Keep in mind these geography classes in school the place you learnt about continental drift and the motion of the earth’s crust? Iceland lies alongside the mid-Atlantic Ridge and exists due to the divergence of two tectonic plates – the North American plate and the Eurasian plate – and a terrific place to see this primary hand is at Silfra within the Þingvellir Nationwide Park. What’s extra, that is the one place on this planet the place you possibly can snorkel between two continents.

This fissure is fed by meltwater from Iceland’s second largest glacier, Langjökull, which seeps underground into porous basalta lava rock earlier than percolating via an aquifer over a interval of 30-100 years. This extremely filtered groundwater fills fissures such because the one at Silfra, making it exceptionally clear and of big attraction snorkelers and scuba divers, notably given the distinctive location between two tectonic plates.

There are a selection of firms that supply snorkeling and diving experiences.  We went with DIVE.is who’re one of many specialists for this specific exercise and the longest working dive and snorkel firm in Iceland. The method was fairly straight ahead – we simply turned up on the Silfra assembly level, had our reserving and disclaimers checked at the back of a van (it’s necessary for each DIVE.is participant to fill out a medical type), and we had been good to go. With sure medical circumstances resembling coronary heart illness, epilepsy or lung illness, it’s sadly not attainable to participate. With sure different medical circumstances resembling bronchial asthma, hypertension, vertigo or most cancers, you possibly can solely take part should you get medical clearance from a physician.

We had been then assigned a information who would accompany us on the snorkeling tour – in our case, a gentleman named Pau from Spain – earlier than being directed to a different van to get right into a drysuit.  Why all of the vans you would possibly surprise?  It’s as a result of Silfa is  a UNESCO World Heritage Space and new constructing constructions are usually not allowed within the space.

Along with a drysuit every, we had been in fact kitted out with flippers, and a snorkel and masks, too. The flies generally is a little bit of a nuisance so you may additionally wish to borrow one among their mosquito and midge head nets should you discover them bothersome.

The swimsuit has seals on the neck and wrists that cease water from getting in. These could be tight and typically a further rubber strap must be worn across the neck. This may be fairly uncomfortable – should you really feel it’s too tight, ask your information to verify it for you.

We had been additionally supplied with neoprene hoods and semi-dry neoprene gloves. Our heads and palms had been uncovered to the water via these however that was completely OK. A small a part of our faces weren’t coated by the hood and these had been the one components of us that had been in direct contact with the water.

Snorkelers are launched in small batches, sometimes round six individuals plus a information, so there’s a brief queue as individuals wait to enter the water but it surely served as a chance to have a household photograph taken, even when it’s a battle to establish who’s who!

Though some operators provide this expertise in a wetsuit, DIVE.is simply present dry fits for the exercise. The one benefit I can consider for carrying a wetsuit can be that you just’d be capable of dive down beneath the floor somewhat which you’ll be able to’t simply do in a dry swimsuit. Given that you’re within the water for 30-40 minutes and the water temperature is 2° Celsius, a dry swimsuit might be a greater possibility. No matter you select, it’s beneficial that contributors have eaten breakfast or lunch earlier than the exercise due to the size of time spent within the chilly water.

As soon as your time involves enter the water, your information will discuss you thru the method. There’s a steel staircase that leads immediately into the water (you possibly can see it within the distance within the {photograph}) – we simply walked down these and, earlier than we knew it, we had been face-down within the water.  The very first thing that struck me wasn’t the chilly – it actually wasn’t that unhealthy – however simply how clear the water was.  The water is extraordinarily pure and astonishly clear, and it’s estimated that the underwater visibility is greater than 100 metres… fairly unbelievable!

When you’ve got learn different articles about Silfra, you’ll have seen individuals describe having the ability to outstretch their arms and contact each tectonic plates on the identical time after they dived.  That is somewhat deceptive to say the least – or they’ve exceptionally lengthy arms – because the tectonic plates are 5 kilometres aside!  Keep in mind, it is a fissure that’s fashioned due to an earthquake because of the diverging plates.

As we drifted within the water, mesmerised by the underwater spectacle round us, Pau swam amongst our group taking images of us on a GoPro. If you wish to make your Silfra expertise an enduring reminiscence, you should buy these as a part of your tour with DIVE.is and they’ll ship you a Dropbox hyperlink after the snorkeling tour so as to obtain the photographs to your system.

In the meantime, we continued to marvel on the perfectly-filtered crystal clear water which is probably the clearest and most pristine water on the planet. As a result of the water is so clear, the sunshine performs upon the floor like glittering diamonds – on sunny days, the rays go to nice depths, even creating rainbows on the rocks as a result of the clear water refracts gentle in the identical manner that crystals do.

This can be a once-in-a-lifetime expertise that’s certain to be a spotlight of your time in Iceland!

You’ll not often see fish in Silfra however you will note a lot of various kinds of algae, together with vibrant, neon inexperienced ‘troll hair’ algae that offers the rocks an impressive spalsh of color.

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In locations, Silfra is definitely surpisingly deep – as much as 63 metres deep – though only a few divers go to something like these depths.

There’s a slight present in Silfra and contributors have to be comfy swimming towards it over the last a part of the tour, however it’s actually not that robust so manageable even for novice swimmers.

As soon as we lastly acquired on dry land, we had been provided with scorching chocolate which was a really welcome pick-me-up after our time within the chilly water.

Planning a visit to Iceland your self? You possibly can watch a video from our journey to Iceland right here. You possibly can see footage from Silfra between 1m 26s and 1m 49s: