After walking up ridiculously early to make sure our new party members get into the hostel, we set off for one of the most packed days in Iceland. The majority of the trip unplanned, today was the day with one thing we had booked ahead of time: scuba diving between tectonic plates! It may have frozen my face skin off, but it was well worth it. Strapping into wetsuits, dry suits, and our BCs, we set off into the fissure between the North American and Eurasian continental plates to start our day.
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Þingvellir Nationial Park not only houses Iceland’s world heritage site as the location of its first parliament, but also contains the rift valley that marks the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. You can go diving there. We did. It was awesome. It was also very cold and my first time in a dry suit, aka a very unsteady video as i bobbed all over the place.
One of the greatest things about touring ourselves around the country was how nonchalant most destinations appeared, regardless of how epic they were. We wouldn’t have found this little gem of a cave if we didn’t discuss worthwhile ventures over milk and cookies after diving with our dive instructor. He pointed us towards this “partially dangerous” lava tube that was slightly off the beaten path. We arrived to a small gravel parking lot, one car, a tiny sign, and a snow covered hole in the ground. Well, into the cave we go. Two pitch black miles later, I think we found where Gollum had been hiding all this time.
Shout out to Evan Thibaud on getting an awesome long exposure of our group making our way through the cave.
After you venture into the tunnel far enough to not have natural light, where the seasonal changes are no longer a factor, the atmosphere changes drastically. No more snow, no more ice, just lava. Lava everywhere. It makes up the floor, the walls, and the ceilings of the cave. If you venture far enough, you can even find the mouth of the cave, the start of the lava flow that began it all.
Volcanoes erupting over time has left a large portion of Icelandic scenery filled with barren expanses, untouched for years to come. It’s a good change of pace to see a expanse of a river beginning to take hold again, repopulating the area with life.
After a day filled with scuba diving, cave diving, hiking, and downing some Icelandic pizza, there’s nothing quite like a quick 15 (turned out to be 30) minute hike up to the hot springs. Set up camp, popped open a few bottles of wine, dropped into the natural hot baths, and enjoyed great company well into the night.
Day 5 <——> Day 7
© 2026 Alex Hyyti
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