Iceland, Silfra Fissure

[hamokmonky]

That's a bummer. Although, having recently seen what 6 drysuit noobs look like trying to maintain a steady depth in shallow water with a silty bottom when overweighted, I can sort of understand it.

One possibility might be to do a drysuit certification while you're actually in Iceland. The outfit I went with used to offer just such a course, with the final qualifying dive in Silfra itself, but it looks like that is no longer the case. (And that particular course is "seasonal" too, and not available until May.)

PADI Dry Suit Speciality in Iceland - Scuba Iceland

Having said all that, pretty much everything is 3 or 4 times more expensive In Iceland, so if I were you I'd aim to do it before you go.

Yea, I already looked into that. They wont let you take cameras into the certification dive so that would be a real bummer. Im also there for only a specific time period and none of the companies have certification classes on those days. Ive been trying to get certified here in S FL for months but none of the dive shops seem to have the gear to rent for the class (and Ive gone nearly 3 hrs drive from my location checking the dive shops I could find). I can understand the requirement, but I'm not an inexperienced diver either, I feel at least some consideration should be there for that! I didnt just qualify for OW and go to dive Silfra like some of the complaints above I wanted to get certified before going, but didnt put as much emphasis on it as it wasnt a requirement. Had I known months ago, I could have traveled (flown) to another location to take the training.

 

[lowflyer]

I booked for this a while back and just got an email from the dive company today saying they changed their requirements and now require either dry suit certification or 10 dry suit dives worth of experience. I contacted another company and it turns out this is now a silfra requirement... starting march 13th. Super disappointed. I haven't been able to find a dive company in S Florida that has the gear to certify me.

I'm sorry for your disappointment. I suspect the dive companies are disappointed as well, as this will cut back on their business. On the other hand, the new rules are a benefit to those that get to do the dive. When I did it in early January, the gear-up area and the jump-in area were jammed with people waiting. And then the inexperienced having difficulty with the dive itself. No wonder the authorities stepped in and set some standards. I hope you get to do the dive sometime!

 

[hamokmonky]

I'm sorry for your disappointment. I suspect the dive companies are disappointed as well, as this will cut back on their business. On the other hand, the new rules are a benefit to those that get to do the dive. When I did it in early January, the gear-up area and the jump-in area were jammed with people waiting. And then the inexperienced having difficulty with the dive itself. No wonder the authorities stepped in and set some standards. I hope you get to do the dive sometime!

Yes, I can totally understand why they did it. Just one more month and I wouldve been happier

 

[lowflyer]

A recent thread reopened on Silfra Fissure diving, and I see that my thread here is in the Western Europe forum rather than Scandanavia. Can a Mod switch the thread to the Scandanavia forum?

 

[Erich S]

I read that one of the shops in Iceland offers a PADI Specialty "Volcano Diver." Certification. That would be one to have!