Iceland (5-Nov to 12th Nov) - Part 8 - Þingvellir

Friday 11-11
Today was going to be pretty exciting, Kristine had gotten a dive pass for her birthday to dive between the tectonic plates at Silfra in Þingvellir National Park.  The plan was for us to all drive down and while Kris was snorkeling I would take the kids for a walk through the park to look for obsidian and explore the area.

Unfortunately Iceland continued to fight back and we woke to 139km/hr winds and driving rain.  It wasn't going to safe to drive in on exposed roads and there was a fair risk of damaging our loyal Toyota Auris.  So we drove Kris to the dive centre in Reykjavik and she caught the big coach out to the park while I took the kids home and we started packing while the winds raged around us.

The weather settled by midday (Kris's drive started at 11am) so we decided to head out and meet her (this was doubled when we saw that she had forgotten to take the waterproof camera.)  Alana was smart and wore waterproof pants but the rest of us got soaked as we walked from the carpark to the dive centre (the wind died off but the rain didn't).  We arrived just as Kris was finishing her dive and took some photos.  She also purchased a photo pack from the dive centre.

Silfra is the location where the American tectonic plate is pulling apart from the European plate.  This create an underwater gorge where you can place one hand on each of the plates. The moving of the plates has created a gorge that collects glacial melt-water as it runs out to the lake.

Silfra

Looking out over Silfra

Snorkling tour at Silfra

Here's some photos of Kris' dive group:

Kris going into the water

The water temperature was about 2 degrees all year round (it's glacial run-off), so they wore thermal under suits and dry-suits.

Starting the dive

Swimming out to the main dive area

Underwater view of the tectonic plates

Kris about to crash into the instructor

After Kris had changed, we drove back to the apartment and got changed into some dry clothes and then headed out to Reykjavik for dinner and some last souvenir shopping.

Hallgrimskirkja looked pretty cool at night:

We finished off with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe:

Total Travel:

Gullsmári - Þingvellir - Gullsmári - Reykjavik - Gullsmári (108km, 1.5hrs)

Total distance traveled so far:  3062km