oh boy, here was the one day that had me full of anxiety and nervousness. adrian and i were going to dive in 2 degree celsius glacier water between the north american and eurasian tectonic plates. it is the first time i will have dived in a dry suit, and even though the diving manual suggested it wouldn’t affect my bouyancy, the functions of the suit added another complexity to the already equipment overload that diving requires.

on the way to the dive site, our instructor, let’s call him jeff (cause his icelandic name is a tongue twister), stopped at the tourist lookout over thingvellir to view the rift between the tectonic plates and the lake where we would be diving. it is tough to capture scale in photos but the cliff next to the path is 26 meters (78 feet) high and is part of the rift between the plates. the entire area is being pulled apart by centimeters every year.

the dive site was unexpected. i thought we were boarding a boat and travelling into the lake, but instead, we had to put our gear on at a parking lot and walk across the street to a steel ladder leading into a narrow part of the lake, which was the rift where we would be diving. initially, jeff led us over to the launch point where divers were already descending. the water was super clear and i was able to see the diver as he/she descended into the ravine.

ok, time for the equipment. this was the weirdest part. the first part of the dry suit is a flight jacket looking thermal undergarment that went over my thermal underwear. then we have the actual dry suit that have boots integrated into the suit. the suit has elastic around our wrists and neck. gag. then there are the gloves and hood. the dry suit has an intake valve on the front that made me feel like the iron man. an outtake valve was high on my left arm. the outtake valve was set to medium instead of being closed. the reason was we would need to release the air in the suit if the suit caused us to become positively bouyant. in order to do so, the technique was to salute like a soldier. i saluted a lot while diving.

now, for the weights. since the dry suit would cause extra positive bouyancy, we needed some serious weights. we heaved a 16 kg weight vest onto us. then we had to put on the BCD (bouyancy control device) with the tank. holy crap! if i don’t sink, it will be amazing.

last but not least, the fins. i must have had about 35 kg of equipment on me. the walk to the launch point wasn’t too difficult but i was working up a sweat with all the layers on. putting the hood on was even more restrictive and then the gloves. i brought a disposable camera but it was difficult to manipulate with the gloves on. whatever. i took pictures of something, probably my gloves covering the lens.

after all that, time to get in the water. moment of truth. was this going to keep me warm? well, i inflated the BCD and my dry suit and stepped into the water. i floated on top of the water while i oriented myself, and yea, it kept me warm. my gloves were kind of leaking but no biggie. my lips were the only part of me that was exposed and it was cold. very cold.

after oriented myself, we did a quick bouyancy check with the dry suit and off we went. the water was so super clear. it was unbelievable. we were surrounded by rocks and algae. no animal life whatsoever. in the narrow part i reached out with my arms and touched the north american and eurasian plates at the same time. amazing to be able to do that. check of the list!

we swam through deep water and very shallow water. where the floor wasn’t covered in yellow and black rocks, it was covered in yellow or red sand. there was so much algae floating around that made me hesitate before i drank the glacier water. but i did. i was thirsty from the hike over and the water was so fresh and cold that it invigorated me.

i was terrible with my bouyancy. i couldn’t control it properly. as i sank, the air in my suit compressed, which caused me to sink faster. in a hurry, i pumped air into the bcd to stabilize along with air in the dry suit. i stablized and then i started rising. as i rose, the air decompressed and caused to me to rise faster. i was boucing back and forth between the surface and 10 meters constantly. it was a pain the ass, but i finally figured a few tricks out and was able to maintain bouyancy in the 2 meter deep blue lagoon.

poor adrian. his suit was malfunctioning and caused the air to constantly enter his suit. he eventually ran out of air in 15 minutes of diving. he ran out of air while at the BOTTOM, which meant he didn’t have air to breath or to inflate to rise the surface. he had to swim from the bottom to the surface to survive. the instructor was near him but didn’t understand what adrian was communicating. he finally grabbed him at the surface and said i’m out of air. no way, can’t be possible. the instructor was shocked when he read the air pressure gauge. so, after 15 minutes of diving in the cold water, we surfaced and had to hike back to the vans to reload our tanks. another lovely hike in the heavy suit. we took off what we didn’t need at the launch point and continued to the van.

one person backed out due to his knees hurting, and then adrian backed out. ugh, i was jealous. i didn’t want to be in this heavy equipment and get back in the water. the second dive was the same route except longer. in the back of my mind, i asked, what makes you think we will make it farther this time?

anyways, grab a tank, back to the launch point to reassemble and back in the water. the dive was great. the color of the water and setting were amazing. we entered an area called the cathedral where it was deep and wide. the clarity of the water was shocking. there was no limit to how far you could see.

next was the blue lagoon. the water was an amazingly deep blue contrasted to the yellowish white sand on the bottom. brilliant colors and clarity. i tried taking pictures but we shall see what comes out. i have to wait until next week to develop them.

anyways, the dive was over. thank god. i was ready to get out of this equipment. another lovely hike to the van. taking off the equipment was such a relief and pleasure. i have so much respect for our instructor. he does this everyday and even in the winter. he said he has a picture of him standing next to his dry suit cause it had frozen solid when he went diving with the temperature at a brisk -14 degrees celsius. brrr

after another stop at another part of the rift where you can walk from one plate to another, we were heading back into the city. i quickly fell asleep in the van.

once back at the hotel, i met up with adrian for lunch and to check out the flea market. the flea market was like any other flea market. we ran into lydia there and adrian told her about running out of air. she was shocked and scared about the thought of his ordeal. i felt bad cause she asked me to watch him, but i didn’t. it had only been 15 minutes of diving. i had plenty of air remaining when he ran out. she didn’t accuse me of anything. i just thought i could have helped out in some fashion.

afterwards, we met up with the group for a quick coffee before we had to meet up with the entire group at the hotel lobby. chris had a treat planned for us on our last night. we were going to dine with an icelandic family and enjoy some of their traditional dishes.

for appetizers, they had shark, sheep, and dried fish along with brennin, a schapps type of alcohol. the shark meat was a traditional meat where the meat has to decompose in the ground for 6 months to remove the horrible, acidic taste from the meat. afterwards, you eat a piece and then wash it down with a shot of brennin. helen captured the disgusting flavor of the meat appropriately in the picture. the shot was definitely necessary. the sheep meat was tasty and the dried fish was ok.

their house was a very charming and we sat at a long table. the dinner was delicious and our hosts were amazing. they were very friendly and thoughtful. chris had met them when he rented out their cottage in the city. after 5 courses and a few more beers, it was time to head back to the hotel for a quick nap before i headed out into the reykjavik nightlife.

after my quick nap, diane and chucky showed up. then helen and dave showed up. in preparation for going out, i had stocked the fridge with beer and vodka. since drinks are so expensive, we got well oiled in the room before heading out. when it was time to head out, only diane and i wanted to check out the nightlife.

the midsummer sun was in full effect by casting a morning blue hue to the scene of people in the streets drinking and walking around. we checked out a few places that claimed to be nightclubs. one place with no name was cool with funky lighting, chandeliers, house music and a dancefloor. the dancefloor was tiny compared to the rest of the place. we left to check out the street where the ruttur took place. this street was busy. tons of people in the street, bars packed, and cars trying to navigate the sea of people.

after walking around and checking out the scene, we decided to head back to the hotel. it was 3am already and we were exhausted. i will need to step up my party game to hang with the icelandic crowd.