Photo: Iceland Tourism

Iceland is a bold country for bold people. It’s for travelers who want to dive directly into nature, party until the sun comes up (even when it never goes down), and dine on some of the sea’s most freaky creatures.

The Land of Fire and Ice is a place that continues to wow its visitors whether it’s their first visit or their fiftieth. However, these six insane things to do in Iceland are ones that most visitors, even the most seasoned Iceland travelers, have never done.

Surf Among Icebergs

Photo: dalli58 / Flickr

There are few places in the world where you can surf among icebergs, and only one where the waves are considered world-class. Iceland, which is home to just a handful of surfers, offers many of the perks most of the world’s surfers dream about — peeling point breaks and minimal crowds. Ten surfers in the water is considered a packed lineup. Even better, there’s no need for dawn patrol, because the sun never sets during the midsummer surf season.

The increasing popularity of surfing in Iceland and around the world has brought rise to coastal surfer-friendly resorts and companies offering guided surf adventures. Summer sea temperatures around 12-degree Celsius and improved wetsuit technologies make jumping into the chilly (but not frigid) waters much less of a concern.

Snowboard in the Winter Darkness

Photo: Iceland Tourism

Icelandic winters are synonymous with darkness, but that’s what makes snowboarding in the Nordic island nation so special. Mount Hlíðarfjall has been one of Iceland’s top ski and snowboard resorts for more than 40 years. Powdery snow and a location 5 kilometres outside of the town of Akureyri makes it a favorite among Icelandic locals and tourists. Floodlighting on the main trails means skiing in the pitch black evenings of winter is possible.

Although, you don’t have to leave the Reykjavik area to ride at one of the country’s top resorts. The Blafjoll Ski Resort is famous for its family-friendly atmosphere, off-piste trails for advanced riders, and glowing lights that keep the trails open in the darkest months. Even more adventurous snowboarders can venture into deep fjords and towering mountains with Arctic Surfers, a mountain guide company taking adrenaline junkies on Surf & Snow trips into the country’s most rugged terrain.

Cruise an Icelandic River at High Speeds

Photo: Iceland Riverjet

You don’t have to be an action sports enthusiast to get your thrills in the Land of Fire and Ice. Iceland Riverjet is Europe’s only whitewater jet boat company. Grip the handlebars with white knuckles as your professional jet boat driver flies through the whitewater rapids of the Hvita River while doing 360-degree spins, jumping waves, and squeezing through some of the country’s most scenic canyons. There’s only one whitewater jet boat company on the continent, and the high-speed thrills are a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Snorkel Between Two Continents

Photo: Anosmia

Iceland’s temperatures aren’t as frigid as many travelers assume, averaging between 10- and 13-degrees Celsius in July and reaching 20- to 25-degrees Celsius on warmer days. While you probably won’t feel like diving into the sea the moment you set foot on Icelandic ground, you may change your mind when you hear about snorkeling in the Silfra rift.

The Silfra rift is part of the Thingvellir National Park UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It’s the only place in the world where travelers can dive or snorkel between two continental plates. The lesser-known natural wonder offers 100 metres of visibility, bright blue waters, and a rainbow of colors that make snorkeling the chilly glacial waters, from nearby Langjökull, unlike anywhere else in the world.

Stay Up All Night in Reykjavik

Photo: Dan Nguyen / Flickr

The nightlife never really stops in Reykjavik, and it can be difficult to know when night actually falls during summer evenings full of sunlight and winter days of darkness. Icelanders are known for heading to their favorite bars and pubs after midnight and staying until at least 5 a.m., on weekends. Many cafes morph into bars in the evening hours, then into clubs in the wee hours of the night. It’s essential to spend one night drinking Icelandic craft beer and local schnapps at the famous Kaffibarinn bar or the low-key artist hangout, Ölstofa Kormáks og Skjaldar.

See the Northern Lights from the Top of a Glacier

Photo: Iceland Tourism

Iceland isn’t the only place in the world to admire the northern lights, but it’s the only place where you can watch nature’s greatest light show from atop the fastly-fading Sólheimajökull glacier. This south Iceland glacier is accessible to all levels of hikers and serves as an ideal viewing point for the greens, purples, and blues of the northern lights.

