About to go snorkeling in the Silfra fissure.

Some of the clearest water visibility in all the world.

(gulps)

Iceland.

(tribal music)

Hi everybody, I'm Mark Vins

and welcome to a very special edition of On Location.

One that features just me,

the director of the Brave Wilderness channel

and also the host of--

(record scratches)

Oh, I'm not allowed to say that yet?

- [Man] Nope!

- Okay, more on that later.

For now, I'm just the director

of the Brave Wilderness channel

but some of you might also know me

as the guy who often asks Coyote...

You alright, what are you feeling?

- Ahh!

- [Mark] You alright?

You alright man?

- Ahh!

- I read the comments, guys.

Yeah, that guy.

But for those of you out there

that have no idea who I am, hi, I'm Mark,

and I'm the one who's been filming

the adventures with Coyote Peterson you've been watching

for the past four years.

In that time, we've gotten all kind of questions

about how we do our productions

and how we make videos for the Brave Wilderness channel.

In an effort to answer some of those questions,

I thought, hey, why not get in front of the camera,

do some base camps, do some on locations,

and hopefully shed light on all things production

surrounding the Brave Wilderness channel.

To kick things off, let's start

with one of the most common questions that we often get

which is "Guys, how do you pick which location

"you're actually going to explore?"

That's one of those questions

that truthfully has many answers.

But one of the ways that we pick where we're gonna visit

is that I actually go ahead of the team

to scout the location in advance.

I could just tell you about this

but I thought it sure would be a whole lot more fun

to take you guys with me out in the field

to show what one of these adventures is actually like.

Recently, I got to visit the country of Iceland.

Iceland is one of the most amazing places

that I have ever visited, bar none.

Honestly guys, it's a place that I wanted

to visit since I was a little kid.

So I'm super excited that this is one of the first

pre-production videos that I'm going to share with you guys.

So without further ado, let's get out of this studio

and head into the field and check out

what kind of cool Icelandic adventures I discovered.

Iceland, a country sprawling with dramatic landscapes

and explosive volcanic terrain.

A place that truly embodies the meaning

of the word adventure with every vista

and every step forth on its craggy soil.

That's a volcano.

Just erupted eight years ago.

For me, this would be my first visit

to the Nordic island nation that is far more green

than it's northern neighbor of Greenland.

However, this would be no traditional adventure,

it was a solo mission.

My goal?

To scout further expeditions and adventures

for Coyote and the crew.

A mission I have led myself many times in the past.

Remember those dinosaur footprints?

Yep, I found those months earlier

on a scouting expedition in southern Utah.

But now, because of advancements in camera technology,

I can take you with me on these exciting

and often unexpected adventures.

Here we go, it's time to go snorkeling.

In freezing water, let's do this.

While on my Icelandic journey,

I explored places like the Valley of Thor,

rode Icelandic horses, and even got to visit

a world famous spa, the Blue Lagoon.

I still don't know what that is on my face

but hey, everyone was doing it, so why not?

Anyways, there's one particular adventure

on this expedition that I simply couldn't wait to show you.

That being my journey into the icy waters

of the Silfra fissure.

The fissure itself is a by-product

of the North American and Eurasian

tectonic plates drifting apart,

leaving in their wake multiple rifts

that fill with some of the purest water on the planet.

Alright, guys, about to go snorkeling in the Silfra fissure.

Some of the clearest water visibility in all the world

and actually, one of the only places

that you can dive between two continents.

Literally we are standing in the fissure

that separates Eurasia and North America right now

and we're gonna go diving in a natural spring.

It's very cold, we definitely don't want water

getting inside our suits because

it's around two degrees Celsius, just above freezing.

It's gonna be pretty awesome.

We're about to go get our snorkel gear together

and get in, so let's go.

(Mark groans)

Was that graceful, look good?

No, okay.

Well, it's gonna keep me warm so that's what's important.

As I walked down the steps of the platform,

a nervous anticipation started to set in.

Entering 36 degree Fahrenheit water

isn't something I tend to do everyday.

I mean, this water is only four degrees above freezing.

Safe to say, it doesn't get much colder than this.

