Silfra, Thingvillir National Park, Gulfoss, Urridafoss, and Icelandic Gin

 

Today is the day! We spent the night last night in Thingvillir National Park. This morning we are going… SNORKELING… in Iceland at the Silfra Fissure with Adventure Vikings. The water temperature in Silfra is approx. 35-39 degrees Fahrenheit. 

We chose to wetsuit snorkel instead of the dry suit snorkel so we could dive underwater and experience Silfra. Best idea? Maybe not. I’ll let you know when the icicles melt off. 

Sadly we lost the pictures & videos from snorkeling :'( Karina wasn’t joking about the icicles melting off! I really thought I was going to lose my feet at on point. BUT…it was absolutely gorgeous. The water was soooo blue! and clear! and freezing! haha. but did I say how blue and clear it was?!?!

“The Silfra Tectonic Fissure is a unique phenomenon on this planet. The visibility in Silfra exceeds 100m, making it some of the clearest water in the world, and divers and snorkellers dive and float between the American and Eurasian continental plates. There are even places where they can actually touch both continents at the same time.” – Silfra.org 

We tried not to stop every 10 minutes to get pictures but… at least the view distracted us from our drive! 

We went to our first geothermal bath today at Laugarvatn – we skipped out on the fancy Fontanta day spa ( $40 each ) and went to the municipal pool for $10. Yes – it’s true – you have to strip down to your birthday suit and soap up in a common shower before you can even look at the pool. The water was a toasty 39C (102 F) and the steam room was amazing. It was just what we needed to warm up after the snorkel in 35F water. 

Geysir ( The Great Geysir ) is the geyser that all other geysers get their name from. This one doesn’t erupt(?) very often anymore, but the area is full of geothermal pools ( up to 100C ) and a geyser that erupts every 15 minutes-ish. 

Gullfoss – This waterfall was FANTASTIC. The entire day we were chasing the sun and got caught in the rain. I jokingly told Karina that the sun would come back and give us a rainbow…. We were soaked as we walked toward it to get a good video and were rewarded with a rainbow as we walked back up!!! 

 

Urriðafoss – The most voluminous waterfall in Iceland. It was located down a little dirt road and we had the whole place to ourselves. We had a bit of trouble with the camera here – it was hailing & raining so hard that as soon as we wiped the lens, it would get another rain drop on it. We tried our best. 

Camping tonight is at Hamragarðar with four beautiful waterfalls right outside our camper window. We’re going to hit the hay early and see them up close tomorrow ( I may have forgotten to include a nap in today’s itinerary ). 

As you can tell in the video, I was very excited to be surrounded by waterfalls. We had beautiful sunshine at 9pm, making it perfect for a little night cap with some yummy Icelandic gin.