shops.

I have dived Silfra this month, without a guide, and wrote about my experience in this post:
Diving in Iceland

Thanks for this

 

[Dykkermenn]

There is definitively no need to hire a dive guide to dive at Silfra. You just need a permit from the National Park. It can be booked easily via internet and costs about 1.000 ISK (7,50 €) per day.

The only problem is may be to get a parking space. The place is well attended by commercial diving groups. Have a look at my video shot on May 2015:

 

[flowerdiver]

There is definitively no need to hire a dive guide to dive at Silfra. You just need a permit from the National Park. It can be booked easily via internet and costs about 1.000 ISK (7,50 €) per day.

The only problem is may be to get a parking space. The place is well attended by commercial diving groups. Have a look at my video shot on May 2015:

Thanks. We want to do just like you do at the end of the dive. ;-)