Guide to Iceland offers a number of glacier tours in Iceland, including a jaw-dropping adventure to the Sólheimajökull glacier tongue, the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, and an unbeatable viewing point for the aurora borealis. Iceland’s wild and sparsely populated landscape coupled with the pitch darkness of winter makes it one of the best places on earth to see the dancing northern lights.

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As a traveler, these are the types of experiences we grow to crave.

The Night Dive

I turned around in the water and saw my other two dive buddies, clearly thinking the same thing I was – I want to see the white glitter! Despite the fact that it was dark, and we had big square masks separating us, I could see the looks in their eyes.  Simultaneously, we all pointed our flashlights toward our chests, nearly extinguishing the lights, and started twirling, running our hands from side to side, and kicking around in the water, stirring up the plankton, which created a white glow. The bioluminescence was incredible, falling around us like white glitter, following our every move.

With every swish of the fin, we were putting on shows for each other. Somewhere a few meters away, our dive master realized we were squirreling around, mostly because he could no longer see us, and tapped his tank – the universal diving sign for “pay attention!” We giggled a bit into our breathing apparatuses.

Encountering Octopi

I had been jealous of some of the other dive groups, as they had seen an octopus or two during our dives in the Similans.  I had never seen one before and was dying to know what they looked like. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an uncharacteristically white sea creature.  Immediately, he started morphing like a chameleon to black, then to purple, before settling on a nice beige that would allow him to blend in with the rock. I finally understood what all the fuss was about.  The changing colors put any art I could create to shame.

The Cherry on Top: Manta Rays!

“You’ve got a better chance at winning the lottery than seeing one, but it just might be out there,” a dive master said during our final dive briefing. He was talking about the manta rays – something we had all hoped to see, but never took as a given. It was my final of 18 dives for the trip, and I had yet to see one.  I was hoping today might be the day, but my expectations were managed.

About 20 minutes into the dive, I heard frantic tapping – it could only mean something amazing was nearby, and some other divers had just seen it.  Hoping we weren’t too far away, I spun around several times, looking up, into the blue, just about everywhere all at once. Then, like a plane gliding overhead, it soared over us, flapping its giant wings like an angel of the sea. If it were possible to cheer under water, the ocean would have erupted in roars and shrieks of delight from several dozen divers.

There’s something truly amazing about viewing sea life on their own turf.  I was merely a spectator, along for the show, keeping my distance but admiring everything I saw, taking in every moment with gusto. As a traveler, the ocean is another part of the world that I want to see every inch of.  If you’re like me, the Similan and Surin islands are sure to impress.

*Special thanks to Wicked Diving in Khao Lak, a great choice for anyone looking for an awesome diving trip in Thailand’s Similan Islands. 

The post Scuba Diving the Similan Islands in Thailand appeared first on XpatMatt.

Every year more and more people are learning how to scuba dive and discovering the glorious feeling of sinking beneath the waves at some of the world’s most pristine dive sites. Nothing quite comes close to the experience of scuba diving because it allows you to explore a completely different world than that which is experienced on land.

The idea of taking scuba diving lessons, the process may seem a bit intimidating, but it shouldn’t be. To set your mind at ease, read on to learn what it’s like to go through a scuba diving course for the first time. If you already decided that you want to learn how to dive you might want to start looking for a dive center that suits your needs.

How Long Will it Take Me to Take the PADI Open Water Course?

In most cases, the course is taught in 3.5 to 4 days. Some people need a bit more time than others to get comfortable in the water. However, if you complete the theory portion of the course online via PADI eLearning you may be able to finish the course in just 2.5 days.

You may also prefer to take the course as a part-time student but, in that case, it could take you weeks or even months to complete.

What is a Discover Scuba Diving Course?

The Discover Scuba Diving course is a 1 day course designed to allow beginners interested in diving to experience the sport for the first time without having to complete the entire Open Water course. Under the direct supervision of a professional scuba dive instructor, you’ll learn how it is to breath underwater.

The discover scuba dive class does not certify you as a scuba diver, but is meant to give you an idea of what scuba diving is like so that you can decide if you like it enough to invest in the Open Water course.

