Today was THE day. The day we had been planning for: snorkeling between the two continents! We packed and put on our smart wool socks and underwear, contact lenses and headed out for our morning meeting with the other adventurers who would join us. Ingo and Palli were our guides. They walked us, piece by piece, on how to suit up for cold water snorkeling and diving. In watching us, some might consider us to be good material for a comedy skit. Finding a waterproof 'snowmobile suit' with attached rubber boots our size wasn't so difficult. Putting it on was! Each hole area (neck and wrists) being surrounded by skintight-rubber wear that needs to be stretched and correctly snapped into place. Youch! Then, we had to put on our neopralene hat and gloves, goggles, snorkel instrumentation, and flippers. It took nearly an hour to get everything on properly and in place.
Walking down the ladder into the ice cold water was a welcome relief after finally have put on our suite. With our waterproof camera inhand, we saw the blocks of lava, of continental shelf crumbling on themselves as the two pull apart. There we were, all the Trevino Flores siblings, between two continents at the same time. Good thing for being paired with my buddy! Those first few minutes were kinda scary.
While in the water, I would only hear the sound of my breathing as I looked in wonder at the crystal clear, ice cold water, green lake kelp stuff and orange colored moss. Amazing. I didn't feel the cold at all. I was too busy checking out the view. More amazing is the fact that it takes 30 years for the water to filter through the lava channels from its origin, the Langojokull glacier to enter the fissure. With this in mind, I was swimming in water from ice that melted in 1980, the year Ruth was born. Quite apropos!
Our unexpected highlight was a rock jump off from a small cliff into the fissure. We experienced our own little "quebrada" in Iceland! Was it worth all the suiting up? You bet!
1 comment:
even the picture looks scary! awesome though!
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