Diving in Iceland

[BFRedrocks]

Hey all,

Just a quick update to this thread. Hafsport no longer rent out equipment except tanks and weights . Does anyone know of another Dive shop that would rent full gear? We were hoping not to lugg the entire kit include dry suits on the flights....

Thanks!

We just got back from diving in Iceland and we used Magmadive for our trip. While their specialty is multi-day dive trips and excursions, Scuba Iceland is owned by the same company and would be a good one to check with, although they may only rent you gear if you're diving with them (we brought our gear, so I really don't know).

BTW, we had a great time...Silfra was amazing, and if you have a chance to go up north, you can dive Strytan and Little Strytan and hang out with wolf fish around the only geothermal cone known to exist within recreational dive limits. GREAT trip!!!

 

[ScubaGypsy]

I was in Iceland during 30 September to 08 October 2017 with two of my adult sons.

We dove October 02-04 for a total of 6 dives with Magmadive on their 3-day tectonic plates dive package. Our guide was Kuba and he is a skilled diver and knowledgeable host. We had a ball! Nice variety of freshwater sites with plenty of underwater activities.

I had hoped that I might be able to coordinate a cave dive in Silfra but apparently that is not possible unless a scientific permit is granted by the Þingvellir National Park. It did not appear that technical diving is popular in Iceland.

On October 06, my sons wanted to go into the city (Reykjavik) while I wished to go salt water diving. So I ended up traveling solo for the day to dive with Erlendur of Strýtan Divecenter. I did the Strýtan Day Tour which included dives at the Strýtan and Arnarnesstrytur hydrothermal chimneys. It was wonderful and Erlendur is quite the host! I very much enjoyed the visit.

A few considerations for those planning to travel there. A) Get an AirBnB. The hotels are very overpriced and yet the AirBnB offerings are vast and reasonable. We had a 3 bedroom chalet with hot tub and grill for $160/night. The other big advantage is that we were able to cook the majority of our meals. Restaurants are notoriously expensive. B) Use of credit cards is everywhere. We did not exchange any cash out. Just make sure that your credit card does not charge additional fees for international use. 3) Buy ALL of your alcohol at the Duty Free shop when you land in Iceland. The beer was 50% of the price found once outside the airport. It is still quite expensive but outside is very expensive.

 

[hazmat]

I was in Iceland during 30 September to 08 October 2017 with two of my adult sons.

We dove October 02-04 for a total of 6 dives with Magmadive on their 3-day tectonic plates dive package. Our guide was Kuba and he is a skilled diver and knowledgeable host. We had a ball! Nice variety of freshwater sites with plenty of underwater activities.

I had hoped that I might be able to coordinate a cave dive in Silfra but apparently that is not possible unless a scientific permit is granted by the Þingvellir National Park. It did not appear that technical diving is popular in Iceland.

On October 06, my sons wanted to go into the city (Reykjavik) while I wished to go salt water diving. So I ended up traveling solo for the day to dive with Erlendur of Strýtan Divecenter. I did the Strýtan Day Tour which included dives at the Strýtan and Arnarnesstrytur hydrothermal chimneys. It was wonderful and Erlendur is quite the host! I very much enjoyed the visit.

A few considerations for those planning to travel there. A) Get an AirBnB. The hotels are very overpriced and yet the AirBnB offerings are vast and reasonable. We had a 3 bedroom chalet with hot tub and grill for $160/night. The other big advantage is that we were able to cook the majority of our meals. Restaurants are notoriously expensive. B) Use of credit cards is everywhere. We did not exchange any cash out. Just make sure that your credit card does not charge additional fees for international use. 3) Buy ALL of your alcohol at the Duty Free shop when you land in Iceland. The beer was 50% of the price found once outside the airport. It is still quite expensive but outside is very expensive.

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Great report, and so glad you enjoyed yourselves!

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I was in Iceland during 30 September to 08 October 2017 with two of my adult sons.

We dove October 02-04 for a total of 6 dives with Magmadive on their 3-day tectonic plates dive package. Our guide was Kuba and he is a skilled diver and knowledgeable host. We had a ball! Nice variety of freshwater sites with plenty of underwater activities.

I had hoped that I might be able to coordinate a cave dive in Silfra but apparently that is not possible unless a scientific permit is granted by the Þingvellir National Park. It did not appear that technical diving is popular in Iceland.

On October 06, my sons wanted to go into the city (Reykjavik) while I wished to go salt water diving. So I ended up traveling solo for the day to dive with Erlendur of Strýtan Divecenter. I did the Strýtan Day Tour which included dives at the Strýtan and Arnarnesstrytur hydrothermal chimneys. It was wonderful and Erlendur is quite the host! I very much enjoyed the visit.

A few considerations for those planning to travel there. A) Get an AirBnB. The hotels are very overpriced and yet the AirBnB offerings are vast and reasonable. We had a 3 bedroom chalet with hot tub and grill for $160/night. The other big advantage is that we were able to cook the majority of our meals. Restaurants are notoriously expensive. B) Use of credit cards is everywhere. We did not exchange any cash out. Just make sure that your credit card does not charge additional fees for international use. 3) Buy ALL of your alcohol at the Duty Free shop when you land in Iceland. The beer was 50% of the price found once outside the airport. It is still quite expensive but outside is very expensive.

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Thanks for the trip report. Were the ocean dives worth the trip for their own sake? I was very interested in going to Iceland but then scratched it off my list because price is too high and besides the Silfra dive, nothing else looked like it would be worth the money. From what you describe that may not be the case then eh?

 

[BFRedrocks]

Thanks for the trip report. Were the ocean dives worth the trip for their own sake? I was very interested in going to Iceland but then scratched it off my list because price is too high and besides the Silfra dive, nothing else looked like it would be worth the money. From what you describe that may not be the case then eh?

I did the dives that ScubaGypsy did with Erlander in Akureyri, and they were totally worth it! For transparency though, I'm a geologist, so seeing the geothermal vents was on the bucket list. We also did a salt water dive in one of the fjords closer to Reykjavik (the little hermit crab photo) that was a great macro dive. There is also great whale watching up north if you're into that as well.