If you’re at least 10 years old you can enroll in a Discover Scuba Diving class. You’ll begin with basic classroom instruction to give you some background knowledge about scuba diving. In this theory session you will learn more about what pressure does to the human body underwater and you will learn the basics about how scuba gear works.

As soon as you have finished the theory you will head for the open water to make an actual dive up to a maximum depth of 40ft/12m under the direct supervision of an instructor.

What You’ll Learn During a PADI Open Water Course

When you start the Open Water Course, you will learn all the basic skills you will need to know in order to go diving when ever you want. When you are a certified open water diver a dive master or instructor will not supervise you, therefore you will be thought to dive safe to a maximum depth of 60ft/18m with a dive buddy.

What will you learn during the course?

• How to get rid of water that has leaked into your mask
• How to recover your regulator (mouthpiece) if it somehow comes out of your mouth
• How to control your buoyancy
• How to share air with another diver

There are many more skills you will learn. All skills focus on teaching you how to become a safe diver and how to solve any problems that may occur when diving.

Taking the PADI Open Water Course

Using books and videos, you’ll study independently, online, or with the help of an instructor.
These materials will teach you the basics about diving, as well as how to select proper diving equipment, how to care for diving equipment, how diving affects your body, and safety measures that must be taken during each dive.

You’ll also be introduced to what you’ll be learning in the water ahead of time so that you’ll know what to expect. After you’ve completed the knowledge section of the course, (which are mostly done in class rooms) you’ll move on to actually performing your first dives in the confined water training segment of the course.

According to PADI, confined water means; an open water site that offers swimming-pool-like conditions with respect to clarity, calmness, and depth.

Lets Dive!

When it is time to go diving you will go to either a swimming pool or a calm cove or lagoon that has similar conditions to a swimming pool.

You’ll begin to practice the exercises in shallow confined water before moving into deeper water so that the learning process is gradual enough that you retain everything you learn.

Once you’re confident and able to complete the confined water section of the course, you will be able to go for your very first real dive in open water.

In the open ocean or a large body of water, and with the guidance of your instructors, you’ll put all of the skills you’ve learned to the test over the course of four or more dives. Once you successfully complete these dives, you’ll be a certified open water diver.

The post Learning How to Scuba Dive: What to Expect appeared first on XpatMatt.

“I have seen other places like Sipadan, 45 years ago, but now no more. Now we have found an untouched piece of art.”

~ Jaques Cousteau

Sipadan is a tiny 12-hectare rainforest-covered island in the Celebes Sea off the East Coast of Sabah in Eastern Malaysia. The island is formed from coral that grew on top of a volcanic cone rising from the ocean floor. Sipidan is arguably the most diverse and bountiful marine area in the Indo-Pacific basin, which is one of the richest marine habitats on the planet. Many say it’s the best scuba diving site in the world. Anyone who has visited will undoubtedly tell you that Sipidan is Mother Nature’s masterpiece.

A Treasure Trove of Marine Life

Sipidan is world famous for having not only some of the most diverse and rare marine life in the world, but also for having a lot of it.  It’s best known for prized finds such as sea turtles, thresher sharks, reef sharks, hammerhead sharks, and enormous tornados of barracuda.

That’s not all there is though. There is both hard and soft coral. Big-eye trivially, bumped parrot fish, manta rays, and eagle rays are all common sightings. Leopard sharks and whale sharks make occasional appearances. Sipadan is like the Times Square of the ocean. You’re guaranteed to see some colourful characters, and you never know who might show up.

Sipadan Diving Highlights

There are twelve dive sites around the island and all of them are spectacular. Three of them, however, truly stand out.

South Point

South Point is a must see for any diver visiting Sipadan. This site offers a brilliant cross section the diving around Sipadan with the famous 600m coral wall, sharks, turtles, enormous schools of fish, and the possibility of spotting hammerhead and thresher sharks.

Barracuda Point

The name here says it all. Yes, there are tons of turtles and huge schools of jacks, snapper, and bannerfish. You may even see some sharks.  But the real attraction at Barracuda Point are the giant vortex schools of barracuda.

