Seeing the Silfra Fissure underwater in Iceland was literally like some next level, other planet, liquid Nat Geo sh*t. I don’t know about you, but the thought of being in two places at once is automatically awesome to me…especially if we’re talking about entire continents! That’s why I absolutely had to look into snorkeling between the America and Eurasia continental plates in the Silfra fissure in Thingvellir National Park while I was in Iceland!

I signed up for the Snorkeling Silfra Day Tour with DIVE.IS – 5 star PADI dive center, after checking out their website and immediately becoming obsessed with the underwater photos they have on there! Plus the Silfra fissure in Iceland is a double UNESCO World Heritage Site, making me even more eager to go see it!

Sure, I was a tad bit concerned about how freezing cold it was going to be to swim in glacier water while it’s also freezing cold outside, but Dive.is did a great job at preparing me for it both before I arrived, and once I got there. Here’s how the snorkeling tour process goes, and all of the awesome things you can expect to see!

1. How to Book a Silfra Snorkeling Tour

Obviously it’s a good idea to sign up for things ahead of time, especially if it’s something that’s super popular, like snorkeling in-between two continents, that can fill up pretty fast. You can get the schedule and information on their website (dive.is), schedule your tour, prepare what you need to bring, and find where they’re located in Thingvellir National Park. You can also email them directly if you have any questions, they’re really good at responding quickly and providing any possible information you could need (dive@dive.is).

You can also choose the option to get picked up from your hotel in Reykjavik, but since I had a rental car, and was staying at Hotel Keilir in Keflavik anyway, I opted to drive.

*Update: If you’re going with a group, they now limit group snorkels to 6 people at a time!

2. Finding Your Silfra Tour Guides in Thingvellir

Want to know what’s not that easy to do in Iceland? Use GPS, navigation, or road signs to figure out where the heck you’re going. I couldn’t for the life of me enter the majority of names or addresses in my rental car GPS, not to mention understand what any of the signs said, but luckily Dive.is gives you a map that shows where to meet them in the park, and they have easy to spot vans so you don’t have to wander around like a lost Puffin.

Even if you do get lost or go to the wrong place (like me), you can just ask any of the tour guides where to go and they’ll direct you, but for the most part, after you cross over the very obvious continental ridge and turn right into Thingvellir, you’ll just keep going past the first parking lot until you see the little white buildings where the camping information is on the right. If you pass that, like I did, you’ll have no other option but to park in the parking lot where the tour begins anyway.

3. Getting into that Damn Dry Suit

I’ll admit…I was a little concerned when I failed to comply with getting the recommended thermal underwear and two-pairs of wool socks that they recommended for wearing under the dry suit, but when the tour guides busted out the pre-sized, thick-ass thermal onesies for each of us, I felt a whole hell of a lot better! I put mine on and was all warm and snuggly before I even put the rest of the waterproof ensemble on!

The guides had also pre-selected the dry suits for each guest according to the measurements we gave when we signed up online. They were funny looking suits, with neoprene booties attached at the bottom and rubber suction bands at the wrists and neck that made sure no water got in. It was a little bit confusing and difficult to get on, but pretty hilarious to watch and unanimously giggle about.

After the guides helped zip me up in my underwater astronaut suit, I was sure that there was no way I was going to freeze, but they took extra measures to ensure that absolutely no water leaked in whatsoever by taping anyone’s wrist cuffs that seemed loose, and buckling a rubber band around our neoprene turtle-necks.

I had assumed my head wouldn’t be covered, and even seriously thought about how to wear my hair so it would look like I was a mermaid, but one minute in that icy Icelandic air had me seriously concerned about my head freezing off. Obviously they weren’t going to let that happen though. After our bodies were completely covered, the next steps were getting the head covers and mittens on…both of which were slightly awkward, uncomfortable, and embarrassing to get on, but much appreciated as soon as you hit the water.

4. Get Yo Gear On

After we were completely freeze/water-proof in our alien scuba suits, we walked like robots over to the entry area of the Silfra fissure to get our gear on. We were all pretty excited to look down into the crystal clear water and see the iconic shades of blue on the rocky divide, but we still needed to get our fins and masks on before diving (AKA cautiously stepping) in. The Dive.is guides helped each one of us get our fins on by having us hold onto a railing and lift our feet one by one as they slid them on for us since there was no way we’d be able to bend down to do it ourselves.

“Next comes the grossest thing you’ll probably do all day,” the female tour leader mumbled apologetically, “So, if you didn’t already know, saliva is a natural defogger…which means I’m going to need you to spit in your masks, rub it around with your finger, then hand it to us so we can rinse it out!” She announced, obviously expecting the half confused, half disgusted faces in response.

“We’re going to give you a number, remember your number unless you want to become really close to your neighbor!” The icy-blue-eyed male guide added. She was right. It was the grossest part of my day. But it also worked (after the second time), and I would have been really pissed if it didn’t!

5. Into the (literally freezing) Cold

Obviously my overly ambitous-adventurer self tried really hard to be the first one to go into the icy water, but the second spitting in the mask delayed me to third place. The people who were already in the water were bobbing up and down like they were trying to get used to the cold before plunging their faces in, but I was more eager to get that insanely clear view of the underwater continental divide, and would have just jumped from the top if my previous cliff-jumping experiences weren’t there to hold me back.

Instead, I carefully waddled my way down the metal steps in my fins like a fat Puffin, and began stepping in, but instead of gliding in gracefully like everyone else, I decided to launch myself face first into the freezing water while attempting to hold my GoPro to film all of it. In case you were wondering…yes, it really is cold. But the carefully-fitted dry suit, expert assistance, and immediate adrenaline rush will make you forget you even have a face at all….and if not, than yes, the numbing water will as well.

