14.08.2019
Borgarnes – Þingvellir National Park 115 km
We slept somewhat longer today and had breakfast at 08:30. Since Hotel Borgarnes is a rather large tour group hotel, the breakfast buffet was set up in the large conference room.
We found seats at the end of a long table. It was not the best breakfast we had on this trip, but they did have Arctic Kaviar, the traditional Norwegian bread spread made of cod roe, canola oil, sugar, water, potato flakes and vinegar. We knew this from last year’s Road Trip North of the Arctic Circle and it tastes great with eggs.
At 09:00 we had packed up, checked out and were on the road again. First stop was the gas station at the main junction of Ring Road 1. It was an N1 Station again – no budgeted fuel here. But our car key had a tag on it which apparently gives a discount of ISK 3 per liter … but I do not think it worked. I did swipe it … but nothing … or maybe … but not sure.
Anyway, we filled up the car and then stopped also at the ATM around the corner to withdraw another ISK 50000 in cash. Our cash stash from the airport had already disappeared.
Leaving Borgarnes we crossed again Borgarfjörður passing over Borgarfjarðarbrú – a bridge of some 520 m in length. On the other side of the fjord the Ring Road skirted around the base of Hafnarfjall Mountain, which is part of the extinguished central volcanic mountain range of Skarðsheiði and is approx 4 mio years old. Skarðsheiði stretches between the fjords of Borgarfjörður and Hvalfjörður.
The road skirted Grunnafjörður – a large and shallow fjord containing vast lugworm flats that are only revealed at low tide. Coming around that stretch we detoured to Akranes, which sits at the tip of a peninsula jutting out into Faxaflói Bay and separating the fjords of Borgarfjörður and Hvalfjörður. There were some geocaches hidden, we were good in time and the weather was sunny as well … Akranes has a population of approx 7000 people, was settled in the 9th Century by 2 Irish brothers, Þormóður and Ketill, but only began to take full shape in the mid-1700s.
Our first stop was near Akranes Guesthouse … not for the guesthouse, but to find a secret box behind the house. It was a quick walk from the parking lot, but I did have to search for a while … Nano geocaches – tiny little buggers – are not my favorite, because they are sometimes really hard to find. But the hint said “rusty cap” – and there was only one old metal something in the vicinity and that had many rusty caps … But eventually I found it!
We drove right across town to the headland and parked the car. The weather was sunny and we took a walk to the lighthouses … not only because there were a couple geocaches hidden. The first one was close to the parking lot under an old anchor. However, there was an information hut close by and the 2 men from there were having a smoke outside and eyed me suspiciously. So, I did not dare looking any deeper into the matter … I cannot concentrate on searching when I am under observation … I gave up and we walked to the lighthouse instead.
Breiðin is the westernmost part of the Akranes Peninsula and it is the site of one of the country’s oldest concrete lighthouses, built in 1918 – it is the smaller lighthouses way out at the rocky point. At low tide, it is possible to walk out to the lighthouse. The old lighthouse is really charming standing on a rough textured cliff very close to the sea and even has been nominated one of the most iconic and picturesque lighthouses in the world.
There was a multi-cache hidden somewhere at the headland and we collected the necessary numbers to calculate the coordinates from the view point. The box was not that easy to find, but eventually I was successful.
The small lighthouse was deactivated in 1947 in favour of the larger structure closer to the shore, which is still in use today.
From Breiðin, there is an impressive view over the whole of Faxaflói Bay, which is between the Reykjanes and Snӕfellsnes Peninsulas.
Walking back towards the car, the man from the information hut called out to us asking if I found that geo thing … First I played dumb … But he said he knows he is not supposed to help find it, but many people come and look and he likes to talk to them. He knew where it is hidden and offered to give me a little help. So I walked across to the rusty old anchor with him and happily signed the logbook when he pointed out the hiding place of the secret box. Thank you very much, sir!
We drove through the small town along the Langisandur beach road and stopped for another little walk and geocache. The 1 km long sandy Langisandur Beach is a popular spot to bath in the ocean. Today it was obviously not warm enough, but there were still people walking and playing.
Unfortunately, we had left the bag with our bathing suits in the car … otherwise I would have happily taken a bath in Guðlaug – God´s pool – 2 hot pools located in the breakwater of Langisandur. The pools sit right next to the walking path overlooking the beach and ocean and are free of charge. Below the stadium is even a changing hut.