Turtle Cavern

This unique and morbid site takes divers to a large cavern filled with the skeletons of sea turtles. The turtles presumably died after becoming lost in the labyrinth of volcanic tunnels that branch off of it. Not to worry though. Those passageways are too small for people and the dive is perfectly safe.

Sipadan Diving Tips

Sipadan’s location and the way it is governed are as unique as the marine life that surround it. It’s very remote and well protected by environmental regulations so there are a few things you should know before you plan your visit.

1) There are no resorts on Sipadan. They were closed in 2002 to help preserve its unique biosphere. The closest resorts are in Semporna on the mainland and on the islands of Mabul and Kapalai.

2) Because of environmental regulations only 120 dives are allowed per day. You need a permit from Sabah Parks to dive, but your dive shop should take care of this.

3) Although diving is great all year round, the rainy season, from December to March can cause disturbances that reduce visibility. Diving is better from April to October with the best, and busiest, months being July and August.

4) The fastest and easiest way to get to Sipadan is to fly into Tawau, then take a taxi to Semporna (1-2 hours) and then boat to Sipadan (1 hour on a fast boat).

You can read a Chinese translation of this post here.

Deck chair photo by irwandy. Lead photo by No Dust

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Sandwiched between the driver and a Cambodian woman, with more gear and three grown men in the back, I did my best not do bump the gearshift and send us into reverse.  As the driver sped down the wrong side of the street to avoid slower traffic in front of us, I silently thought to myself that if we were to crash, I would be the first out the windshield.  As we narrowly missed clipping another cab with nine passengers, I felt a little less fear about our six.

Two hours later we arrived in Kampot, ready to trek to Cambodia’s version of a Cenote – a never-before-dove cave.

First, we had to procure motorbikes.  Oh, and a guide.  That in itself took a few hours to sort out.  After all, we were on Cambodian time.  I hopped on behind Marcin, Dive Shop Cambodia’s resident dive master.

“Don’t kill us, Marcin,” I said to him as we started off.

He promised to do his best.

The trek started out innocently enough.  We rode through the town center and for the first time, I saw beautiful mountains in an otherwise flat Cambodia.  This must be the Bokhor Mountains I had heard so much about.

Suddenly, we veered off of the nice, paved road onto a sandy, wet excuse for a trail.

This was uncharted territory we were heading into, as evidenced by even our guide taking pictures of the trek with his phone.

We were going on nothing more than a rumor.  We were going on a hunch.

We drove through thick puddles of mud and every now and then, miniature bodies of water, surrounded by nothing but the occasional shack and the natural beauty that surrounds Kampot.  Whenever I felt the ride getting particularly bumpy, I let go of the back handles and held onto Marcin’s shoulder – capable moto driver that he was – my other hand always filming.  After all, I had to document this endeavor of sheer lunacy.

Once we got to the point that the road was no longer any semblance of a road, it was time to continue on foot.  This part of the trek involved pushing aside vines, letting the bare-foot and shirtless guide in front of us hack away vegetation with his machete, and generally climbing hand and foot over rocks.

Once we reached the waterfall, I finally understood the meaning of the saying “it’s the journey, not the destination.”

We had reached a beautiful apex, complete with trees growing out of rocks, and evidence that very few others had reached this point in the jungle.  After all, there was hardly a trail.

We were sad to realize there was no underwater cave.  There was no Cambodian version of a Cenote for us to dive.  It was a heartbreaking realization, but nonetheless, we trekked where few have boldly trekked before.  That, in itself, was adventure enough for me.

We may not have discovered Cambodia’s first cenote, but we had one hell of an adventure. Big thanks to Dive Shop Cambodia for taking me on a trek that very few others get to experience.  In any event, we made up for the lack of cenote diving by taking two amazing dives off of Koh Rong, an island close to Sihanoukville.

That night, I dined on my fried beef luc lac, feeling that I had earned it during my day’s work.

Though I know the Dive Shop Cambodia keeps the dream alive to find a cenote, I enjoyed my time simply hunting for one.  My fingers are crossed that one day, they are successful.

