Reykjanes Peninsula — Garður & Flekkuvík

Centres are based in Reykjavík and run day trips out to the end of the peninsula, about an hour’s drive to Garður and 45 minutes to Flekkuvík. At Garður divers walk in from the shore or climb down a ladder from the old fishing pier. Day trips from Reykjavík also reach the geothermal waters of Kleifarvatn and the tectonic dive at Bjarnagjá, so the ocean sites can share a trip with a volcanic lake and a lava fissure.

Garður holds extensive kelp forests, a great many fish, soft corals and crabs. Between the kelp lie sandy stretches where flatfish cover themselves with a thin layer of sand and leave only their eyes showing. Flekkuvík is built from underwater lava formations carved by volcanic activity, with kelp forests swaying in gentle currents, Atlantic cod, starfish, sea urchins, nudibranchs and over 40 species of algae.

This is cold coastal water, and the ocean dives suit divers already at ease in a dry suit: Garður trips ask for dry suit certification or logged dry suit dives, while Flekkuvík tours accept Open Water divers. Visibility on the coast is a lot more limited than in the freshwater tectonic fissures, so divers who come for fissure clarity will find a different dive here, one built around fish, seals and algae.