One dead, one injured on Rift dive - Iceland

[peterbj7]

It's unique - diving Iceland, between two continental plates

Not relevant to this thread or to the tragedy described, but there is at least one other place to dive between two continental plates. I forget exactly which reef, but at Tiran in the NE Red Sea the two continental plates are presented as sheer rock faces that look as if they were cut with a saw. Eventually they will be on opposite sides of an ocean. The water's a tad warmer than on the Icelandic dive.

 

[themagni]

It's on my to do list.

Wonder if the deceased diver had cold water experience, can't read the linked article.

130 feet.

Reg might have frozen. :shrug:

 

[tamas970]

Doesn't add up, why no BB then?

130 feet.

Reg might have frozen. :shrug:

 

[j yaeger]

i dived this site with my wife and a divemaster from dive iceland
very professional with well taken care of equipment
gin clear water you can drink and cracks and fissures that go forever
there are places that divers could seriously get themselves into trouble there without a guide
lots of overhead and swimthroughs
demanding site and you must be in shape to hump gear to entry and back from exit points
we had a great time and trip was worth every penny(yes there are small fish)
was told of deaths the previous year-no guide and limited experience
i'd like to try some of the thermal vent diving they also offer there-next trip?
have fun
yaeg

 

[CT-Rich]

We are planning a trip to Iceland now that Denver has direct flights there. I've seen the diving offered and never considered doing it. I can't imagine the thrill of what people are getting with diving in a lifeless, freezing cold rock pit.

Yeah, I suppose you could say the same about living in Denver...

 

[AAdiver69]

Diving is diving. I dove a Titan Missile silo...in Texas...great dive 110', 60 degrees.

 

[Jan Kruger]

Great viz ! Do you dive in this cold with dry suit or thick wetsuit ? What about your face ? Or do you wear a hoody with very small opening ?

 

[Stoo]

Fresh water, 2 C, and 200 foot visibility.

This looks like Tobermory in the spring or late fall. Minus the shipwrecks...

---------- Post added January 23rd, 2013 at 03:55 PM ----------

This looks like Tobermory in the spring or late fall. Minus the shipwrecks...

Back to the topic at hand, my nephew and his g/f dove there this summer. That had done a PADI OW1 in Toronto, with checkouts in Roatan, followed by a week of diving there. A few months later, they were in drysuits, in Iceland... with no diving in between. Apparently some operators there don't care about cold water experience.

Ah, ignorance truly is bliss...

 

[fjpatrum]

Back to the topic at hand, my nephew and his g/f dove there this summer. That had done a PADI OW1 in Toronto, with checkouts in Roatan, followed by a week of diving there. A few months later, they were in drysuits, in Iceland... with no diving in between. Apparently some operators there don't care about cold water experience.

Ah, ignorance truly is bliss...

Exactly what experience (other than mask clearing) would be different in cold water (in dry suits) than in warm water with similar viz? Serious question as being dry and possibly cold shock upon mask clearing are the only things I can think of unless you're discussing possibilities of free-flows due to freezing. I would presume, with no diving in between it's reasonable to think that they rented regs, which we can at least hope would be sealed, reducing the likelihood of free flow (though not negating it).

 

[ktkt]

Well, I'm guessing they didn't do drysuit training in Roatan. Personally, I found drysuit diving much easier than expected, but I made a point of doing it before going on the Silfra dives.