Scuba diving at Þingvellir, Gullfoss and our first F-road trek

 

Finally the day has come to dive into the crevice that separates North America and Eurasia! I’ve been looking forward to this since before we even started planning out trip, and this is what enticed my husband into making the plunge into certification. I’ve been diving for about 8 years and living in Canada, have had my fair share of cold water diving. It’s not my favourite, but this dive at the Silfra fissure was a “need to happen” so I pushed through. I was a little nervous when I found out the water temperature is about 2 degrees Celsius. Previously, I thought the coldest dive I have ever completed was 14 and I remember struggling with the temperature. Oddly enough though, diving in Iceland wasn’t unbearable. I was even able to enjoy the dive here! Which was a surprise! We booked with Dive.IS and they had great gear to keep you as “warm” as can be given these extreme conditions. In total, the whole excursion took about 5 hours; the dives themselves are about 30-45min and in the beginning we had a short history lesson on the surrounding area, and learnt how to pronounce some of those strange letters in the Icelandic alphabet. There’s also a little break in between where we snacked on cookies and hot chocolate and chatted about our countries. The dives themselves were quite spectacular! The entrance into the water is a small hike away that you take with all your gear on.  You then enter the water in an opening in the ground with stairs going down into the water. This water was the clearest I’ve been in, so cold and incredibly refreshing. It’s so clean you can drink it. During our prep time, we learnt that the water comes from the glacier, but to reach the lake, it has to travel through a valley of lava rock. Lava rock happens to be an incredible form of filtration. The whole process takes somewhere around 100 years to reach the location we were diving in. How interesting! We were asked if wanted to do one long dive or 2 dives. It turns out the dives are actually remarkably similar. We opted for 2 dives, although at the end of our snack session I was seriously considering backing out. The second dive is ALWAYS more chilly. I stuck through it though and glad I did, because even though we saw all the same things, I enjoyed the second one more. Maybe it was the unfamiliar gear, but I struggled a bit in the first one, and focused a lot more on my buoyancy than appreciating my surroundings.

 

 

 

 

When we were finished our dive we naturally had to explore the national park. We walked around for 1 hour then decided to search for that special spot nearby our dive master mentioned to us. He said it was a nice hike and not as popular, both of which are right up our alley. When I was doing my research using Google maps and Google photos, the pathways looked very natural, but when we were there was only paved paths to walk on and not even around the same location of the natural pathways.  I was planning off of panoramas and photos tourists took past the “do not walk” signs. This is incredibly frustrating for many reasons but the biggest one is that these people went against the local laws. Maybe many years ago, when there wasn’t bus loads upon bus loads of tourists, their land could handle the occasional foot traffic, but now with the boom in tourism, their delicate flora can’t withstand being constantly stomped on. Stop thinking “I’m just one person, what kind of damage can I do”, because I guarantee there’s hundreds, if not thousands, more people who think that same thing. Stop walking in areas you are not allowed to go. Period.

It was still an enjoyable walk, but just not exactly what I was anticipating to see.

 

 

 

 

The second area we hiked was AMAZING. It wasn’t even far, but I suppose that most people drive right by to get to the entrance of the park. We must have been here for at least an hour, and during this hour we experienced a multitude of weather, including the elusive sun! I was able to sneak some shots of the sun peaking through the clouds, before we realized how late it was and hustled it out of there to our next point of interest.

 

 

 

 

We took the same road further east as we had done the night before (there’s not many road options) and on our way to Gullfoss we drove past the Geysir again. We had considered stopping in to see it in different light, but it was SO busy we both turned to look at eachother and said “Naaahh” as we drove past the parking lot.

When we arrived at Gullfoss, it was also quite busy but there’s two parking lots here and a few trails leading to different lookout points. Since things were spread out a bit more, it didn’t feel overly crowded.  Something that slipped my mind with photographing waterfalls is they produce mist! Sure if you take a quick shot it will likely turn out just fine, but I brought my arsenal of fancy ND filters! I had serious plans of creating long exposure images.  Thankfully though, the wind only blows the mist in one direction so I was able to get at least one of those “it” shots I wanted.

 

 

 

 

From Gullfoss we continued on driving east past the end of the paved road to our first F-road; F-35. The clouds started clearing at this point and we were soon welcomed to the start of the highlands with some amazing golden light. It was about 9pm when we began this trek across and up the Island. Google maps gives a total drive time of 4 hours but it was more like 6 for us. Holey! That road is CRAZY. So many pot holes, rocks, boulders, dips and switchbacks. Somehow, the speed limit is a whopping 80km! Perhaps those mega 4×4 vehicles equip with extra large tires could swing that speed, but we were clocking 60 at most.

 

 

 

 

We did actually have a destination in mind to explore in the F-road area located off of F-347, but we were unable to reach it because of a fairly deep river. Our first we came across! Both exciting and a little disappointing. This is a known terrain to deal with in the highlands and one of the reasons the F-roads are only for 4×4 vehicles. Whenever you rent a vehicle though, they tell you that there is no insurance they offer that covers water damage. If you want to risk driving across one, you have to deal with the full consequences.

My husband checked things out and he believed we could have made it successfully to the other side, but the current was rather strong because there was a waterfall about 20ft from us!  We erred on the side of caution and decided to continue on the main path of F-35 to our campsite in Varmahlíð. As we turned around we got a great angle of the continuation of the river past the waterfall. It was an accessible area so we pulled over and explored the spot. A beautiful little oasis within a barren land of rock.

 

 

 

 

Let me say that this F-road is not for everyone. It is a COMPLETELY different experience than any other part of Iceland. It was very desolate, and felt like another planet. We only came across 2 vehicles at the beginning but for about 5 hours we never crossed paths with anyone else. It really sinks in, all those warnings and cautions you read about in travel safety websites or from the rental company. Listen to them all when they say “tell people what you’re doing” and “don’t try something stupid”. There’s a very good chance NO ONE will drive past you to help you out. (There is an app you can download called 112 Iceland where you can check in during your travels. I checked in as we merged onto F-35 and then again when we got off of it. There’s also an SOS call if you experience any troubles. But obviously, it’s better to be so prepared you don’t even have to use it. Make sure the gas tank is full and that you know how to change a tire).

 

 

 

 

I’ve often said dramatically “I’m in the middle of no where!” But nothing has ever compared to this. It was a little spooky, feeling like the only people around, but an incredible experience. I think the awe mixed with fear really added to the adventure.

All this aside, if you are strictly an “I like waterfalls” or “I like greenery” kind of person; there is none of that here. (with the exception to the one) What you will see is endless fields of rocks and boulders, lakes, mountain peaks, snow and clouds. We saw some pretty epic clouds engulfing the peaks of the mountains, and then they rolled in even more and we were driving through them. For about 1.5 hours it was so thick we could barely see in front of us. Good thing there’s no sheep up here! It was such a fantastic ride, and oddly enough, one of my favourites over our vacation! If you want to experience all the unique aspects of Iceland you have to include the F-roads. It just won’t be a well rounded trip without it.

 

 

 

 

As we emerged back into civilization the fog began to clear and we were presented with more breathtaking scenes! Another stop ensued. This was about 2am, the sun was beginning to rise and we were completely exhausted. We found the nearest gas station, filled up on what was likely the most expensive gas bill we will ever pay, and then located a camp site.

It was a good day!