Amazing! Beautiful night dive at þingvellir National Park with Dive.Is staff
Dive Log: 157 days since my last dry suit dive.
Am I really here? Do I really want to become a divemaster in about 2°C water? I’ve been here a few times before. Why is it so cold? Am I being the biggest wimp ever? Are there icicles forming from my nose? The night skies are quickly disappearing from Iceland, so we had to squeeze in a night dive before the summer officially arrives.
“Buoyancy control to Major Tom. Major Tom. Are you there? Ground Control to Major Tom!! Help!”
It took me about 30 minutes to settle in my drysuit and control my buoyancy. I really felt like I could have been a ball in one of those pinball arcade games. Good thing I was in a fissure and didn’t drift off into the lake. I’m totally over exaggerating, but you get the idea.
Once I calmed down, I was able to enjoy the dive for what it was: Beautiful. The water at an angle beautifully reflected the scenery below. There were periods of darkness, then flashes of bright light from the backgrounds as other divers moved about. When I turned on my back, I could see the stars shine through the water.
After the dive, I struggled to get out of my fins. It seems like I just had one stress after another tonight. The 400m walk back to the picnic tables wasn’t as bad as I remembered. But then taking off the drysuit was definitely difficult. I couldn’t do it by myself. By then, it had dropped below freezing. Once I got my drysuit off, it looked like a frozen dead body on the ground. Kinda stiff and just laying there. I should have asked for her to walk herself to the van and put herself away.
As tradition for any silfra dive, we had some nice hot drinks afterwards. I should have enjoyed the moment, but the thoughts and pressure of the divemaster program were weighing me down. Back at the shop, my dive instructor comforted me and gave me the strength/boost I needed to get me out of that “doubt hump.” Thanks instructor!
Takeaway thought of the day: Know that the divemaster program will be very difficult… but that you need to give yourself time to breathe, adjust to the weather, and stop being so hard on yourself.