The geocache was hidden under the Indoor Football Stadium structure behind the changing hut and was very difficult to find. The hint was obvious – Behind steel beam, head high – but it was hard to look or feel around corners. So I – clever as I am – used technology and pointed my mobile phone camera around corners taking photots … and … yeah! There is was!
But … How to reach it? My hand was too big … however … fishing in the various pockets of my jackets I found my selfie stick and angled that around the corner fishing for the box. Success!
Then it was time to get going again. Leaving Akranes we took the smaller road closer to the coast of Hvalfjörður passing rich farmland. For the first time we saw cows in the pastures! Icelandic cattle are also a breed of cattle native to Iceland and it is likely the Vikings brought them from the Nordic countries. The Vikings did bring everything with them when they settled in Iceland a thousand years ago …
Icelandic cows are an especially colorful breed with a wide variety of colours and markings. They have been genetically isolated for centuries, but are most closely related to a breed in Norway called Nordland Cattle. No cattle are permitted to be imported into Iceland. Fewer than 30000 cows are on the island and their milk is used to create not only the famous Skyr. The cattle are grazed outside in the summer and housed for about 8 months of the year. They are fed largely on hay – more hay eaters! No wonder we saw more hay bales along the road as well …
On our left we passed Akrafjall – a picturesque mountain smoothed on the top by a glacier and surrounded by water during the Ice Age before reaching the mouth of the last tunnel we would pass. But first we stopped at a parking lot to find another secret box. Quickly it was located under some rocks in the field above the tunnel.
The 5570 m long Hvalfjörður Tunnel was opened in 1998 and is one of the world’s longest underwater road tunnels. It crosses the entire Hvalfjörður and is part of Ring Road 1.
We kept following the Ring Road only for a few more kilometers more. We could notice we were coming closer to the capital city of Reykjavik … traffic got somewhat heavier towards the city. Before reaching the outskirts we however turned off the Ring Road onto # 36 towards Þingvellir National Park.
The road was passing vast volcanic landscapes again. Often there were the warning signs for Sheep passing the road. There were plenty of them around again …
It was not long before Þingvallavatn – a rift valley lake – came in sight. With a surface of 84 km² it is the largest natural lake in Iceland. Its greatest depth is 114 m. The lake lies partially within Þingvellir National Park. The volcanic origin of the islands in the lake is clearly visible. The cracks and faults around it – of which the Almannagjá Ravine is the largest – is where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet.
I had booked myself on a SCUBA dive at Silfra – a rift formed in the divergent tectonic boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates located in the Þingvallavatn Lake in the Þingvellir National Park in Iceland.
At the northern shore of the lake at Þingvellir – after which the lake is named – the Alþingi, the national parliament of Iceland, was founded in the year 930 and held its sessions there until 1798. Therefore Þingvellir National Park is an important site and receives plenty visitors. There were several car parks and we had to find the correct one first – the closest one to the dive meeting point. It was not too complicated and soon we knew we were near the right place when we noticed a funny street sign we had never seen before.
It was hard to find a parking spot, the parking lot was filled to the rim. After a couple circles around and an unsuccessful try of parking in a too small spot, we were lucky to squeeze in between somewhere. The parking lot was chargeable and I went to the pay the fee. Apparently license plates get registered when driving into the national park and at the machine, I just had to put the license number in and stick my credit card in the slot … ISK 750 paid … no paper ticket required.
We took a walk to check out the meeting point for the diving – it was just another car park with a lot of vans full with equipment. We still had time until it was my turn – they run snorkel and dive tours the entire day. So we left again and took a walk to the view points.
The Þingvellir Valley was formed by the divergent tectonic drift of the Eurasian and North American plates. The plates drift about 2 cm farther apart every year, building up tension between the plates and the earth mass above. This tension is relieved through periodic major earthquakes at approx 10 year intervals, which have caused cracks and fissures to form in Þingvellir Valley.
There is the little Þingvallabær Farmhouse in the bottom of the rift, which was built for the 1000th anniversary of the Alþing in 1930. We were looking for the Halls of Harmony there, but without success …
The house is now used as the park warden’s office and prime minister’s summer house. Behind it is Þingvallakirkja located – one of Iceland’s first churches. The original was consecrated in the 11th century, but the current wooden structure dates from 1859. We did not go inside the church, just took some photos and collected some data for a Visual Cache here.
Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural and geological significance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It is part of the Golden Circle – the most popular tourist route in Iceland – with the iconic Gullfoss waterfall famed for its scale and beauty – the Geysir Geothermal Area home to the spectacular phenomenon of geysers – which we had visited in the beginning of our Ring Road Roadtrip – and then there is Þingvellir.
