Loner orca ‘Old Thom’ spotted off Eastport

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 21, 2026

Old Thom is a solitary orca in a part of the world that has few of them. By most accounts, the bull with a telltale notch in his dorsal fin is the only orca that regularly comes to the Gulf of Maine. He has been spotted in whale-watching territory from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts, and has occasionally been seen keeping company with dolphins, a family to which orcas belong as the largest members. Among whale enthusiasts, a sighting of Old Thom is often described as a bucket list item.