TRIP REPORT: ICELAND AND GREENLAND SEPT 4-18, 2017

January 04, 2018

Preparing for any polar trip can be daunting. This one was particularly challenging as we were going to spend one week doing land based diving, hiking and exploring in Iceland and another week on our favorite polar exploration ship, Plancius, with Oceanwide Expeditions in Greenland. Our group of 27 people was accompanied by 2 photo professionals from Eco Photo Tours: Chris Weaver and Mike Salvarezza. They were a huge help in setting up the Iceland itinerary which was an aggressive mix of diving and land exploration. Working with the Byron Conroy and the gang at MagmaDive was fantastic and we would highly recommend them for anyone wanting to dive and tour Iceland. Everything from the transfers, guides, diving and accommodations was top notch.

Most of the group came in a little early to spend some additional time in Iceland. What a great place! There is so much to do. A traditional Icelandic dinner marked the official start of the trip as we went over the plans for the next couple of days. Unfortunately, We were operating on little sleep for our first dive in Silfra and the Golden Circle tour as we were woken up by a fire alarm in our hotel at 3am. It was a false alarm but no one could figure out how to turn the new system off. Took about an hour to get it off and let us back into our rooms. It made the 7am pickup a little rough but Silfra was calling!

The world famous “Silfra fissure” – between the North American and the Eurasian tectonic plates- gives divers the chance to touch both continents at the same time! This glacial water holds an all year-round temperature of refreshing 35-37° F and visibility exceeds an amazing 300 ft. While it is a pretty regulated activity given the number of snorkelers who participate every day, it was still magical and worth the early morning wake up call!

The day continued with a sightseeing tour around the popular Golden Circle area, visiting the geothermal Geysir and the mighty waterfall Gullfoss, before heading back to Reykjavik. Not a bad start.

The following day, we said goodbye to Reykjavik as we drove the beautiful road from Reykjavik and around the serene Whale Fjord until we reached “The Old Jetty”. Here we did a nice relaxing ocean dive with lots of macro opportunities. Great prep for the ocean dives in Akureyri in the north. Afterwards we hiked up Glymur –Iceland´s tallest waterfall. The trip north was easy as most of us were napping! Everyone was happy when we arrived at our Fagravnik cabins. Personal hot tubs with every cabin, plenty of room, view of the fjord and Icelandic horses in the fields around us…it was truly perfect! We even saw the Northern Lights one night!

The rest of the trip alternated with dives, snorkeling excursions and hikes. Our diving focused on the geothermal vents in the Akureyri area- Little Strytan and Big Strytan. Here we explored a cluster of small hydrothermal chimneys, pumping out hot geothermal freshwater into the surrounding ocean. It´s one of very few hydrothermal chimneys accessible to divers. Other known chimneys like this one have been found at 6000 – 18000 ft depth. Strýtan stands tall and alone in the middle of Eyjafjörður. It rises from 195 ft up to 45 ft. The chimney was formed over 10.000 years ago after the last ice age. Around 100 litres of 160°F freshwater are coming from the chimney every second. Scientists say that the water is around 11.000 years old. This site is a protected underwater area covered with diverse marine life. We spotted free-swimming Wolf fish, up to 9 of them, friendly Cod, Haddock and Pollock, as well as rich macro life like nudibranchs and shrimp. Water temperature was a balmy 50 degrees. The dive staff from the local dive store was fantastic AND they even feed us traditional Iceland Fish Stew and Icelandic hot dogs! And we got a chance to relax in the hot tub outside the dive store- filled with the natural geothermally heated water that abounds.