Þingvellir is not only a place where Iceland’s stark geological processes are playing out right – it is also where the history of the nation truly began and where almost all its major historical turns were made. Iceland’s settlement by the Norse started with their arrival in 874 and for the next 56 years, the era was called The Settlement Period. Many communities from many different clans started to spring up all around the island’s shores. The settlers spread around the country pushed for a general assembly to establish how they could all live together harmoniously. Representatives from each clan were gathered and a suitable meeting location had to be found. This location would become Þingvellir – while still clearly more convenient to reach for the wealthy individuals of the south-west, it took no more than 17 days of travelling from the furthest reaches of the east to the assembly site. In 930 over 30 ruling chiefs met for the first time to discuss law on the island and to create a commonwealth. These early Icelanders did create a crude version of a modern-day representative parliament in response to absolute monarchy – about 800 years before such ideas came into play in the USA and France. The meeting was such a success that the chiefs returned each following year. The institution – called the Alþingi – developed to be a place where disputes were settled, where distant relations could share their annual news and where criminals were tried and punished. Decisions were made collectively.
It was at Þingvellir – which translates directly to The Fields of Parliament – where most of the major turns in Iceland’s history then started to occur. For example, it was here that the nation abandoned the Old Norse pagan belief system in lieu of Christianity in 1000. Nearly a millennium later – in 1944 – it was here where Icelanders declared their independence from Denmark and confirmed their first President. Because of its history, Þingvellir became a National Park in 1930 – a millennium after the Alþingi’s establishment. It was later expanded to protect the diverse and natural phenomena in the surrounding area. In 2004 it was accepted as part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.
On the view point there was a secret box hidden under the board walk, but there were just too many people around to actually look for it and crawl under the board walk. I did another photolog …
Mom started to strolled back to the car park while I walked along the path a bit more to collect data for another Earth Cache about the volcanic origins here. It was fairly easy to get everything and I met Mom back by the car.
It was time to collect all the warm clothes to go SCUBA diving in the cold. We were too early at the meeting point – there were so many snorkelers getting ready. I had originally contemplated taking a snorkeling tour. Not only had I not been sure if I would meet the certification requirements to SCUBA dive here, but also because of the price. Let’s face it – Iceland is not cheap, but snorkeling or diving at Silfra is outright expensive … but what the heck …
In the end I found my old Dry Suit Certification after all. I had done it with an instructor friend in 1999 diving the cold quarry near my home town. That was back when I first became a PADI SCUBA Instructor in 1998 and had withdrawal symptoms when I was not diving for a few weeks. I had been working as SCUBA Instructor in Thailand for a year, then tried out a job offer in Fiji which did not work out. Before heading back to Thailand I did some quarry diving in Germany. Lucky, I have kept every single certification card I ever received – and there are many … And I even found them all again! Do not get me wrong – the main cert card – my PADI Master Instructor – I pretty much carry everywhere with me … just in case … you never know … It has come in handy many a time while travelling over the years. There are SCUBA diving opportunities in places you would not expect it!
Last year when I did my Trans Siberian Train adventure I walked past a Dive Center at shores of the frozen Lake Baikal and spontaneously decided to go diving under the Siberian ice. Not that they even wanted to see my certification … I think they knew, if somebody was crazy enough to e-mail them one day in advance if they can go diving in -15 °C, then they probably know what they were doing …
That was the first time for me diving in a dry suit since taking those 2 dives for the certificate in 1999. Here in Iceland they ask for prove of 10 dry suit dives within the last 2 years – No, I did not have that! – or the Dry Suit Certification. Yippee! Never thought I would actually ever need it … But here I was! I had e-mailed it ahead asking if it was still good to go and they approved it. So I had booked one dive at Silfra with dive.is. If I had not taken this opportunity I would have forever regretted it.
The dive guide was not there yet, when we arrived, so we made use of the outhouse they had. Then we hung around for a bit waiting. There were so many snorkelers getting ready and eventually my dive guide showed up. Another German diver completed the small group, his name was Wolf. He had done already a morning dive at the same site.
First I had to show my certificates again and sign the necessary paper work as well. Everything has to be done correctly! There was a van set up as changing room, but it was packed with snorkelers. No space there. I dressed outside – I did not have to strip anyway, just put more clothes on.
