Iceland's most popular dive sites in only 3 days

Back by popular demand, our compact Strýtan dive tour offering Iceland´s most popular dive sites in only 3 days!
This great tour includes dives to see 10.000 year old hydrotherml vents and to explore the rich north atlantic marine life. You will also dive the world famous SIlfra and a geothermal rives with mesmerizing erupting sands. Along these amazing dives you will see uniques landscape and waterfalls.

Diver at hydrothermal vent at Strytan Iceland

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April - September
3 days
Minimum 3 divers
Maximum 12 divers

From ISK 279.000

Please bring:

Your PADI Advanced Dive Certification or equivalent.
Proof of dry suit experience. A drysuit certification or proof of minimum 10 logged dry suit dives within the last year signed by an instructor.
Warm clothes
Long underwear
Thick socks
Dive equipment (All dive equipment can also be rented from us)

Included:

4 dives in 3 different dive locations
1 snorkel tour
All transportation while on tour (land & water)
Scuba cylinders and weights
Expert guide for all 3 days
Entrance fee to Silfra and Mývatn nature baths
Diamond Circle Sightseeing tour
Non-diver includes snorkeling tours in Silfra and Litlaá

Excluded:

Accommodation
All meals and beverages
All other activities and everything not stated in the itinerary
Diving equipment (other than cylinders and weights)
Transport to and from airport

This tour is depending on availability.

Safety requirements

Participants must:

have at minimum an Advanced SCUBA dive certification (PADI Advanced Open Water or the equivalent)
have dry suit diving certification and a logged dry suit dive within two years of the tour date OR have at least 10 logged dry suit dives within two years of the tour date and be able to provide written proof from a diving instructor of these dry suit dives PDF
have read, signed, and followed directions on the Medical Statement PDF
have our Diving Medical form signed off by a doctor if they are age 60 or older PDF
sign our liability release form at the start of the tour PDF
be at minimum 150cm / maximum 200cm
be at minimum 45kg / maximum 120kg
fit within our dry suit size chart PDF
be at least 17 years of age (signature of legal guardian required for under 18 year old participants)
be physically fit
be ready to wear a sometimes tight & constricting dry suit
be able to communicate in English
not be pregnant

Day 1
Reykjavík - Akureyri

We will start the tour by picking you up at your accommodation in Reykjavik and drive up North to the lovely village Hjalteyri. On this drive you will see a nice variety of Iceland's beautiful landscape. On arrival the boat will be waiting for us to do 2 dives at both the big and small Strýtan hydrothermal chimneys.

A 55m tall pinnacle made up of petrified mineral deposits rising up from the bottom of Eyjafjörður fjord, the big Strýtan chimney is surely something to behold! With the nearest bottom at 70m, this dive requires outstanding buoyancy control and reasonable physical fitness. As the only such hydrothermal chimney in the world accessible to recreational divers, this is site is of great interest to divers and scientists alike.

The little Strýtan chimney may be smaller than its counterpart across the fjord, but it is no less interesting. If anything, many divers, given the option, will prefer re visiting the smaller of the two chimneys. The reason for that is the abundance of exciting and varied marine life found around the 10m tall cone-shaped stack of pink algae covered rocks and mineral deposits. Ranging from the minuscule skeleton shrimp to the menacing, but ultimately quite friendly, wolf fish; nesting lumpsuckers, colourful scorpionfish, inquisitive cod – not to mention nudibranchs and crustaceans of all stripes – you won´t know where to look! Also, with the bottom at 20-25m, this site is the shallower and less challenging of the two.

Day 2
Akureyri - The Diamond Circle - Mývatn

On our second day up north we will start with a scenic drive from your accommodation in Akureyri to the first dive site, Nesgjá. On our way we will make a stop at Goðafoss, the waterfall of the Gods and another stop at Tjörnes peninsula coastal viewpoint, if we are lucky we might even see the famous Icelandic puffin. The dive site Nesgjá is the result of tectonic movement and the divergence of the Eurasian and North American continental plates. Similar to Silfra and Davíðsgjá, but also quite different in many ways, Nesgjá is modestly shallow but amazingly beautiful and has often been called 'Silfra of the north'.

After the dive we will continue on to Litlaá, a 17°C geothermal river, for a one of a kind snorkelling experience. You will be mesmerized by the dancing volcanic sands and multicoloured sediments leaping from the bottom. Heated water erupts from below the bottom causing beautiful bubbling sand pools and ripples in the riverbed while you drift along the surface above.

Before we head to your accommodation in Mývatn/Akureyri, we continue our drive on the famous Diamond Circle which includes a few unforgettable stops. The first stop will be at the 45m high and 100m wide Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe, with 500 cubic metres of water per second plunging over the edge. Next stop will be at Námafjall geothermal area where we will walk around the smoking fumaroles and boiling mud pots, surrounded by sulfur crystals of many different colors. The sulfur gives the area an overwhelming smell of egg. We will end our long adventure day at the Mývatn Nature Baths where you can relax in an alkaline bathing lagoon and enjoy the amazing scenery.

Day 3
Akureyri - Silfra - Reykjavík

On the last day we get up for the drive back South to the Thingvellir National Park where we will dive the magnificent Silfra fissure. The rift valley of Þingvellir was created by the slow separation of the Eurasian and North American continental plates, and it was here that the original settlers of Iceland held their annual legislative assembly. The Silfra fissure is the exact location where the continental plates divide; at one point in the dive, you can touch the walls of each continent. As the water that fills Silfra is glacial water that has been filtered through basaltic lava rock for a distance of 50 km, Silfra’s underwater visibility is unparalleled by any other dive site on the planet. After our dive in Silfra we will head back to your accommodation in Reykjavík.