Whale Watchrs encouraged ‘Friendly’ Occa’s return

A loan, dear by local people, tourists and guides, has made its way to this year’s bay of fun, as he has been for 20 years, although it is rare to spot him.

Four times in recent years, David Mathews has seen an Old Thom named Old Thom by local people and says that through water, their beautiful dorsal fin cutting vision is never old.

This year, Mathews, who lives in East Ferry, NS, saw Old Thom on 4 September, while on a whale-looking tour.

“We always hope to see the old Thom,” he said. “This is a rare phenomenon, but when we do, it is breathtaking.”

The orkas, also known as the killer whale, consists of separate black and white scars and long dorsal wings.

When Mathews saw the old Thom in this summer, he said, mammal was surrounded by 100 dolphins.

Amanda Croker, a guide to the Freeport Whale and Cabard Tour, said that whale watchers can trust Hampback Whale, Mink Whale and Finback Whale, but “People are usually surprised that there is a part in the Gulf.”

For Dieppe’s Crystal Richard, meeting the old Thom in the last summer came true.

“I like to joke that August 6 is the best day of my life, both because it is my wedding day and the day I finally met the old Thom,” she said. “I am not going to deny it, I was in tears.”

Richard posted a video of the old Thom from the coast of Grand Manan on his Ticketkok account, which is called Eastcostormmed, with 28,000 likes.

“As someone has grown in New Breanswick … who calls this place a home, is living his best life to see one onca in the wild, is incredible to walk with his dolphin in our backyard,” he said.

“If you are lucky to see him once, you know, an incredibly lucky encounter.”

According to Croker, which is based on the Nova Scotia side of Funi’s Gulf, agreed that despite the great interest, it is rare to see the old Thom on water.

“Almost every day, someone asks me, ‘Do you think we will see the old Thom today?” ,

Croker has seen Black and White Whale with a different rung in his fin five times this year – four times in August and once this month.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “They have a beautiful tall dorsal wing, very straightforward wings. And when it comes out of the water, it is like a knife through the water and it is probably about six feet tall.”

Whatever Old Thom makes unique is his hunger.

“There are two different types of orkas,” Croker said. Resident orkas are fish eaters who live with their pods, while transient orkas are the only whales that eat marine mammals.

She describes the old Thom as “a little bit of both”.

“If he was eating dolphin, he wouldn’t want to hang out with him,” he said with laughter. “I am guessing that he is probably just eating big fish.”

Croker says that there is a principle of local people that the old Thom lives among the small dolphins as he separated from his pods as a young whale.

“I think he is like a lost soul,” he said.

Mysterious whale

Grand Manan Whale and Cabard Research Station Scientist Andrew Westgate said that Old Thom was suspected of separating from his mother as a calf.

He said that he has been seen along the Main, New Hampshire and Digby edge.

Even he was seen in Bay of Funny by the end of November, said Westgate.

He said that Old Thom’s age is unknown, but he seems to be a mature orker.

Westgate has worked in Grand Manan for 35 years and only in the 90s has another encounter with one OCCA in the region, making Old Thom’s appearances even more unusual.

Old Thom is widely known as Lone Occa, but Westgate said that looking at his family of Dolphin, he is “not really a virgin.”