Day 4 of 3 week Iceland trip

Follow my wife and me on a 3-week trip of Iceland.

Day 4 in Iceland: From Hjalteyri to Siglufjörður  (59 km)

The first dive was in the North in the Eyjafjord, near Hjalteyri. There you will find underwater "White Smokers". This is the only place in the world where this "White Smokers" can be seen as a sport diver as other locations in the world are situated at a depth ranging from 1000 to 8000 meters.

Via the Internet I had contacted Strytandive.is. Erlendur Borgason responded to our message, and we arranged to dive, the date still several times changed by mail in connection with our travel schedule. On arriving the previous day Sævör Erlendsdottir had introduced us and we were allowed to camp overnight next to the divecenter.

Erlendur's a real proud Icelander and has a small museum where you get a tour of the dive. The showpiece there is a 1 m soft chalky rock. That was at the top of the big Smoker. Erlendur told how he discovered it in 1997. Nobody could find the Smoker anymore and it was removed from the chart. There was even a search with a sidescan sonar, to no avail. Erlendur looked at windless weather, as there was no wave and saw a circle of 1 m diameters in the water. This was the ascending hot water.

At his first dive he still anchored at the top, and then had a piece broken off.

Since then there is a concrete anchor block with a mooring buoy.

Diving in Strýtan

It was a nice and sunny day.

The first dive was at a smaller smoker at 23 m depth.

This was intended as a check dive. There was a surprising amount of life. Very nice Catfishes, Cod and Lump. Also you could in the otherwise 5°C cold water just take your glove off to feel the hot water of the smoker.

The second dive was on the big smoker. On the way to the dive site was a whale us say hello. Once at the dive site we made a dive to 33 m to continue circling around the smoker to go back to 12 m. It was amazing to see the warm water gushing from the Smoker.

It was quite an experience to draw from your dive gear in the cold water and dive in with your dry suit to the dinghy. Thanks to Erlendur and Sævör, we had two beautiful dives. The dives were fresh 4-5°C, I had my own gear and drysuit, but Erlendur provides gear and drysuits for divers.

After the dives I dried my gear in the sun and after a relaxed lunch we continued to Siglufjörður. A nice little town with several restaurants.  We had dinner at Kaffi Rauðka. A nice restaurant, relaxed atmosphere, nice food. Not too expensive for Icelandic standards.  After dinner we went to Aðalbakarí for beer and to watch the European soccer Championship.

Find diving tours in Iceland here