Arctic Diving

I learned to dive at a young age. One summer when I was maybe 7 or 8 my parents bought an above-ground pool and one of the first things my dad did was set up his scuba gear on a float and teach me to dive.

You see my father had been diving for years. He and his dive team were one of the premier teams for finding shipwrecks in the Michigan Great Lakes in the late 70s and early 80s. Unlike tropical shipwrecks, which are in warm waters and often close to shore, many of the Michigan shipwrecks are in icy, deep water.

Since many Michigan shipwrecks sit around 100 – 200 ft (30 – 60m) below the surface, you need special training and equipment to be able to reach them. Back before there were ‘official’ technical diving courses, my father and his dive team were charting the unknown in the bottom of the Great Lakes.

I remember his collections of the debris from these shipwrecks. They would donate a majority of it to the various maritime and shipwreck museums around the state, but we still always had old bottles and buttons, metal ship pieces, and other various finds from his dives scattered around the house.

So when I heard you could dive in glacier water in Iceland, being my father’s daughter and proud Michigander whose grown up in frozen temperatures, I jumped at the chance.

Before heading to Silfra, we all had to get suited up in not only wetsuits, but an extra fleece layer they called the “teddy-bear suit”. To make matters worse, it was pouring rain outside and very cold so we had to take turns squeezing into our wetsuits inside the back of a cramped truck.

Once ready, we headed down to the fissure. Silfra is the longest, deepest fissure in Thingvallavatn lake and marks the divide of the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. Fed by glaciers, the water is crystal clear, and only about 36 – 39 F (2 – 4C).

Stepping into the water was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The water felt SO cold! Although we were fitted with full wet suits, gloves, boots, and hoods, leaving only a small area on our face exposed, that was enough to still shock my system to its core.

Floating through Silfra was like an out of body experience. I saw myself going through the motions perfectly, but from almost a third-party view. As I drifted along the rift, I felt incredibly at calm and at peace. The water was so clear and had this ethereal blue glow.

After what felt like only a few minutes, we got to the narrowest point where the two tectonic plates were only a few feet apart. We all took our turns touching both at the same time, before continuing on our journey.

Finally making it back to land, I was amazing at how warm it felt outside. Although the thermometer back at the parking lot said 35F, it felt like 60!

I’ll never forget diving in Iceland and while I would never in my life do it again, I encourage anyone who goes to Iceland to try it. Its definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity!

// Onward & Upward //

~ K