paulthenurse
Contributor
SWMBO and I just got home from a trip to Iceland. While there we did a day of diving with Dive Iceland. Can't say enough good about diving with them. Nice guys, good, well maintained rental equipment and a pleasure to do business with.
But what I really have to rave about is the diving. Iceland straddles the crack between Europe and North America and is growing larger every year as the two continents pull apart. There is a dramatic cleft that runs southwest to northeast thru the country, similar to the San Andreas fault. Part of that fault line goes thru Thinglvir National Park, about an hour outside of Reykjavik. We dove in a small canyonlike branch of that fault that empties out into a really large, strikingly beautiful lake. They say that the water (glacial run off) has been percolating thru the lavafields for years to get to that lake and it is incredibly clean and cold. I've got to agree, it is the best water I've ever tasted. I kept taking my regulator out of my mouth and swallowing big mouthfuls as we drifted along. (How can I be so thirsty today when I drank so much last night?)
Here are a few pics of our day.
Here is our friend, Norm, on the stairs leading down to the entrance. You can see how the cleft leads eventually to the lake off in the distance. It ranges in depth from 60 -70 feet to knee deep. (There are 2-3 shallow areas seperating the deeper sections.)
The guys from Dive.IS, Alfi and Devin got a kick out of Norm. They picked us up at our hotel and carried all the gear in the trailer behind the van. It was nice to have Alfi drive so we could look around.
Europe on the left, North America on the right.
Finning into the lagoon. There was at least 300 feet of visibility in this area. Simply incredible!
I really like this pic of the surface ripples from below.
Unlimited Vis isn't always so hot, like when it allows anyone to see that your gear is flopping all over the place.
PTN
But what I really have to rave about is the diving. Iceland straddles the crack between Europe and North America and is growing larger every year as the two continents pull apart. There is a dramatic cleft that runs southwest to northeast thru the country, similar to the San Andreas fault. Part of that fault line goes thru Thinglvir National Park, about an hour outside of Reykjavik. We dove in a small canyonlike branch of that fault that empties out into a really large, strikingly beautiful lake. They say that the water (glacial run off) has been percolating thru the lavafields for years to get to that lake and it is incredibly clean and cold. I've got to agree, it is the best water I've ever tasted. I kept taking my regulator out of my mouth and swallowing big mouthfuls as we drifted along. (How can I be so thirsty today when I drank so much last night?)
Here are a few pics of our day.
Here is our friend, Norm, on the stairs leading down to the entrance. You can see how the cleft leads eventually to the lake off in the distance. It ranges in depth from 60 -70 feet to knee deep. (There are 2-3 shallow areas seperating the deeper sections.)
The guys from Dive.IS, Alfi and Devin got a kick out of Norm. They picked us up at our hotel and carried all the gear in the trailer behind the van. It was nice to have Alfi drive so we could look around.
Europe on the left, North America on the right.
Finning into the lagoon. There was at least 300 feet of visibility in this area. Simply incredible!
I really like this pic of the surface ripples from below.
Unlimited Vis isn't always so hot, like when it allows anyone to see that your gear is flopping all over the place.
PTN
