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Although the natural beauty of Iceland is what is bringing the floods of tourists to Iceland, there are so many activities to do in the country that people do not know about. I already wrote about my wonderful kayaking experience outside of Reykjavík. Another active pursuit I really enjoyed was Stand-Up Paddle-boarding (SUP) in Iceland.

With a small group of four other people we headed out of Reykjavík to Hvalfjodur Fjord in the west. Due to the construction of a bridge, route 1, the Ring Road, no longer goes through the area we were in. With significantly less traffic, buildings and no tourists the area seemed much more remote than the other parts of Iceland around Reykjavík that I visited. When I asked about toilets nearby the guide told me the only option was to knock on a farmer’s door. This wasn’t convenient for using the bathroom, but it was ideal for a beautiful landscape for our activity!

When we arrived it was quite the procedure to prepare. Unlike SUP at the beach where you often just pull on a swimsuit and grab a board and go, we had to both get ourselves suited up and the boards blown up. Over our recommended warm clothing we had to pull on a one-piece suit complete with feet, overalls, arm cuffs, a turtleneck top and a cross body front zipper. To say the least it was a confusing get-up to get into and I got to do it twice, because the first time I put it on backwards! Once the suit was on we put on socks over our feet, then we put on these rubber shoes that were more like slippers. As we were getting ourselves suited up, our guide was inflating our boards.

My nervousness increased as we took our boards down to the water. It was my first time trying SUP and I was scared I would fall into the water. Our guide was great as he made sure I felt comfortable on the board, checked in on me after I got going, all while letting more experienced members go further off on their own.

A seal came really close to one guy’s board, I saw it’s head from about 20 feet away! The thought of seeing more seals gave me confidence to paddle further out. There were some points that my board felt so rocky that I almost thought a seal was under there about to knock me over. Along with our seal sighting we paddled along the cliffs where sheep were grazing and puffins were flying off from a small island nearby.

I felt safe that the guide kept an eye on everyone, yet gave freedom to still make the activity adventurous. Another girl and I were both first timers and he said he was being honest when saying we were some of the best beginners he has ever seen. He even broke the companies’ rule that beginners had to stay along the cliffs, and let us paddle to an island! With my slow paddling speed I didn’t quite make it to the island before the water picked up and we had to head back to the shoreline for a smoother paddle.

I didn’t want the experience to end, it was incredible!

Initially I was so afraid of falling in the water. While I was proud that I made it without falling into the water, I also thought to myself what is so bad about that? The worst part of falling into the water is literally that I would have fallen into the water. We had dry suits on so I would have stayed mostly dry too and if not I love water! It is funny how we make ourselves scared of things, when really what we are afraid of isn’t so bad after-all.

Where can I SUP next!?

Visiting Information

Where

Pick-ups in Reykjavík and then about an hour drive to Hvalfjodur Fjord in the west.

Company

Adventure Vikings. They offer other SUP tours as well as snorkeling, caving, hiking and more.

Review

The whole process from booking and customer service to the experience with the guide was great. I would highly recommend the company!

Toilets & Food

We stopped at the last gas station before leaving Reykjavík to buy any food we wanted for the morning and early afternoon and had our last chance to use an actual toilet. It’s just nature in the fjord, so your only option is to find a nice rock!