Two high-quality interactive web cameras have recently been installed atop Five Finger Lighthouse – one of the world’s most renowned humpback whale watching locations.

The Five Finger Lighthouse Society (FFLS) installed a similar camera earlier this year at the lower boathouse level. Now, there are two more atop the lighthouse – one facing north, one south.

The FFLS is a Petersburg-based non-profit organization. All summer, the lighthouse is maintained by volunteer keepers, who stay in the lighthouse for around two weeks.

The keepers give tours, work on maintenance projects, and enjoy the scenic isolation of the tiny island – situated several miles from shore in any direction at the eastern edge of Stephens Passage and the northern extreme of Frederick Sound – around 45 miles north of Petersburg.

Courtney Cox was recently a keeper from May 25 to June 16.

“[We] tidy up, try to keep everything here pretty natural, because it’s part of what makes this really beautiful,” Cox said.

Couple Irene Tresser and Chris Brown were also keepers from May 29 to June 26. During their overlapping time, the three did volunteer projects such as redoing the helicopter pad walkway, keeping paths kept for visitors, and maintaining necessary island functions.

The keepers are rewarded with the unique sights and sounds of Five Finger Island.

“There might have been 10 or 12 different whales around the island,” Brown said. “They kind of hang around, so that’s pretty entertaining to watch their fin slapping… There were two of them a ways out, maybe a mile, not half mile out there, and they both had their tails up, and they’re just going back and forth with their tails.”

Now, with two webcams atop the lighthouse, these beautiful scenes are available remotely.

How to access the cameras

There are a few steps required to utilize these special cameras.

The app “CamHiPro” must be downloaded. Then, find the “add a camera” section of the app – and scan the QR code for a specific camera, and it grants permanent access to the camera. This must be done for all three individually to access all of them.

“It’s pretty intuitive, when you get CameraHiPro,” FFLS president Jeff Erickson said.

Once the QR code is scanned and the camera is on the app, any user can move the camera around and zoom in and out. The quality of the camera allows even sometimes to see into the water.

“Now you got zoom in, and you can zoom out, and then we can go left, or we can go up and down,” Erickson said.

Erickson, FFLS board member David Dial, and wife Lori Dial worked to get the cameras put up. David Dial specializes in electric work and put his skills to use.

“We’ve still got some things we’re playing with, but for the most part it’s up and running right now, the way we had planned it,” David Dial said.

The Dials were keepers May 18 to May 30, and were able to get the cameras mounted, plugged in, and connected to Wifi atop the historic lighthouse.

The cameras have been used for entertainment as well as practicality.

“The weather is obviously the biggest thing, but the birds nesting, it’s been super fun to watch, the cameras also have sound,” Erickson said. “So that’s kind of cool, you can have a conversation, you can see how the tides are doing.”

An Oystercatcher family hangs out right in front of one of the cameras.

Fishermen and sailors can use the cameras to view conditions in the area.

“There’s a few [other cameras] like the one at Cape Fanshaw… it just does pictures and updates every 10 minutes,” Erickson said.

But the lighthouse’s cameras specialize in what a viewer can see and control, also being live.

The opportunity for the FFLS to complete this project came from the Petersburg Community Foundation, who granted funding for the cameras.

“[At the lighthouse] we’re a long ways away from Petersburg, so we always felt we had to come up with an idea,” Erickson said. “We got one camera here this winter… and that gave us the [idea]: let’s get some more cameras.”

Many Petersburg residents have not yet visited the Lighthouse, as it is roughly a half-day adventure roundtrip from town. For the FFLS, these cameras are a way to bring the community whose support helps keep the nonprofit afloat that much closer to experiencing the place. Visitors and residents alike are welcome to check out the cameras.

“It’s open to everybody, pilots, fishermen, yacht people, people that transit the area can get a real-time weather report,” Erickson said.