A lone orca beloved by locals, tourists and guides has made his way back to the Bay of Fundy this year, just as he has for 20 years, although spotting him is rare.
David Matthews has spotted the orca, named Old Thom by locals, four times in recent years and says the sight of his graceful dorsal fin cutting through the water never gets old.
This year, Matthews, who lives in East Ferry, N.S., saw Old Thom on Sept. 4, while on a whale-watching tour.
“We always hope to see Old Thom,” he said. “It is a rare occurrence, but when we do, it’s breathtaking.”
Grand Manan tour company says there were multiple sightings this summer of Old Thom, an orca whale who’s been visiting the Bay of Fundy for years.
Orcas, also known as killer whales, have distinct black and white markings and tall dorsal fins.
When Matthews saw Old Thom this summer, he said, the mammal was surrounded by 100 dolphins.
Amanda Crocker, a guide at Freeport Whale & Seabird Tours, said whale watchers can count on seeing humpback whales, minke whales and finback whales, but “people are usually totally shocked that there is an orca in the bay.”
For Crystal Richard of Dieppe, meeting Old Thom last summer was a dream come true.
“I like to joke that August 6 is the best day of my life, both because it’s my wedding day and the day I got to finally meet Old Thom,” she said. “I’m not going to even deny it, I was in tears.”
Richard posted a video of Old Thom off the coast of Grand Manan on her TikTok account called eastcoastmermaid, which received 28,000 likes.
“As someone that’s grown up in New Brunswick … that calls this place home, to see an orca in the wild living his best life, hanging out with his dolphins in our backyard is just incredible,” she said.
“If you’re lucky enough to see him once, that is, you know, an incredibly lucky encounter.”
According to Crocker, who is based on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy, agreed that seeing Old Thom on the water is rare, despite the great interest.
“Almost every day, somebody asks me, ‘Do you think we’ll see Old Thom today?'”
Crocker has seen the black and white whale with a distinct notch in its fin five times this year — four times in August and once this month.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “He has a beautiful tall dorsal fin, very straight dorsal fin. And when that comes up out of the water, it’s just like a knife slicing through the water and it’s probably about six feet tall.”
What also makes Old Thom unique is his appetite.
“There are two different types of orcas,” Crocker said. Resident orcas are fish-eaters who stay with their pods, while transient orcas are lone whales that eat marine mammals.
She describes Old Thom as “a little bit of both.”
“If he was eating the dolphins, they wouldn’t want to hang around with him,” she said with a laugh. “I’m guessing that he’s probably just eating large fish.”
Crocker says locals have a theory that Old Thom lives among the smaller dolphins because he was separated from his pod as a young whale.
“I think that he is kind of a little bit of a lost soul,” she said.
The mysterious whale
Andrew Westgate, scientist at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, said Old Thom is suspected to have been separated from his mother as a calf.
He said he’s been spotted in Maine, New Hampshire and along the Digby shore.
He was even reported to be seen in the Bay of Fundy as late as November, Westgate said.
He said Old Thom’s age is unknown but he looks to be a mature orca.
Westgate has worked in Grand Manan for 35 years and has only ever had one other encounter with an orca in the area, back in the 90s, making Old Thom’s appearances even more unusual.
Old Thom is widely known as the lone orca, but Westgate said that given his family of dolphins, he’s “not really a loner.”
