Usually I only dive in tropical waters. I quite enjoy immersing myself in the world of fish and coral, but not once have I seriously considered diving or snorkeling in cold water. That is, until my colleague signed me up for it.
On a short, but sweet Iceland adventure I stood on a parking lot at the Thingvellir national park. The national park is right where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. Iceland is an island that is divided over the two plates. Between the plates runs the Mid-Atlantic ridge and in this unique location you can admire it both above and below the water. The tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart more, by about 2,5cm each year. The ravines this has created have filled up with glacial water that’s run through kilometers of rock and is therefor super clear. You have a visibility of over 100m!
And so I stood in the parking lot getting ready to wriggle myself into a dry suit. It was quite the workout. I was in my thermals and then received a ski-onesie. After that the workout began. A drysuit is basically a huge, bad-ass looking skin with rubber entry points and boots attached. I squeezed into the boots and with great effort pulled up the pants to my waist. This was much worse than a wetsuit. Nobody had told me to secure my ski-suit at my feet, so it all bunched up at my knees. I then put my arms through the tight holes and found the courage to push my head through. The suit was so tight, it felt like I was choking.
My Slavic guide, of course laughing at yet another tourist that was shocked by the suit, carefully attached a hood and folded everything in such a way that, fingers crossed, no water would get in. After a long procedure I was all geared up and waddled like a penguin towards the waters entrance. I could barely move. At the entry point we had a final check and put on our fins and masks. And off we went…
While swimming you were recommended to put your hands on your back, out of the water, otherwise they would freeze. I couldn’t even keep them under water for a minute! But other than that, it was surprisingly warm. There isn’t any wildlife in the water. There are no fish or corals to admire. You just enter a world of rocks. While this might not sound very exciting, it was my favourite thing to do. It was just so surreal. The water was so blue!
Right when we entered the water the sun came out. Its rays danced through the water and made it so much more spectacular. We swam through a small stream and looked into the abyss. At some points it was incredibly deep, but only through tiny cracks. It’s like you are floating about an entirely different world. Who knows what goes on under there! In the end we arrived at a lake where bright green plants formed a beautiful contrast with the blue water.
I was happy to warm up my hands when we got out, but at the same time I wanted to jump right back in and go again. What an interesting area this is. Above the ground you literally look up against the side of the North American plate and below the water you find this crazy other world. The world surrounding you is built of lava and magma and whereas it’s quite peaceful at first sight, there is so much natural activity which has created this dramatic underwater world. I’m not sure if I will ever go through the effort to hoist myself into a drysuit again, but this time it was worth all the swearing and pain!