Diving in North Iceland

Rising from the floor of Eyjafjörður is Strýtan, a cone of pale mineral deposits built up over eleven thousand years by hot water venting from the seabed — a geothermal chimney over fifty metres tall, and the only one on the planet shallow enough for divers to visit.

Descending alongside it, in a drysuit against the cold, you watch shimmering 70°C water pour from its summit into the cold fjord, drawing clouds of fish and creating a dive utterly unlike a reef or a wreck.

It is a genuine world-first: nowhere else can a recreational diver hover beside an active hydrothermal chimney. Paired with the dramatic fjord scenery of North Iceland and the rarity of the site, it's a pilgrimage dive for experienced divers, and one of the most unusual underwater experiences anywhere.

A guided cold-water drysuit dive on the Strýtan chimney and its smaller neighbours, descending along the cone to watch hot geothermal water vent into the cold fjord, surrounded by fish drawn to the warmth.

The water is cold and the site is deep-ish, so this is for certified, drysuit-experienced divers (typically advanced with cold-water/drysuit experience); it is not a beginner or warm-water dive. Visibility is often excellent, the marine life is plentiful around the vents, and the geology is the star.

Trips run in the milder months and depend on conditions in the fjord. You'll need proper cold-water kit, which operators can supply, and comfort managing buoyancy in a drysuit at depth. The uniqueness of hovering beside an active hydrothermal chimney is the whole point.

Dive in the milder season, roughly May to September, from Akureyri on Eyjafjörður. Book with the specialist operator that manages access to Strýtan; you can't just show up.

You must be a certified diver with drysuit experience and, ideally, an advanced qualification and cold-water dives logged — be honest about your level, as this is a serious cold, deep-ish dive. Operators provide or arrange drysuit kit; make sure you're current and comfortable in it beforehand.

Book well ahead, as trips are limited. Follow the guide's depth and site rules to protect both you and the fragile chimney. If you're not yet drysuit-qualified, a course elsewhere first is essential. For experienced divers, it's a genuinely once-in-a-lifetime, only-place-on-earth dive.