Preparing for Snorkling

Here are a few things to prepare for/be aware of on our snorkling adventure.

1) The drive to the site is around 1 1/2 - 2 hours. It's an amazing drive through the Icelandic country side. There will be an opportunity to stop for snacks at a gas station along the way. We may want to purchase a few items because there will be no official lunch stop. Snacks are most welcome on the ride home after the snorkling. Swimming does build up an appetite.

2) Be sure to be wearing your long underwear and heavy socks when we leave the hotel. There is no 'changing room' at the dive site. There is actually no 'room' at the dive site at all. It's just a crevasse in the earth with a metal staircase going down into the water. No buildings, shacks, sheds, or facilities of any kind.

3) Snacks are welcome but liquids might not be. We will be diving in DRY suits not WET suits. The difference being that you can pee in a wet suit, but not in a dry suit. There is a small tourist facility a 15 minute drive from the site and, of course, there is always what the French call 'le pi-pi rustique.'

4) We will be snorkling in the Silfra Cathedral. It's got fresh water from a glacier that has melted/filtered through a lava field over the course of hundreds of years. This is some of the purest natural water you may ever have the good fortune to drink. Tobias has told of people taking home bottles for later consumption. Derek plans to take home some to make ice cubes for enjoying perfect scotch on the rocks.

5) We will not see much in the way of fish or animal life, but will see the split in the earth where the European plate splits from the North American plate. So, as you move through the crevasse, you can touch North America with your left hand and Europe with your right.

6) This will be a physically and mentally challenging adventure. As I recall, my body sent many signals to my brain that things were wrong, but I just had to override these warnings. Your body will tell you that it's too cold, too scary, too insane, too wild, just too much. Not being much of a physical 'outdoorsy' adventure type it was a bit like 0 to 60 for me. It helps to stay focused and concentrate on the goal.

7) You may find that you are colder than you've ever expected to be in your life. Not in the water, but in the air after the swim. This will pass. You will be amazed at your body's ability to regulate itself. Snacks also help raise the spirit and the temperature. Be sure to have mittens/gloves on hand.

8) Tobias will be taking photographs in the water. This makes it easier because we won't have to. He has a great digital camera and it will look like you're swimming through a National Geographic article on Iceland.

I suppose this blog entry is as long as it needs to be for today. I hope I haven't scared anyone away from the snorkling. It's really an amazing thing to be able to say that you have done.