Silfra Fissure: Diving Between Continents

Þingvellir National Park, Golden Circle · Iceland

Moderate3 daysEurope~£600 est.

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Overview

Silfra is the only dive site where you hang in the crack between two continents. The North American and Eurasian plates pull apart a couple of centimetres a year at Þingvellir, and the fissure fills with glacial meltwater that has spent decades filtering through lava. The result is visibility beyond 100 metres and a blue that does not look real. In the narrows you can put one glove on each continental plate; in the Cathedral the walls fall away beneath you in gin-clear silence. The water is 2-4°C in every month, so this is a drysuit dive: operators require a drysuit certification or about ten logged drysuit dives. Without one, snorkelling the fissure in a provided suit is nearly as good and needs no card at all. Silfra sits 45 minutes from Reykjavik, so a long weekend covers it, with a second day at Davíðsgjá in Þingvallavatn or a lava-cave walk. A guided double dive runs about £280 and a three-day trip lands comfortably under £600 before flights. Summer gives easy logistics; winter pairs the fissure with the aurora.