Station 56001 - Indian Ocean 1 - NW of Dampier and Station 51426 - SOUTHEAST TONGA - SE of Tonga in EVENT Mode; 7.2 73km SSE of Raoul Island NZ

‘Ultra-Rare’: Up to 70 endangered ‘whales’ by California coast — Seen once in several decades, lives in open ocean — Breached as if performing, rubbing heads on boat — So loud thought it was engine — “Seemed to be speaking to camera” — Also spotted in Western Pacific same day (VIDEO)



Corona Del Mar Today, Mar. 13, 2014: False killer whales are members of the dolphin family and are listed as endangered [...] “According to the news, these are so rare that they haven’t been seen in Southern California for well over a decade,” [Sgt. John Hollenbeck] said. “. . .

Pete Thomas Outdoors, Mar. 13, 2014: [There were] between 50 and 70. [...] [Capt. Dave Anderson] managed not only to capture close-ups of the false killer whales, but vocalizations [...] including one that seemed to be speaking to the camera. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Anderson said. “I was sitting there for about five minutes and the whales came over and surrounded me. Their whistles were so loud I could hear them above the surface.”

KPCC, Mar. 12, 2014: Ultra-rare ‘false killer whales’ sighted off California – [NOAA's Jay Barlow] says he last saw this species in Southern California in the early 1980s [...] Normally they live in tropical waters, and Barlow says even there they are rarely seen. One reason false killer whales are seen so rarely is that they typically live in the open ocean [...]

[link to enenews.com]

Magnitude 6.3
Region OFFSHORE TARAPACA, CHILE
Date time 2014-03-23 18:20:04.0 UTC
Location 19.90 S ; 70.90 W
Depth 30 km
[link to m.emsc.eu]

4.9
75km NW of Iquique, Chile
2014-03-23 15:04:26 UTC-07:0018.2 km
5.3
89km WNW of Iquique, Chile
2014-03-23 13:23:03 UTC-07:0023.4 km
4.7
101km WNW of Iquique, Chile
2014-03-23 13:07:12 UTC-07:0024.6 k