Overview
One day with two halves. In the morning you go out on Faxaflói bay from Reykjavík to look for whales. In the afternoon you snorkel in Silfra, the meltwater-filled fissure in Þingvellir national park. Elding runs the boat and a separate team takes the snorkelling, and there is no transfer between them, so you drive yourself out to the park in the middle of the day. The tour runs from February to November.
The boat leaves at 09:00 and is back in the harbour around 12:00, three hours at sea. There are several outdoor viewing platforms, a heated indoor saloon with large panoramic windows, a café selling light refreshments, toilets, and a cloakroom where you can borrow a blanket or a set of overalls on a cold day. In summer minke whales are the most common sighting, along with white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises, and humpbacks turn up as well. Seabirds are part of it too, and there is WiFi on board.
Then you drive to Þingvellir, about an hour from Reykjavík, and meet the guides at the Silfra car park for a 14:00 start. They fit you into a dry suit, hand over the rest of the kit and go through the method on land before you get in. The water is glacial meltwater with visibility of more than 100 metres, and the fissure is the crack between the European and North American plates, so you float over the gap and look down into it. Reckon on 30 to 40 minutes in the water, with hot chocolate and biscuits afterwards.
There is no pick-up on this one, so you need a car for the day. Be at Elding's ticket office on Ægisgarður in Reykjavík at 08:45 to exchange your voucher for tickets, and at Silfra 10 to 15 minutes before 14:00; cars go in car park P5, a five-minute walk from the meeting point. Bring long thermal underwear, thick wool socks, sturdy footwear and clothes for the weather, and wear contact lenses rather than glasses, as the masks are not made for frames. Everyone snorkelling signs a medical statement beforehand, and the dry suits fit heights of 150 to 200 cm and weights of 45 to 120 kg. Guiding is in English on both halves. The Silfra national park fee is included; car parking at Þingvellir is paid separately.