6. Seeing Crystal Clearly

Never in my life have I been snorkeling somewhere with water so clear! In fact, the Dive.is guides explained to us that the reason why the water is so clear in the Silfra fissure is because it comes from a glacier almost 30 miles away, and runs through porous volcanic rock which filters it even further, leaving almost no sediments in it at all. The water is so clear, that not only did I make my best underwater GoPro videos and photos yet, but scientists also used it as the place to prove that you can see further than 100 meters clearly under water.

I mean, I know I like to brag about having LASIK eye surgery and all, but DAMN! This water made me feel like I was seeing even clearer than normal, even through the saliva-washed snorkeling mask! I could see all the way to the bottom, far ahead of me, and even up through the clear glassy surface (although NOTE: the more you move your head around, the more water sneaks into your head mask thing).

Aside from the sharpened details of the rocky edges that separate the two continents, and the deep, mysterious caves and crevices below, you’ll also see what seems like a field of neon green “troll hair” seaweed, that is so perfectly situated that it almost looks fake!

There aren’t any fish or fissure-creatures…at least none that I saw, which was somewhat comforting considering how creepy it would have been to see something jut out from under a random cave rock.

7. Just Keep Swimming

Just kidding. Not only will you not want to swim too fast and pass up time with the gorgeous underwater views, but you won’t even have to because the slight current and extremely buoyant snorkeling suits will allow you to just tumble along like you’re in outer space. The Dive.is crew joked in the beginning that we could try to swim down if we wanted to, and to “Please do, because you’ll probably end up just flapping your fins in the air and it’s really amusing for us to watch”… which…of course I attempted and proved true.

But regardless, I was pretty much having a field day trying to maneuver around in my extremely buoyant snorkeling suit to take in all of the epic views of the underwater cliffs, and of course…to take some awesome GoPro pictures while I was at it, even though I could barely press the shutter button because my hands were so numb.

I can’t float in real life so being able to bob along the surface as the slight current pushed me along was also a real treat. It was also a shit ton of fun when I discovered you can “stand” up right in the water because your suit will just hold you there, and you can bounce up and down like a child in a…child seat?

There’s only one turn they tell you to make before you set-snorkel, and if you miss it, you fail, because the current picks up and you’ll end up getting frozen in a glacier. Just kidding. One of the guides blocks the forward path, so there’s really no way you can mess that one up. Hopefully.

8. Play Time in the Silfra Lagoon

Unlike most grand finale’s, the Silfra snorkeling one is at the beginning of the tour, not the end. This isn’t to confuse you, throw you off, or prevent you from spending prolonged amounts of time in freezing water to get good GoPro pics…but because it would be almost impossible to swim against the current, and not anywhere near as fun.

Instead, you end your tectonic snorkeling adventure in a little lagoon area that still has crystal clear water, but instead of underwater cliffs, a sandy bottom with surprisingly non-black sand (the majority of beaches in Iceland have black sand). It’s also much shallower, and if you wave your hand around above the sand, you’ll see that it swirls around and reveals the actual smooth rock surface below.

There’s also a cute little neon green “troll hair” meadow…field?…patch?…I’m not really sure what you’d call it, but it’s not scary or slimy like normal ocean seaweed, and it looks quite pretty against the bright blue and white background.

9. Getting Out, De-Dry-Suiting, and De-Freezing

You’ll have optional free time in the lagoon area, but there’s a good chance you’ll be ready to get out of the freezing cold water by the time you reach the exit area. Just like you got in, the Dive.is guides will help you waddle your way onto the metal platform to get out, and have you turn around so they can take your flippers off.

It’s actually not freezing when you get out because of how much body heat is trapped inside of your dry suit, and while you might feel kind of weird walking in 45 degree weather while you’re soaking wet, you’ll actually be really glad to get it off and get out into the cool Icelandic air. The guides also help you get the suction-ey suit off, which includes a good comforting laugh about how funny the process is.

While some of the guides help everyone get out of their snorkeling space suits, another will set up some cups of hot chocolate for everyone to have after they’ve taken off the thermal layers and are re-adjusting to the chilly weather. If you drove to the park like I did, you can just run to your car and turn the heater on, and if not, the shuttle will take you back to your hotel in Reykjavik.

10. Fun Facts About Silfra and Thingvellir

Snorkeling Silfra is much more than just swimming through a pretty crack between 2 continents. It also has a lot of interesting history and notoriety, which many people have no idea about! Here’s a few:

• Silfra fissure is a crack between the North American and Eurasian continents, meaning you get to swim right where the continental plates meet
• The continental plates drift apart about 2cm per year…which is a lot…and not good
• Silfra is the only place where you can dive or snorkel directly in the crack between two continental plates
• It was proven in Silfra that underwater visibility exceeds 100 meters, which is extremely rare
• The extreme water clarity is because the glacier water is so cold ( 2-4 degrees C) and it is filtered through porous underground lava for 30-100 years before it reaches the fissure
• The water in Silfra is as pure and pristine as it gets, and you can drink it at any time through your snorkel
• Fish don’t live in the fissure because it’s too cold, and the only marine life is bright green “troll hair” and different types of algae
• Silfra was formed after the last ice age
• Thingvellir National Park is a double UNESCO World Heritage Site both for its cultural and historical significance (it was the site of the world’s first ever parliament) and natural and geological uniqueness (Silfra)

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