Mom was appointed photographer today while I was squeezing myself in layers and layers of clothes and suits. The deal was – I do the tour guiding for our entire roadtrip in Iceland, but we would find some geocaches along the way and I will do that one dive at Silfra however long the procedure takes … And here we were …
I had brought all my long underthings and long-sleeved shirts. I put it all on and then a jumpsuit and finally the dry suit on top.
Fortunately they had a huge dry suit for me. It is always a big hassle to get in all that gear. That is why I prefer warm water diving – not so much stuff to put on and more freedom of movement. With all the cold water gear on it is almost not possible to move – on land, that is – and to get it on you need always help.
And it has to be so tight around the neck and wrists. I hate it, especially around the neck and face. It squeezes everywhere …
“I love SCUBA diving, but I hate all the equipment.”
Cassandra Clare
A detailed dive briefing was of course the norm and our dive guide Rami – from Argentina – Yes … from Agentina! – was very thorough in doing it. Silfra lies at the rim of the Þingvallavatn Lake and is one of the largest and deepest of the fissures in the area. It is spring fed by groundwater originating as meltwater from Langjökull – Iceland’s second largest glacier about 50 km north of the lake. A former river was blocked a few thousand years ago by lava flows from the Skjaldbreiður Volcano causing the meltwater to pond and seep underground into the porous lava rock to form an aquifer. This water then percolates through the aquifer for 30 to 100 years – Really? – Yes! Really! – Before emerging from the fissure springs in the Þingvallavatn Lake. The emerging, highly filtered groundwater is exceptionally clear and potable. The underwater visibility of the water in Silfra will rarely be surpassed – Silfra is said to have the clearest water in the world.
Eventually – after an hour of suiting up – we were all ready to dive. But first we had to walk some 100 m to the entry point. Now we knew why there was the funny street sign – frogmen crossing!
We had to follow an armada of suited up snorkelers and then wait our turn at the entry stairs. Fortunately there was a bench to sit – steel tanks are very heavy!
Regulations were strict here on how many snorkelers could be in the water an any given time. Groups were set apart by 5 minutes or so in order to not get into each other’s way. Once more I was happy I had chosen diving over snorkeling … people who did not know how to snorkel were doing it here … just for the kick of doing it between the continents … at least for diving a certificate was necessary … and our group of 2 divers plus guide was comfortably small compared to 6 per snorkelling guide …
After waiting forever – it seemed – it was our turn at the entry platform. We did not even have to get our fins on by ourselves – not that it was possible to bend over and do it anyway – they put them on for us. Then there was a couple of steps into the water and in we were.
Damn, the water was cold! Basically the only part of me that got wet were face and head – but it was cold! The water temperature is between 2 and 4 °C! I had to do a weight check – of course I had guessed alright. I rather have too much lead on the belt than to little. Rami found that my suit had a little leak on the neck – tiny air bubbles escaping – and fiddled with my hood some more.
Finally it was time to dive! It was so so cold in the face and on the head … For the first few minutes it was aweful, but then I got used to it. And it was great to be back under water … and diving between the continents! Because of Silfra’s uniqueness, it is often voted as one of the world’s top 5 dive sites – I have to admit … the mere thought of diving between the continents was mindblowing! And … damn … it was awesome to be back underwater in any case …
“From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth.
But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.”
Jacques Costeau
Silfra is a fissure between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates – the rift was formed in 1789 by an earthquakes accompanying a divergent movement of the tectonic plates. The diving and snorkeling site at Silfra is right where the 2 continents meet and drift apart about 2 cm per year. Silfra is the only place in the world where you can dive or snorkel directly in a crack between 2 tectonic plates. It is a very “living” dive site in that it is constantly undergoing changes, both large and small. The fissure widens incrementally, but more drastic changes to the depth profile have occurred during earthquakes in which boulders and rocks fall into the crack. This shifting of the earth creates new tunnels, caverns and underwater terrain. The underwater scenery that you experience in Silfra is found nowhere else on Earth.
“As a diver you are weightless and can move in all directions.
You approach the freedom of a bird as you move in three dimensions in a fluid environment.”
Dennis Graver
I had brought my little flimsy no-name action camera for some photos underwater, but in the beginning I was shaking from the cold so much, nothing turned out and then it was all just green … Cheap camera, no filter, no flash, free focus … oh my …
During the dive we explored the 4 main parts of Silfra. There was a lot of ups and down depthwise during the dive – we had to go very shallow between each of the sections of the dive.
