The Dive Between Continents - Silfra, Iceland
This was a very special dive in Iceland on September 19th, 2015. The water was just above freezing at 35ºF (2ºC) and it was our first experience ever wearing dry suits. We chose to dive with dive.is because they are the highest rated dive shop in the area. I was very happy with their service over all. I was worried about fitting into a dry suit at all due to my recent weight loss. I wasn't sure I could fit in a standard size. As it turned out a 2 or 3x men's suit fit around my hips, but it was way too big everywhere else. We rolled up the sleeves more or less and I wore 6 pairs of socks to make the boots fit better. Silfra is located in the rift between two continental plates. When you dive in the crystal clear, frigid, waters you have the unique opportunity to place one hand on North America, and the other hand on Europe. Visibility is at least 360ft (100m) or more and the water is filtered naturally through volcanic rock before it reaches the lake. This makes the water pure enough to drink even though the cold hurts your lips as it goes down.
We got to drink some hot chocolate and cookies on the surface interval to warm us up a bit. The dives themselves weren't easy. Keeping neutrally buoyant was a task that Ashley mastered way better than me. Still it was an amazing thing to see down there. I encourage any diver heading to Iceland to take the plunge.