So guys, my sister's helping us out today.

Say hi to everybody, Yvette.

She came by to Iceland with me,

so she's the cameraman today.

Here we go.

We're gonna go snorkeling in the Silfra fissure.

Time to get in.

As I plunged into the water,

my face was instantly met with a stinging sensation.

The shock distracted me, but then suddenly,

an explosion of color.

This landscape was absolutely surreal.

Something straight out of the pages

of a science fiction novel.

And to top it all off, the water was 100% crystal clear.

It was nearly unbelievable.

The visibility in the fissure on a good day

is said to extend well beyond 300 feet.

And I think we can all look at this footage and confirm

that that is definitely true.

I could see now why so many people with a fear of heights

have issues with this experience.

It literally felt as if nothing was between me

and the bottom of the fissure.

In fact, the sensation was actually closer

to that of flying than it was to swimming.

That is, until I tried to actually kick with my fins.

The dry suit, while providing life-saving warmth

and insulation, made it nearly impossible to move.

The buoyancy it created restricted my movements so much

that, to a large degree, I was only able to move forward

by the assistance of the current.

However, I will say this lack of mobility

actually allowed me to relax and enjoy the experience

as a whole and really take in all the color

and spectacular scenery.

Sometimes, it's nice to just be along for the ride.

So how does a place like the Silfra fissure come to exist?

As it turns out, Iceland sits smack dab

on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is formed

by the separation of the North American

and Eurasian tectonic plates.

In Thingvellir National Park, the separation

of these plates expands nearly one inch every year.

But over the course of millions of years,

it has created fissures, which are filled

by a natural aquifer and glacial meltwater

from the surrounding peaks.

This water moves slowly, very slowly.

In fact, in can take up to nearly 100 years to travel

and filter itself through the porous volcanic soil,

making it some of the purest H2O on the planet.

It is so pure, you can literally drink the water around you

as you swim through the fissure.

And yes, I definitely tried it out.

- Woo, well, the water is cold.

But I can tell you guys this is, by far,

the clearest visibility I have ever encountered.

And oh, by the way...

(gulps)

The water's delicious.

It's about the purest water that you could ever drink.

It is one of those scenarios where you can drink the water.

It's pretty awesome.

(gulps)

Iceland.

While it is delicious, it is actually the purity

and frigid temperature of the water

that helps to create the vivid colors

and the landscape of this environment.

As I continued to drift along,

I couldn't help but dream of coming back

to dive this location with the team.

My imagination was literally running wild,

trying to picture what the scene must be like

from the bottom of the fissure.

And I was also beginning to wonder

what else might live down there.

Is there something down there besides algae and troll grass?

But just as I started to consider the idea

of taking a free dive to find out,

I noticed the battery on my GoPro,

which was full 20 minutes prior, was now at only 1%.

Woo, wow guys, the water is so cold

that it's literally draining the life out of this GoPro.

But before it dies, I just want to say

that getting to snorkel in the Silfra fissure

here in Iceland has to be one of the coolest

experiences I have ever done.

I'm Mark Vins, be brave, stay wild.

We'll see ya on the next location.

Woo, this water's cold!

Ah, just seeing that footage makes me wanna

go grab my dive gear, jump on an airplane,

head back to Iceland, and get down there to explore

the depths of those fissures.

I can only imagine how cool it looks from the bottom.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to wait

a little bit longer for that adventure, guys.

That was just a scouting mission,

but I can 100% guarantee you that Coyoto, Mario, and myself

will be heading back to Iceland

on an epic adventure very soon.

Well I hope everyone enjoyed this behind-the-scenes peak

of the Silfra fissure and just what it takes

to location scout productions for Brave Wilderness.

Did you guys like this video?

Do you want to see more of these?

Tell me about it in the comments section below

and don't forget, please ask me questions, guys.

Who knows, maybe I'll pick yours

to answer on the next On Location.

If you enjoyed this scouting expedition,

make sure to go back to go back and watch the video

that resulted from my discovery of those dinosaur tracks.

And don't forget to subscribe so you can join me

and the rest of the crew on our next location.

(wolf howls)