Our dedicated and experienced team will ensure your tour with us is as good as we can make it.
Our captains and guides at Láki Tours have a great deal of experience between them and are passionate and knowledgeable about cetaceans and the ocean. Many of the staff have been working for the company for years and we are like a large family. Our main guides are also working on photo ID and researching the various species we see, adding to science and also our understanding of the whales in Iceland waters. This also enhances your trip as you can learn about the research we are doing on the tours. Marie is focusing on the orcas and created the non-profit Orca Guardians as well as a large photo-ID catalogue of orcas. Judith has produced the first humpback whale photo-ID catalogue for whales seen out of Holmavik.
Gísli Ólafsson
Owner, Captain and Manager
The founding brothers of our company are Snæfellsnes locals and have been fishing in the local waters for decades. Gísli is now the sole owner of the business. He knows this area and its wildlife intimately, having lived and worked here for decades. Gísli is the manager of the company as well as the main captain on the whale watching tours in Snæfellsnes.
Franklin Ævarsson
Captain
Franklin captains our boats in both Ólafsvík and Hólmavík. He has worked on the water most of his life, primarily as a fisherman. He became a captain in 1998, and in 2012 he obtained an unlimited captain licence. He now works on tourist boats in both Iceland and Norway. He has worked on many boats, some little ones and some quite big ones!
Marie Mrusczok
Spotter
Our whale spotter Marie has been working with orcas for many years. She founded Orca Guardians, an organisation dedicated to protecting orcas around Icelandic waters and keeps the catalogue of orca sightings recorded in our area. As one of our main species seen, she has more knowledge of orcas around Snæfellsnes than anyone else. Since founding Orca Guardinas Marie has helped match orcas seen in Iceland to many other places. She also helped to create the Code of Conduct for responsible whale watching in Iceland.
Judith Scott
Tour Guide
Our guide in Hólmavík and in Ólafsvík during Spring, Judith, has been working with whales for over twenty years. She is an experienced whale watching guide, having worked in the USA, Norway, Mexico and South Africa among other places. She now splits her time between Iceland and Antarctica, where she works in the off-season. Judith sailed around the world for two years conducting sperm whale research, having wanted to work with whales since the age of seven. She has also worked on blue whale research in Australia. She is a keen wildlife photographer and regularly sells her images.
Joséphine Mayr
Captain
Our captain, engineer and guide Jo speaks French, German and English and has worked outdoors for many years, including as a sail trainer and as a glacier guide. She has spent years working on the water and now extends this passion for the ocean as the first female captain at Láki Tours! We are very proud to have supported her with obtaining her captains’ licence and she could be your captain on any of our boats.
Sandra Hörbst
Tour guide
Sandra started working with Láki Tours back in 2019. She has an MSc in Conservation Biology and many years of experience as a whale watching guide through her ongoing work in South Africa. Sandra may be your tour guide on our whale watching tours. She is also a passionate bird watcher, so don’t hesitate to ask her any questions you may have about the abundant bird life that can be seen on our tours!
Renée Blankenstein
Tour guide / Marketing
Renée works as a guide on our whale watching tours from Ólafsvík, and she has been obsessed with whales all her life. The first time she saw whales was as a passenger on a Láki Tours trip! She fell in love with Iceland’s landscapes and wildlife, and moved here a few years later. She completed her master’s degree at the University of Iceland in Reykjavík, having focused her research on sustainable whale watching. Now she is working with us, in the place where her love for Iceland started. She is very happy to get to spend so much time with her beloved whales and to educate so many people about them.
Nicola Horsnell
Reception
Often found patiently answering all your emails and booking requests is Nicky. She made her home in Iceland from New Zealand many years ago.