For a better idea of what the journey looked like, checkout  my video at the top of the page.

Lead image by EyeofJ

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PHILIPPINES ADVENTURES 2011

PT1: Manila to Banaue

PT2: Hiking the Rice Terraces

PT3: The Loboc Tarsier Conservation Area

Pt4: Swimming with Whale Sharks

Pt5: Diving with Thresher Sharks

After swimming with whale sharks on the island of Leyte I spent two days traveling by bus and ferry to Malapascua, a  tiny island about 5 km from the northern tip of Cebu. There is really only one reason that people visit Malpascua: to dive with thresher sharks, enormous sea creatures that can grow up to 500 kilograms and are easily identified by their long whiplike tail.

There was just one problem: I didn’t know how to dive.

Learning to Dive

When I arrived on Malapascua, I signed up for diving lessons at Fun and Sun Dive and Travel. Truth be told, Malapascua is rife with dive shops. There’s probably a dozen or more to choose from. I chose Fun and Sun because their prices were reasonable and I liked the instructor that I met there.

Completing the open-water scuba diving certification usually takes at least four days, but since I was eager to learn and my father, a recreational diver, had taught me a lot of the techniques when I was young, the instructor said he’d try to get it done in three, which would leave just enough time for a dive at the thresher shark cleaning station before I left.

Fun and Sun, like most dive shops, follows the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) curriculum. This entails reading and being tested on the contents of a 272 page manual, learning to calculate how deep, how long, and how many times you can dive before risking decompression sickness and completing a confined water dive and test and an open water dive and test.

Needless to say, I spent the next three days with my nose in a book and my butt in the ocean.  Fortunately, since I was comfortable in the water and had practiced several of the techniques before, everything went smoothly and I passed all the tests.

Diving to the Cleaning Station

The Cleaning Station is 24m below the surface. That puts it just six meters short of PADI’s recreational dive limit of 30m. As such, it’s considered and an advanced dive and open water certified divers like myself must be accompanied by an instructor.

It was also the first dive that I did after I finished my open water certification, which puts it very high on my list of intelligent things that I’ve done in third-world countries.

Thresher sharks normally hunt at depths much deeper than 24m, but each day they come up to shallow water to be cleaned by mall fish called wrasse eat the dead skin and bacteria from their bodies. That is why the dive site is called the Cleaning Station. The Cleaning Station is located on the Moanad Shoal, an underwater island where wrasse congregate. The edges of this island drop steeply to depths of about 230m, where thresher sharks hunt. So, each morning before it gets too light the sharks swim up the wall for a quick cleaning before returning to deeper waters.

The Dive

We met at the dive shop at 5am and boarded our banca boat. Despite my lack of experience, I wasn’t worried about the dive. When done with reliable professional guidance scuba diving is perfectly safe and I had full confidence in my instructor.

After about a 40-minute boat ride (my estimation may not be perfect due to the extremely early hour and the fact that I may or may not have fallen asleep on the boat) we arrived at the dive site. A dozen or more boats were already there.

We put on our suits, hopped in the water, and began to descend. We arrived at the wall to find what looked like between 80 and 100 divers kneeling on the bottom along the cliff’s edge staring into an inky abyss. We skirted along the edge of the wall looking for a spot. Eventually we found an opening and joined the line of kneeling divers.

After about fifteen minutes my instructor pointed into the dark blue. First there was a vague outline. Then the thresher shark emerged and circled above us. It was a majestic site. Although I had my GoPro camera with me, the light at that depth was too poor to record good video. What we saw, was very similar to the video below.

Afterwards we swam along the bottom back toward the boat following a small manta ray.

More Sharks

Later that day we went for a second dive. This time we got in the boat and headed for nearby Gato Island where we dove Whitetip Alley. Whitetip alley was also an advanced dive, not because of the depth (though it is 20m) but because of the strong current. Whitetip Alley is known as the best place near Malapascua to look for whitecap reef sharks.

We descended into the current and began swimming slowly into it, my dive instructor peering into small caves and under rocks for whitetip reef sharks. Most of the dive passed without finding any. We did, however, see a beautiful sea snake winding its way toward the surface.