We also did some snorkeling in unique geologic formations such the tectonic fissure Nesgjá, also called the Silfra of the North. The site is shallow with a maximum depth of 10 ft, so we therefore snorkeled this site. The water was crystal clear with visibility around 300 ft, and temperature a refreshing 36° F. Some of us liked it so much that we jumped in both 2 and 3 times! We also had the chance to explore a geothermal river: Littlaá. It was just a regular little river until a big earthquake in the year 1976 made the river change and instead of cold water coming from the ground, it transformed into a geothermal river and the temperature now goes up to 65° F in some places. Here we enjoyed watching the geothermal bubbles making their way from underground to the surface. The bottom is a hot pot full of bubbling and boiling freshwater. It was a real show in a very unique and remote countryside location.

On our last day before heading to Plancius, we decided to explore the area Myvatn, a town and geothermal area about 90 min from our cottages. Some of us visited the Myvatn Nature Baths, enjoying a few relaxed hours soaking in the hot geothermal water, the perfect end to a week of cold water diving. The rest of the group explored the surrounding lava fields in the company of Norris and his stories about elves, trolls and other Norse mysteries. Afterwards we all got a chance to visit the geothermal caves of Grjotagjá, famous not only for its beauty, but also known from Games of Thrones as the cave where Jon Snow lost his virginity to Ygritte. On the way back we stopped at the majestic Godafoss waterfall, translated into the Waterfall of the God.

We ended the trip with a group dinner with everyone at Faith’s cabin cooked by Faith! Yes, a home cooked meal….And maybe a few dive stories!

Onto Greenland! Getting back onto Plancius felt like coming home again. With friendly hellos from the crew- many of whom we knew from previous trips- we quickly settled in and got ready for the crossing to Greenland. Our first sight of Greenland did not disappoint. With the majestic scenery on the surface- barren hills contrasted with the bright white icebergs- we had a great backdrop for our check out dive where we got to check out the 36 degree water. Awesome macro life there and reasonable visibility. Our afternoon dive was a great wall dive with lots of anemones and other macro life.

The best part of the day is that 15 of our divers became bipolar on that day- having dove in both poles. They included Paul Holbrook, Milan Ficek, Jim Van Gogh, Sally Wahrmann, Laura Perry, Steve Fredrick, Sue Fredrick, Wendy Quimby, Michael Wright, Alexander Reznicek, Marc Connolly, Mike Salvarezza, Chris Weaver and Bill Wagman. We did a formal presentation and gave everyone a patch to commemorate the historic occasion.

Much of the allure in diving Greenland is in diving around the icebergs. Our next dives al oriented around the ice… The visibility was good and the surface of the sea had large pieces of pancake ice on it. We dived and enjoyed the scenery and playing with our buoyancy in the mix of salt and freshwater. The videographers and photographers amongst the team enjoyed trying to capture the light coming through the water column and the ice. Finally we surfaced the pancake ice made the surface look like a stained glass window. A beautiful dive..

Followed by another great wall dive in the afternoon- We think no-one has dived here before so true expedition diving. When we arrived on the site the visibility looked promising. WOW! it didn’t disappoint with fantastic topography and superb visibility. We saw lots of anemonaes and small lumpsuckers along with colourful jellyfish. We capped off the day with a great evening BBQ on the aft deck in this lovely spot.

One of the best parts of Greenland is the splendid surface scenery which makes it a great time for divers and non-divers alike. There was plenty of zodiac cruising thru fields of icebergs, glacier hikes, scenic vistas and even some musk oxen. There is truly something for everyone.

On one dive some of the team went snorkeling around the icebergs. One of the team even wore a Polar Bear costume much to the enjoyment of all. It is always a blast to climb up on and jump off of icebergs! When we dove on this ice, it looked flat from the surface but was very different under the surface. Lots of nooks and crannies which caught the light. Another iceberg looked typical on the surface but underwater was CLEAR! I had never seen that before and it was truly amazing. A little weird too…

Every iceberg we dove on was truly different from the other. And there was a special feeling shared by us all when we realized that we were the first to dive on these icebergs and likely also the last….What an experience! The photos do not do it justice! With good visibility, lots of little critters, unique ice sculptures, everyone had a great time.

All too soon it was time to head home. But only temporarily…we will be back!

 

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