Kids Stories

Bjarne (6 years old, from Germany) has already had a busy young life and been to Iceland twice to spot orcas. He first came on the Láki Tours trips with his parents in February 2014 and got to see a lot of orcas back then. Four years later, in February 2018, he and his parents were lucky again – even on two trips of the same day!
Bjarne was very enthusiastic about watching the orcas, and each time Marie talked to him about them, his eyes just grew bigger and bigger. Grown up with a lot of holidays at the sea, Bjarne knows the ocean’s inhabitants – from crab to harbour porpoise – really well, but orcas hold a special place in his young heart. He watches a lot of documentaries about them, and is especially proud that he got to see them with his own eyes several times already.
For his relentless enthusiasm he was allowed to name one of the orcas he spotted on his trips in 2018, and he decided for an unknown young male orca. Bjarne called this orca “Topolino”, after his favorite orca cuddly toy that he is taking everywhere with him. After his vacation, he and his parents also adopted Thor from our adoption program. We hope to see him again sometime in the future – he certainly seems to bring us luck with the sightings!

Laila (8 years old, from Germany) was very excited for her search of orcas with us when she came to West Iceland with her mum in late February 2017. They had followed what was going on with our orcas and their stories via our adoption program, and the orca trip with Láki Tours was booked even before their flights!
And, after several previous attempts in other places, this was indeed the first time Laila and her mum were actually successful on a whale watch. On a clear sunshine day, they especially got to see several very impressive fully-grown males next to the boat and in front of the glacier Snæfellsjökull.
When back home, Laila did a presentation on her trip and the orcas in front of her class, including pictures from the encounter. She was so taken by the orcas and her experience, that she decided to found a “nature and animal protection club” with her friends at school. With this club, they have been campaigning for school trips to go to the museum of natural history instead of the zoo, as not to support the captive industry. The club has also approached nature guides to inform the kids about forest animals in the school’s surrounding area, initiated school projects on animal protection, and grown plants in the garden of the day care center.

We were very impressed by their dedication and the effort that Laila and her friends made for nature and animal conservation. Therefore, we offered them the opportunity to name an orca from our population – a small reward for a great commitment, but Laila and her friends became super excited about it. They picked a male orca that Laila had seen on her Láki boat trip with us, and who had not received a name yet. After some discussion in the club, they gave the name “Flurry”, expressing both their own excitement and the wild soul of the orcas, as they stated. Awesome!
Even though Laila and her mum had already followed our orcas via the adoption program, they adopted yet another orca for Laila personally – the female Snowflake (SN054). Laila and her mum are also planning on yet another visit to Iceland in the future. And there’s no doubt which seats they will, once again, secure first.

Thor (6 years old, from Canada/Québec) visited Grundarfjörður with his mum in July 2016. He is an avid orca fan and wanted to see orcas above all else. Unfortunately, orca sightings in July are irregular. There were no orcas spotted on the tour that Thor and his mum and aunt were on, but they did see a huge group of pilot whales and white-beaked dolphins instead! The evening before the whale watch, they also went on a puffin tour, and even got to see a Minke whale.
Thor was so impressed by these experiences that he became a bit obsessed with the Láki boats and advertising. When asked which bedtime story his mum should read out to him, he answered she should read the Láki Tours flyer! His mother had to read this handout to him for a solid six nights during the week of their visit, and she was not allowed to even skip the contact details on the back. We guess that by now nobody knows the brochure as well as Thor (and his persevering mum).

Apart from the newly won knowledge about Láki Tours, Thor also already knew a great deal about orcas when he arrived. His astounding vocabulary as a 6-year-old included the fluent use of words like “marine mammal” or “echolocation”. He was super excited to meet up with Marie and talk orcas for a whole evening. While looking through our orca ID catalogue, he even found a mistake (a juvenile was not marked as juvenile on one page)! Well, Thor, we’ll have you back anytime to proof-read our catalogue!
For helping us out big time with his knowledge and attentiveness, Thor was allowed to name an orca from our catalogue, and decided to call the orca SN175 “Töpsó”. Thor speaks three languages (English, French, and Swedish), but in his own imaginary language “Töpsó” means “sweetheart” or “super sweet creature”. A very good pick! (The alternative was “Tusse, the herring slayer”!) We hope that Thor returns to Grundarfjörður one day, for another chance to spot the orcas. (On the right: Riding the newly built orca statue!)

Nina (15 years old), Nils (12 years old) and Till (9 years old) from Germany visited Snæfellsnes with their parents in March and April 2015. There were several orca groups in the area at that time, and everyone became hooked on watching these orcas right away – both from land and on the water.
The boys helped Marie with hydrophone recordings during the boat trips, and the whole family would scout for orcas from land in any wind and weather. After hours and hours of patiently waiting in the rain or snow storm (often really early in the morning!) they were rewarded with numerous close and captivating orca encounters from the coast.
The kids had quickly picked “their” orca: SN106, offspring of Aurora (SN105), and a newborn calf at that time. They named it “Niniti”, using the first two letters of their own names, and, from then on, were always eager to find out if Niniti was sighted and what was going on with its family.
Nina, Nils and Till loved it so much that they convinced their parents to come back one year later, in April 2016, to try and spot orcas (and especially Niniti) again. They missed Niniti and its family by one day, but had some other great close orca encounters on the boat, and got to see orcas far away when spotting from shore as well.
During both visits in 2015 and 2016, they never got tired of checking with their binoculars from land, day after day, for the orcas to come in. After their second visit, the whole family adopted Aurora and Niniti. They all hope to come back yet again to watch orcas at Snæfellsnes sometime in the future. Until then, they are rooting for Niniti from home!

Tobias (8 years old, from the Netherlands) went out on the boat with Láki Tours just after Christmas 2015, and got to see his first orcas. He felt so inspired by what he had seen, that he decided to do a presentation about orcas in school, and asked for help from our director Marie. On the 1st of April, 2016, he showed up in class with a big inflatable orca, and delivered a very informative and well-explained presentation. Best part? He even finished his speech with a message to the class: Don’t throw rubbish into the sea – you could kill an orca!
For this excellent work, we decided to let him name an orca calf (SN212 in our catalogue). After he had asked all his classmates and family, and changed his mind a thousand times, Tobias decided to call the orca calf “Draak” (“Dragon” in Dutch), as he loves dragons a lot. Great idea!
Draak (SN212) is part of the core group of Shasha (SN084), who is a very distinct female with a cut-off fin tip. Draak’s mum, however, is SN086 Sedna. Tobias hopes to return to Iceland with his family soon to have another orca encounter, and maybe even spot Draak!
(On the right: Tobias with inflatable orca just before his presentation.)

Riley (3 years old, from the UK) is one of the youngest active whale watchers we know. He was about to go on the boat with his parents in January 2015, when the tour got cancelled due to bad weather conditions. Marie took him and his parents to watch orcas from land, but poor Riley could just so much as hold the binoculars straight, let alone see the orcas through it. He waited patiently for two hours while his parents were watching, and was trying several times to spot the animals without success. Riley was the politest little man, and he never even showed a glimpse of boredom! When Marie asked him on the way back, what name he would give to an orca, he said without hesitation: “Cactus!” – So here we are, young orca male SN167 is now called Kaktus (the Icelandic version of the word).