Then, just as we were nearing the boat, the instructor waved us down to a narrow crevice. He moved away so I could fit in. At the bottom of the crevice was a small cave and in it were two two-meter long whitetips. They were about two meters from my face, sitting perfectly still, and appeared to be looking at me. It was chilling.

I moved out of the way so that the others could see them. Afterwards we returned to the boat, spotting a cuttlefish — truly an alien looking creature — along the way.

It’s hard to find a negative in my sea experiences in the Philippines. In the space of a week I swam with whale, thresher, and reef sharks, and saw numerous other exotic underwater creatures. It was amazing, but I’m now left with a problem.

On my first two dives I saw sharks. Now, how can I ever be satisfied with boring ‘ol coral and fish?

I’ve been spoiled by the Philippines.

I was provided discount diving lessons by Fun and Sun Dive and Travel, but I recommend them because I had a genuinely great experience with their instructors. If you’re planning to go to Malapascua, I recommend contacting them.

Fun and Sun Dive and Travel
Address: Bridges Town Square 143 Plaridel Street, Alang-Alang,
Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines 6014
Phone: +63 32 343 3410
Email: info@funsundivetravel.com

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It flits past my mask in a haze of azure and yellow, its flanks paint-box bright. ‘Flits’ may be the wrong word. ‘Cruises’ would be better, because this parrotfish is so large that it looks like it must have the turning radius of an ocean liner. Then – as if to contradict my uncharitable thought – the beast suddenly changes direction with a deft flick of its huge tail, and vanishes into the deep.

This many-hued brute is not a lone specimen. All around me, the water teems with life. Fish of all shapes dart and scurry, flash and dash. I see stingrays and rockfish. A balloon fish floats by and a moray eel entwines itself around a gnarly lump of coral. They are quite a welcoming party. Many international flights to Jamaica now touch down at Montego Bay in the northwest corner of the island, which is an ideal location for heading below the waves. I’ve barely had time to unpack before I venture into the blue in Montego Bay Marine Park.

I must admit, I’m a little surprised. Jamaica has a reputation for many things: a carnival atmosphere; glorious beaches; giving birth to reggae; a dalliance with piracy (Port Royal, the 17^th century den of rogues, struck fear and hot lead into Spanish galleons). This famously laid-back country is not normally thought of as a destination for underwater exploration, but it should be. The third biggest Caribbean island (behind Cuba, and Hispaniola – the island that on which both Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located) Jamaica has 634 miles of coastline and a lot of warm, scuba-friendly water.

In the last 20 years, Jamaica has started to take good care of the surrounding ocean. Montego Bay Marine Park was established off the north coast in 1991. Now it is a protected pocket where things with fins thrive, and divers are able to glide among them in relative isolation. If you head to the west coast (and manage to avoid the sandy temptation and cocktail-touting bars of the iconic Seven Mile Beach) you will find Negril Marine Park.

Two days after my escapades off Montego Bay, I slip below the waves in this vast sheltered expanse (it covers160 square kilometers). Bescaled species are just as abundant here, even though I do not encounter a parrotfish the size of a small submarine.

The island boasts several other excellent locations for diving. The holiday hotspots of Ocho Rios and Runaway Bay, both on the north coast, are popular scuba sites, while Port Antonio in the northeast has reef walls that are alive with hard and soft coral. More experienced divers can also test their mettle by staring into the gloomy abyss of the Cayman Trench – the boundary between the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates. Here, unsurprisingly, is below-the-surface terrain perfect for epic wall dives.

Of course, watersports in Jamaica are not confined to what lies beneath. Three days after my parrotfish moment I get into splash and spray of a different sort. I head east to Ocho Rios, where I kayak the White River, which crashes down from the interior. I ride the rapids and (largely) avoid the urge to capsize as I pilot the sturdy craft beneath heavy rainforest vegetation and through thick bamboo groves. Here is further proof, if proof were needed, that there is far more to Jamaica than soft beaches.

Chris Leadbeater is a UK travel writer who has crossed the world in search of exciting destinations (and the beers available therein). He knows far too much about indie music.

Lead photo credit: kaymoshusband

Montego Bay Vacations

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