First we floated through the Big Crack – Silfra’s narrowest section! Our guide was carrying the obligatory underwater camera – they sell the photos afterwards – and luckily he was a good underwater photographer. My Dive Between the Continents photo turned out pretty cool!
It is actually possible to touch the North American continent with the right hand and Europe with the left!
“Diving – while it is an ‘adventure sport’, takes people into a calm and quite environment –
there are no phones, no emails, no way for the terrestrial world to contact you.
A diver can drift through the water undisturbed and enjoy a period of quiet.
The only noise is the hiss of exhalations.
Yes, diving is generally a buddy sport, but your buddy has a regulator in his mouth and cannot talk.”
Anonymous
Later Silfra fissure widened and we swam through Silfra Hall. There was a lot of lava and basalt piles, some covered in some sort of algae or such. There are no fish in the water here since the water is filtered by the volcanic rock and has no fish food whatsoever in it.
Near the opening to Þingvallavatn Lake we entered Silfra Cathedral – the deepest point of the dive. My max depth today was 12 m – deeper means always colder … They anyway allow only a max depth of 18 m on the dives here in the National Park. Unfortunately the sky had become cloudy this afternoon and therefore we did not have much sunlight filtering through the water. But nevertheless it was magnificent.
“What all divers should remember is that SCUBA diving is a fun exploration of life.
When you dive, do not take yourself so seriously. Loosen up and relax.
The point of SCUBA diving is not to focus on yourself; it is to focus on the beauty of the underwater world.
There is nothing to accomplish on dives.”
Vanessa Vitri
Lastly, our dive concluded in the relaxed, almost endless visibility of Silfra Lagoon. By that time both my index fingers were freezing. Since diving gloves always have the thumb and index fingers single and the other 3 fingers together to be able to operate the equipment and do sign language under water – thumb and index finger are always the coldest … my index fingers were downright frozen by now!
The lagoon had a sort of silty bottom and some of the snorkelers on the surface of the rather shallow lagoon were kicking up much silt. After 31 min we surfaced. What a cool dive it was!
Surfacing, I saw Mom just turning away from the exit again. She had been walking back and forth between the entry and exit stairs waiting for me. There was no bench to sit at the exit like there was at the entry. But she realized we were getting out before heading back down the path.
I DID IT! I dived between the continents! How cool is that!
From the exit point it was some 250 m walking along the path with all the gear back to the meeting point. I was a little cold after all and that walk warmed me right up.
Of course we had to stop at the funny road sign! Frogwoman passing! Watch out!
Getting rid of all the gear was quicker than putting it all on. Already when we were walking back I had not only felt the wet on my back … the seal around the neck had been leaking … Pulling off the dry suit it was obvious … from the neck all my clothes were somewhat wet … Oh my …
But also my thumbs had been kind of numb … not only from the cold … The seal around the wrist had been too tight and the blood had been somewhat cut off … thumbs and index fingers were turning dark red and bluish already … in the end it took a couple hours for them to be totally back to normal …. Well, I am not so sensitive … shit happens … and it was not that bad …
Unfortunately I had forgotten my wooly hat in the car – the hair was wet – but my dive buddy Wolf lent me his spare bonnet until we reached the car park. But first there was hot chocolate and cookies all around – even Mom as the designated photographer and honorary dive team menber was included …
Since I do not keep a logbook anymore … I kind of stopped writing down dives at dive number 5000 something … but wanted proof of my dive, Mom suggested a postcard as make shift logbook.
Of course, I wanted to see the photos our guide Rami had made during the dive. So while he packed up the gear we looked through the cool photos and I was all ready to buy them all! Lucky I was getting wet in my dry suit … Rami gave me the download code for free … I think he made up the rule giving the photos for free when something went wrong on the dive … But I did not care … I was happy to get all the photos! They would be uploaded into an online dropbox ready for download withing the next 24 hrs.
Rami did not have much time to chat much longer, he had to get ready for his next assignment – another snorkel tour. Quite frankly, I think working as diving and snorkeling guide here at Silfra must be rather boring … I mean … it is one dive site and the same is the snorkel site and it is cold – very cold! – and they do at least 4 rounds of snorkeling and 3 dives every day alternating the guides … I guess it pays well … That dive cost me ISK 29990 … But what the heck … It was awesome!
Around 17:00 we waved Good bye! to Rami and walked back to the car. I gave the bonnet back to Wolf and we waved him off as well. Then we were on the road again … What an afternoon it was! Fantastic!
Reykjavik – Here we come!
