Snorkeling the Silfra Fissure: Iceland

When I travel I am always on the look out for new things I can try. So when I went to Iceland I knew this would be the perfect chance to try a new outdoor adventure. I had heard about snorkeling through the Silfra Fissure before but when I read more about it I knew I couldn't go home without trying it. (plus they give you cookies at the end, that sealed the deal!)

Some Fun Facts:

- Silfra is a rift that opens between the tectonic plates of North America and Europe. So basically you will be snorkeling in between the continents.

- The water is so clear that you can see over 300 feet.

- The water is runoff from the Lángjökull glacier which makes it unbelievably cold! It is nearly freezing at 34 degrees.

-The water runs underground through porous rocks for 30-100 years, filtering it and making it totally drinkable!

Our bus picked us up at the hostel at 7:30AM so after only three hours of sleep I was starting to regret my decision to swim in freezing cold water. When we got there our instructor started giving us all the facts like the ones above and casually mentioned the area that we are snorkeling in experiences 30 - 40 earthquakes A DAY! (we are in between two tectonic plates after all) The earthquakes are so small on the Richter scale we would never be able to feel it.

Side note: The bugs were so bad in this particular area, we sat with nets on our heads so we didn't swallow any or get them in our eyes!

We were ready to snorkel so it was time to suit up! And let me tell you I've never looked better! To be able to stand the freezing water we put on a dry suit as our first layer.

Next was the wet suit that we had to squeeze into. The final result was this amazing outfit I'm sporting below:

snorkeling (1 of 1)

GOPR2239

When you get in the water the air trapped between the two suits helps you float and is pretty much air tight. The only place water can seep in is through the gloves, so they suggest swimming with your hands behind your back. As you can see from my selfie my lips were pretty much the only thing exposed to the water, and by the end of the snorkel they were purple! The good news is that the underwater scenery is so beautiful it distracts you from how cold your lips are.

Being such a blogging newbie I brought a go pro along with no buoy or string to attach it to my wrist. It is also not my go pro so the thought of dropping it 200 feet to the bottom was making me not want to use it.

But I used it anyway and got some really amazing/shaky shots of what it looks like to snorkel the Silfra Fissure! The water is crystal clear and because it is run off from the glaciers and has been trickling through the rocks for years, if you get any water in your snorkel, just drink it and keep going!

To check out that awesome and totally unsteady Gopro footage I was talking about, check out my Iceland adventures video!